Greetings to the Church at Corinth

Transcript

GR 2338
2/13/2022
Greetings to the Church at Corinth
1 Corinthians 1:2-3
Gil Rugh


We've started a study of the book of 1 Corinthians and let me recommend a book to you. It's an older work, 50 years or so, by Earl Radmacher on the church, “The Nature of the Church”, but we have it in Sound Words in hardback and softcover. And it is a good foundational work on the doctrine of the church. Earl Radmacher was president of Western Conservative Baptist Seminary for a number of years. So I recommend that to you. I was reminded of it because in my notes I have a number of references from it and reminded of it being a good foundational work.

We just did the opening three verses of Paul's letter of 1 Corinthians so let me read those to you. “Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul writes this letter as an apostle. Now let me just review the three basic qualifications of an apostle with you, a reminder that they were a unique group of men selected and appointed by Christ and then the Apostle Paul joined that select group. They became key in the writing of our New Testament. So first qualification for an apostle was that he was an eye witness of the resurrection. Basic simple truth, he had to have seen Jesus Christ after His resurrection from the dead.

You can back up to Acts 1:22. Verse 21, they are looking for a replacement for Judas to keep the number 12, and Paul will be the 13th apostle. But verse 21 for the sentence, “Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us - beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us - one of these must become a witness of His resurrection.” So they follow through and Matthias is added to the 11 to make 12 again, and Paul will be the 13th apostle. So he had to be an eye witness of the resurrection. The Apostle Paul says that he was an eye witness. Come back to 1 Corinthians 9. Remember Paul is saved in Acts 9 and he does have a confrontation with the resurrected Christ, and in 1 Corinthians 9:1 Paul says, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?” So have I not seen Jesus our Lord? In 1 Corinthians 15:8, again Paul is defending his apostleship and he talks about the appearances of Christ. Verse 3, “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and then He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep” (died). “Last of all, as one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” So the last of the appearances of Christ is to the Apostle Paul. Now He appeared to 500 brethren at once. Not everyone who saw Christ after His resurrection was an apostle, but a requirement for an apostle was you had to be one of those who saw Christ after His resurrection from the dead. And Paul marks himself off here as a unique and special case. So first qualification of an apostle. These are important because there are certain groups today, particularly in the charismatic movement, who think apostleship is still a gift for today. And that creates all kinds of problems. So the first qualification is you had to be an eyewitness of the resurrection, and Paul says last of all He appeared to me, so I'm sort of one untimely born, as he put it. I am unique in that He appeared to me in a special way on the Damascus Road in Acts 9.

Secondly, the ministry of an apostle was validated by miracles, his ministry was validated by miracles. Over in 2 Corinthians, Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 12:12, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles.” And that is Paul arguing again that he is a genuine apostle. Verse 11, “I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you… by signs and wonders and miracles.” The Apostle Paul did those, they demonstrated that he was a true apostle.

And thirdly, he was the recipient of revelation from God, he received direct revelation from God. That's the third qualification there. Back up to Galatians 1:12, “the gospel,” verse 11, “which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” So Paul claims again his apostleship, I received direct revelation from God. I didn't learn the gospel from men, I learned it from a special revelation from God. Turn over to Ephesians 3, Paul again developing his apostleship, and he says in verse , “that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery.” Mystery was something you could not understand, it took direct revelation from God. There is new revelation given through the Apostle Paul. This is where we want to be careful that we put all these together because those who claim to be apostles today have the gift of apostleship, I have books written in my library by those who claim the gift of apostleship is present. Then they claim that God speaks to them, and so it is consistent with the Word of God but it is new revelation from God. It's not. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3 is arguing, by “revelation there was made known to me the mystery as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men.” So the gift of apostle involved receiving of direct revelation from God. You can read the rest of Ephesians 3, there are other passages, but those passages at least establish. When Paul starts out his letter, coming back to the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, because “Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother.” God had directly intervened in Paul's life and set him apart, called him not only to salvation, but to be an apostle, one sent with the special message from God to carry on a special ministry from God.

That establishes somewhat again, just a reminder that the gift of apostleship is not present today, it's not present after the Apostle Paul. Now there is revelation given after the Apostle Paul, the Apostle John wrote the gospel of John but he also wrote the book of Revelation, and Paul has been dead for 30 years. But he is an apostle. There may be non-apostles who received direct revelation, but they have to also fit into the rest of the deeds of an apostle or the eyewitness of the resurrection. Luke might be an exception, but by and large the apostleship gift is unique to the New Testament times, closing with the Apostle Paul.

Let's look on a little further. He's writing to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling. All these refer to the same group but he identifies them in several ways. It's the church of God which is at Corinth, it's to those who have been sanctified, that are saints. They are joined with those who call upon the name of the Lord. So the church is a unique group. And let me just review with you a little bit about the church in the New Testament, these are just foundational truths that we want to be sure that we refresh our minds with regularly. Several things noted about the church.

#1. It is a translation of a word, you may have it in the margin of your Bible, ‘ekklesia’, don't have it here in 1 Corinthians in the New American Standard. ‘Ekklesia’, it's ‘ek’ which is the Greek preposition for ‘out’, and ‘kaleo’ which is the verb ‘to call’, it's a called out group. But be careful what you do with that. It was originally used in secular Greek of the citizens, the Greek citizens of a Greek city. It could be used of any kind of assembly, even a disorderly group. It's used that way in the New Testament. Come over to Acts 19, and we're just looking at the word translated church in the New Testament. It does describe a unique group but it's not based on just the word that is used, ‘ekklesia’, a called out group because it is used in Acts 19. And I just pulled this out as an example. Look at verse 32, “So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly,” and you have, if you are using a New American Standard Bible a little #1 in front of ‘assembly’ and if you go to 32 in the margin, it is ‘ekklesia’. Well, that's the word for church, so we could have translated this for the church was in confusion. We say, wait a minute, that's not about the church because these are unbelievers in a mixed multitude who are claiming their allegiance and worship of a Greek goddess. But it's called the church, they are a called out group. It just came to mean an assembly in Greek. Look at verse 39, “But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful assembly,” the lawful assembly, the assembly that met the rules, the regular assembly, the regular church. But again we wouldn't use the word ‘church’ and the Greek word, just the called out group. Then it is used again in verse 41, “After saying this he dismissed the assembly,” the church. I just want to use Acts 19 as an example that the word ‘church’ could be used of any special group of people. Here he is referring to the citizens of this city, the Greek citizens and their conduct. So the word translated ‘church’, but it is ‘ekklesia’, it's just a group called together, an assembly, citizens.

#2. It was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament and here is where some confusion comes in. It was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, we abbreviate it LXX, the 70, but refer to the Septuagint which referred to Israel at times. However this does not mean the church as we talk about it in Paul's letters for example, because it didn't exist in the Old Testament. But just so you note it is used for the Hebrew word, you don't need it, it's ‘qahal’, transliterated over ‘q-a-h-a-l’, but it sometimes translates that word in the Old Testament because it just meant an assembly. So when you read the Greek translation of the Old Testament you would read about the church, it wouldn't be necessarily translated ‘church’ but it is the same word. It is the ‘called out assembly’, it is the group. So it's used in the Septuagint that way.

#3. It was used before even Israel came into existence, it's used in the book of Job. Job 30:28, Job says, “I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.” Well, even if you're going to say it referred to the Jews, Job is usually identified maybe in the time of Abraham but the development of Abraham's descendants into the nation Israel, that doesn't even happen until the captivity in Egypt. But even in the line of Abraham, no indication the Job was part of that. David wrote in Psalm 26:5, “I hate the assembly of evildoers.” That's the translation into Greek of the Greek word ‘church’. I hate the church of evildoers, I will not sit with the wicked. Wait, that doesn't fit. I'm belaboring this because some who want to just blend the church and Israel say Israel was called the church. Well, groups of wicked people were called the church. It was an assembly.

#4. By New Testament times the word ‘ekklesia’ had a history of being used both in secular Greek and the Septuagint to refer to an assembly. You have to determine what kind of assembly we are talking about. Is this a special assembly?

#5. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” I will build My church, My assembly. The emphasis there is not particularly on the word ‘church’, a called out group. Sometimes we begin to develop a specialized meaning, it does take on a specialized meaning but it is Jesus talking about I will build My church, My assembly, My called out group. So the emphasis there is on the word ‘My’. It distinguishes it from when Israel was called God's assembly, or other uses—the assembly of the wicked as we saw in the Old Testament. So it comes to mean ‘the church’, but Jesus is going to build His unique group and we will call it the church, the called out group, the assembly. As we have carried it over it is now called the church. But you want to understand that Greek word is used in other contexts of other meanings. If you're going to make it mean everything the same, then you are going to have problems. I mention this because there are those who think that the church is Israel and replaces Israel, and Israel is called the church in the Old Testament. Well, there is an element of truth, the same word is used at times, the called out assembly, but it doesn't mean church in the sense that we are talking about it. The church as Jesus said, I will build My assembly, My church, begins in Acts 2 and continues down to today and will continue until the rapture.

And with this let me say that the church is not the kingdom, we are not building the kingdom today. That's a different word. The kingdom will not come into existence until Jesus Christ returns to earth and establishes it. The church will have part of the kingdom, a part in the kingdom, but the church is not the kingdom. The kingdom is established by Christ in His rule and reign. Just turn back to Matthew, we could look at some Old Testament passages in Isaiah but we won't take time for that, but Matthew 25:31, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.” Now we're going to have the kingdom, it's when Christ returns in His glory and sits on His glorious throne. That marks the beginning of the kingdom, that's the Second Coming of Christ to earth, some seven years or so after the rapture of the church, the removal of the church, the completion of God's program with Israel and the 70th week of Daniel, the seven-year tribulation in Revelation 6-19. Christ returns and is seated on His glorious throne. Then verse 34, “The King will say to those on His right, come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom.” Now people will go into the kingdom, Christ has established it. The Jews in particular, it's a kingdom for them. We will be part of ruling and reigning with Christ, but the Jews will be the focal point on the earth.

#8. The church belongs to God, and we have that in 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul is writing to the church of God which is at Corinth. That's important, it's the church of God which is at Corinth, it's God's church, it is purchased by Him with the blood of Christ. That makes it His. In Acts 20:28, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” It is His church because He purchased it, it is His church because He purchased it for Himself and He appoints the rulers to rule over His church. So He made you overseers, he's speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus as he met with them at a nearby town, Miletus, as he is on his way back to Jerusalem. “Shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Well, it was purchased by Christ but Christ is a member of the triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit are joined in the work of redemption. He purchased it with His own blood, the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Death on the cross purchased the church. So God appoints the leaders.

#9. There is a universal dimension to the church as well as a local. And we keep wanting to blend them in a way that is confusing. There is a universal dimension of the church, the church is comprised of every believer in Jesus Christ from Acts 2 down until the rapture. That's around some 2000 years or so. Everybody is a member of the church, but individual churches, each one, are representative and stand independent of themselves. That doesn't mean we can't learn from other believers, that we do learn and so on, but the local church is a manifestation of the universal church. We'll get into that in 1 Corinthians 1 when Paul will tell the Corinthians, you have all the gifts you need to function as God intends you to function. So the local church is a manifestation. We look at the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2-3, but each one is dealt with and evaluated independently of the others. Here are the good things I have to say about your church at… one of them is Ephesus; here are the things you need to straighten out. It's not like I'm writing to all the churches in Asia Minor. God could do that, He wrote to the churches of Galatia, churches, plural, in maybe different regions of Galatia. But each church in that region is to be a manifestation of what God is doing in the world today in and through the church.

Now we come back to 1 Corinthians 1 and we are writing to the church of God, it's the church that belongs to God, it's the church that is God's, it’s the church that belongs to God that is located at Corinth. So that's the universal and the function is manifested in the ministry of the local church. So every believer from Acts 2 down to today has been a member of the church but that doesn't mean the local church is just part of the blended whole, it is each one independently operating. There is no indication of a hierarchal structure like Roman Catholicism has built into their system. For example using Revelation 2-3 just for time, there are seven churches in Asia Minor but each one is evaluated individually. There are strengths and weaknesses, they are condemned for things that need to be straightened out, they are commended for things that they are doing right. But it doesn't say this church ought to get this church straightened out, this church ought to . . . Each church stands on its own and is individually judged on its own. So that is an important reminder. Our local church is to be a manifestation of the church in the world today. It's not the only manifestation, but it is to be one real genuine manifestation of the church in the world today. That's why we spend our time studying the Bible, looking into what the Bible says about the church because it's the church of God which is in Lincoln. Now some try to say, see, it ought to be just all the churches in that town comprise the one church. We are identified with other believing churches in town but we stand or fall on our own, just like the seven churches of Asia Minor. They all were in the same region but they stand or fall independently. The church at Laodicea, the last church identified, you either get it right or I'll come and remove your lampstand. Now that doesn't mean He'll remove the lampstand of the church at Ephesus. Each church stands or falls as an independent entity.

Let me just say something more about the word ‘ekklesia’, translated church. It is used, and if you get Radmacher's book he will go through this stuff, it is used 114 times, the word ‘ekklesia’ in the New Testament. At least 90 of those times refer to local churches. So at least 90. There may be a few, I don't know for sure whether . . . But 90 out of 114, that's quite a dominant emphasis on the local church and its responsibility. So Paul is writing to the church of God which is at Corinth, that local city. And they probably didn't have more than one church at this time. Paul is traveling in these Gentile cities, establishing churches. We noted when we, in our previous study, there is no evidence he started one in Athens, doesn't mean in later history there wasn't a church in Athens but in Paul's day there wasn't. He didn't start one. There may have been a few believers but evidently not enough to call it a church. He moved on. But he did start one in Philippi and we have him writing a letter to the Philippians; he did start one in Thessalonica and he wrote a couple of letters back to the church at Thessalonica. But that doesn't mean there is only one church in the city. As the church grows there may be more than one. With the passing of time we have different views of Scripture, different interpretations of Scripture which give different . . . But we come back to the Scripture and each local church to the best of our ability we have to be biblical, we have to be biblical. Doesn't matter what other churches are. We can learn, maybe we get more insight into a passage of Scripture but ultimately we stand or fall before the Lord as a local church.

Paul is writing in 1 Corinthians 1:2, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus.” The word ‘sanctified’, we have the same word, we're going to have the word ‘saints’ which is just basically the same basic word with a different ending. It is not a verb, what is translated saints, but holy. Sanctified, saints and holy all come from the same basic Greek word, ‘hagios’, in different endings and form of it. Those who have been sanctified, set apart. And this is a form here. perfect passive participle which just listen. It's a perfect passive participle and basically a perfect tense refers to something that happened in the past and the results continue in the present. So they have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, set apart. That's the root meaning of the word. So someone holy is someone set apart from sin to God. A saint is someone set apart to God, someone sanctified is someone set apart to God. So we don't get the same feeling or the sense of it's the same word as you would if you were reading it in Greek, and it is basically coming from the same Greek word with a different ending to simplify it. But sanctified, saint, holy came from the same word. So sanctified in Christ Jesus, they've been set apart in Christ to God. That's God's sovereign work. As we'll see in a moment, they are saints by calling. So they are sanctified in Christ Jesus.

Come over to 1 Peter 1 and we're going to look at verses 14-16. “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you.” We are saints by calling, we are sanctified, we are saints by calling. Holy, a saint is one who is holy, but that's not a special and different kind of person than every believer. It is the church of Jesus Christ who has been sanctified in Christ Jesus who are saints by calling. If you're not a saint that means you haven't been sanctified by God, which means you haven't believed in Christ and become His child. You are not part of the church. You may attend a church but you are not part of it. We are part of it because we have the same faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work and that means the sovereign work of God in setting us apart in salvation for Christ. We'll look at a couple of references further in a moment. But look at 1 Peter 1:14, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to your former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy for I am holy.’ ” That's true for God's people from day one, Adam and Eve. But then it was true for Israel as the nation God had chosen for Himself. He said, you shall be holy and you have in your margin if you are using the New American Standard, Leviticus 11 and so on. That uniqueness. We have been set apart by God, we are to live as those who have been set apart for God. So sanctified and saints, we're referring to the same people, those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. We are saints by calling, we are those who have been sanctified by calling. Now we have a noun and a verb but we have the same basic word, those who have been set apart by God for Himself. And we translate it holy in other passages like we have in 1 Peter 1:15, “You shall be holy.” Well it's the same basic word, a form of ‘hagios’, ‘hagiazo’. It's to be holy, holy one. That's what we are. You shall be holy for I am holy.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 1 and jump down to verse 30, “By His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification.” There is our word again, you'll note it happened to us in Christ Jesus, we have been sanctified, we have become holy, set apart from sin for God. That's what we are, we are saints, we are those who have been sanctified by God in Christ Jesus. That happened to us in Christ Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1:30, “By His doing you are in Christ Jesus.” And being in Christ Jesus we partake of His character. So He is “wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,” so that everyone who boasts, boasts in the Lord. I don't boast, I am more holy than you are, I am more holy than the person who has never believed in Christ. That should be true but that's not a reason for boasting, because I have become holy in Christ, and my identification with Him and His character has been, if you will, transferred to me so that I have become in Him what I could not be outside of Him.

One other passage, 1 Corinthians 6:11, and he talks about what you were before in the context here, beginning in verse 9. “Do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God… neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” You'll note, the kingdom of God is yet future, but we will share in that kingdom, but it is not existing now. We will inherit it but it's not here yet. And then he goes on to say, “Such were some of you.” Some were fornicators, some adulterers, some thieves, some covetous. “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were,” there is our word again, “sanctified,” set apart from sin for God's use. “You were sanctified, but you were justified,” declared righteous, “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” So you have all three persons involved here with God working to set us apart in Christ in the Spirit. We look at different aspects of it. There are other passages that emphasize the fact sanctified is set apart, a saint is someone set apart, someone holy is someone set apart; set apart from sin for God.

So back in 1 Corinthians 1. If you are a member of the church, doesn't mean you attend a church, or formally joined, that doesn't make you a member, you are identifying with a group. But you have to have placed your faith in Christ because he is writing to the church that was at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, set apart by God in Christ. So you had to have believed in Christ or you are not in Him. You are a saint by calling, by the supernatural call of God. I'm writing to you and you are joined with everyone else. So we have the local church and we have the universal church. “With all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” So we have both the universal church and the local church. I'm writing to the local church, but you are a part of all believing churches. But he's going to write to the church at Corinth and lay out things. Now another church can read that letter and profit and here we are 2000 years later studying 1 Corinthians because we are part of that church. But we also stand or fall according to the description of it—who in every place call on the name of our Lord. We are saints by calling. The call of God for us results in our calling upon God. It is “saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name.” So we are identified with those who claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That's the point. We are joined with other believers. We may not be functioning with them, the coordination, but we recognize we have interaction. Some of you get together with believers from other churches for various things, you have a common bond together.

Come back to Romans 10:12ff, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him. For,” and he quotes from Joel, ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ” So we enter into salvation even though we are unique in that. We are not the nation Israel; the nation Israel is not the church. But there is salvation provided both for Jew and Gentile. Today we are joined in the church, in the Old Testament they were joined to Israel. Paul is elaborating here on verse 10. “For with the heart a person believes, resulting righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses.” Verse 11, “For… ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord over all, abounding in riches for all… for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?” Verse 17, “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ,” the truth concerning Christ, the message concerning Him. So Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, but he is writing, you are part of the body of Christ. So this letter can be passed on and passed on and passed on because what he says to the church at Corinth will be applicable down through history. There will be things, maybe the church at Corinth that we are not doing, but we are not doing things that the church at Corinth was doing. But we learn. So the Spirit of God directed so we have our entire New Testament that is put together. 2 Timothy 2:22 says this, “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” The calling is a result of believing, and the result of believing is the transformation of us within. So we join with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. There may be distinctions, and we have different churches today, but basic foundational is their faith in Christ and Him alone. Is their faith in the church? Wait a minute, the church is a result of faith in Christ but joining a church doesn't make you a believer and this is where the church progressively gets weaker and weaker because we just sort of expand and contract. We contract on the good doctrine and we expand on our general idea. We believe in Christ. Well, you talk to the average Protestant, the average Catholic, ask them this afternoon if you bump into them and say, do you believe in Jesus Christ? Of course. I’m a Roman Catholic, I go to the Methodist church. My parents went to the Methodist church, I was baptized as a baby in a Methodist church but I wasn't saved, my parents weren't saved. They were 30 years old before they were saved, but they went through the ritual. So they were part of a church generally speaking but not the church that the New Testament is talking about.

So back in 1 Corinthians 1:2, we are “saints by calling” and those who call on the Lord are sanctified. You have that development in Romans 10:14-17. “With all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” There is only one Lord so there can be many people who claim to be part of the church but do you call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? He is “their Lord and ours” but keep backing up. Those who are “saints by calling,” those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, those are those who are really part of the church which was at Corinth. Now if you haven't been sanctified by faith in Christ and you aren't living - remember flee from youthful lusts, pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the name of the Lord from a pure heart, a heart that has been transformed. That doesn't mean my life in every way conforms and I'm a perfect person but that's my goal, that's my desire to be more and more like Him every day, every week. And I identify. I meet people who used to attend Indian Hills and attend other Bible believing churches. Fine, we can have conversation, we can _______ together. They may have adjusted some of their teaching. Well, we would have a hard time being together because we're premillennial, pretribulational and you are a-millennial, no millennial, but glad you are in the Word, growing with the Lord and hope you will come around again. We'll leave it there. “Their Lord and ours,” there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. Now in the Old Testament you identified with Israel and the making of the church, it is Jew and Gentile alike. So it is whoever is a believer in Jesus Christ and truly manifesting, they have been sanctified, they are saints by calling, they call on the name of the Lord. Then, welcome.

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” That's what we get, God's grace, God's peace. This is where we get the mixture with the world and the church and pretty soon the church is no longer talking about it. We get peace with God and when we have peace with God we have the peace of God. Well, we need to bring in what the world has found. We want to be careful. This demonstrates that we are saints. That doesn't mean that life is always peaceful because there is turmoil, there is tribulation, there is trouble, there are trials in being a believer. Paul is going to end up being executed for being a believer but yet there is a peace that comes through it, a peace that surpasses understanding. That's what makes up the church at Corinth. He is going to go into verse 4, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ.” So he picks that up from verse 3, “Grace to you and peace.” I'm talking about the grace you've experienced, I want that grace to be multiplied and added to you. That's the grace of God, and we all come to situations where it's Lord, it's just your grace, I just have to depend on your grace, you are sufficient for me. That's why troubles and trials are good for us because they remind us of our inability, our instability and we come to trust Him.

Let me walk through just a few points here in conclusion.

#1. The local church is the physical manifestation of the church of God in a specific place. This will be a repeat of some of the things we noted to begin with. The local church is the physical manifestation of the church of God in a specific place. That's what we are. We can talk about the church of God around the world from Acts 2, but we are to be the manifestation of the church of God in this place. Doesn't mean we are the only church in this city, but we are to be to the best of our ability conformed to the Word of God.

#2. It is made up of those who have been set apart in Christ to belong to God. That's what it means to be part of the church. Now you formally can join a church. Here it is if you attend here and claim to be a believer in Jesus Christ we consider you a member. We have those who cannot attend, they are still members. They are home, they are maybe watching it on the internet and for one reason, problem or another they are not able to be here. They are part of the church, though. So they belong here, they identify with us. Now those who claim to go to Indian Hills, I go every month or when it is convenient, I don't know. The Bible does say don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the manner of some. So if you are not home because you have a physical problem, you are taking care of someone with a physical problem or some such, it's just easier to prop my feet and stay home, then it begins to wonder. The Bible says you don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. That's Hebrews 10. Therefore I have to think about that. Are they really believers? No. Maybe they are, God knows but we don't deal with them as believers because they are not here. Now I realize pretty soon we don't have Sunday night, less and less people come Sunday night, then pretty soon I'll go three out of four Sundays, then I go two out of four, then one out of four. Well, maybe we are sifting out those who are true believers and those who aren't. I don't know, God knows. It is made up of those who have been set apart in Christ to belong to God.

#3. The members of the church are saints by virtue of His call. You can put down 2 Timothy 2:10 in addition to what we have here. They are saints by calling. It is God's choice, it is God's initiative that has resulted in my salvation, that has resulted in your salvation.

#4. All who call on the name of the Lord become part of the church. We've elaborated that. All who call upon the name of the Lord become part of the church. Paul is writing to the church of God which is at Corinth. I live in Corinth but I don't go but I'm a believer. Wait a minute, what do you mean? You are not part of the church but you are a believer. If you are a believer, you are part of the church; if you are part of the church, you are supposed to belong, you are not to forsake the assembling of yourself together. Now again there are physical issues but you understand the point.

#5. All who call upon the name of the Lord come under the lordship of Jesus Christ. We didn't elaborate this but it will come out as we go through Corinthians. Who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord, He is the sovereign, He is the One I bow to. I am constantly making adjustments, as I grow in the Lord I know more about the Word of the Lord, I conform my life more to the Lord by the strength and enablement He gives. So all who call on the name of the Lord come under the lordship of Christ. I realize a lot of people, yes, He is the Lord but they are not living in any way in a way that conforms to the Word of God, to the word of the Lord. But they claim that He is their Lord, but I just don't do what He tells me. It's going to be decided by Him.

#6. The Father and the Son provide grace and peace to those who belong to Him. That's our last verse, grace and peace, “grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” And again, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit always work in complete and perfect harmony and they provide the grace, they provide peace and it comes from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. People, well, I believe in God generally. No, you have to understand the Gospel, you have to understand something of the person of Christ. You don't understand the fullness of the triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—but I don't deny it and now that I have placed my faith in Him, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, I believe that God the Father is God the Father and I believe that God the Spirit is God the Spirit. Can I explain all that and all the details? No, but I'm growing. I can more than I used to but not as much as I will.

Romans 10, “For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ” That's Romans 10:12-13, basically. That's where we are so now we are ready to move in more toward the letter itself. But he has introduced, we want to know what the church is, what marvelous thing God has done in our lives as His people and now we are privileged to live for Him, to serve Him, to grow in our relationship to Him and we will never exhaust the knowledge of Him because He is the infinite God who has created us all.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. Thank you that it is a complete word, it is everything that we are required to know, that we are required to submit to and allow the Spirit of God to conform us to. Thank you for bringing us together as a local church. I pray that we will be a church founded on Your Word, that is built on the Word, that is in the Word, that is growing. Lord, may we be involved in one another's gifts as we'll see even in 1 Corinthians, each benefiting from the gifts that you have given to others and others benefiting from the gifts you give to us. Lord, in all things we want to be honoring You, being a testimony of the power of Your saving grace that has made us new in Christ, that has set us apart for Yourself and a testimony to that saving grace. We commit ourselves to You. In Christ's name, amen.