I invite you tonight to turn to your Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians, the book of 1 Corinthians as we begin a study in this book tonight that's found on page 1210, 1210 in your pew Bibles if you're looking for that. And tonight we will just consider together the first nine verses as a kind of introduction to the book. This is 1 Corinthians. Let's give our attention to the reading of God's Word. Beginning at verse 1, Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all of those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours graced you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him with all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Tonight we begin a study in the book of 1 Corinthians, and I think it would be easy to look at the New Testament and begin to think that when the Lord looks at his church, all he sees are problems in the church. I think that would be a real danger. There certainly are a bunch of churches with problems in the New Testament. I mean, serious problems. You cannot go through the churches in Revelation without being immensely affected with that. That one, in particular, the Lord said He wanted to vomit out of His mouth. He warned if they continued in their compromise. Hands down, the church that wins the award for worst church of the first century is Galatia. That's the church that threw out the gospel and went back to confidence in the law. And Paul didn't have much of a greeting for them. He really went after them. What are you doing? I can't get away from, though, in a positive manner, the church in Thessalonica. It really was an amazing church. You know what the Lord said about that church at the beginning of 1 Thessalonians, about that particular church? He said, you know what? All sorts of fruits are flowing from you. The Apostle Paul, under inspiration, said, all the missionaries are talking about you. It's spreading around so that all the churches know about your church in Thessalonica. Calvin was so moved with the church in Thessalonica, he says there was a rare energy in that church that all the apostles witnessed and knew so much so that paul said we are noticing your work of faith your labor of love and your patience and hope in other words we're seeing all sorts of work springing out of you we're seeing strenuous efforts of love and we're seeing real endurance and hardship and you know what that's remarkable we don't see that very often all the churches see What was it about Thessalonica? One day I'll preach that. Here's what he said about them. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. He would say they welcomed the word, not as coming from men, But when they sat and heard it, they welcomed it as coming from God. But what most amazes me about the church in Thessalonica is they received it with joy in much affliction. You can't receive the word without joy. Add to that, receiving it with joy in affliction, that's a remarkable church. It's been a strange phenomenon throughout history that we often find the church remaining the strongest and most commended under some kind of persecution and under some kind of hardship. And there was a church remaining loyal and strong, and they didn't waver. We dread hardship in life, don't we? In fact, that's all been something we've tried consistently in the United States to avoid. We want to avoid opposition, as I talked about the Belgic. We want to avoid taking the stand in desperate fear that we won't be liked. That's what it boils down to. What I want you to imagine tonight in contrast to Thessalonica then is a situation where there is relatively little resistance. Little resistance to establishing a church. To the growth of the church. One, in that kind of scenario, one in which you would think, well, that would be an environment where Christianity would flourish. I mean, Christianity would really flourish. When you have everything at your hands, all the resources, all the money, all the buildings, and a society that is not stagnant, it's not poor, it's developing, there's excitement in society. I want you to think about that situation with me for a moment tonight. What danger would be in that place for a church? You might become so attracted to the prosperity of it all, all the wealth, all the materialism, all the potential to make a great name for yourself, that you lose your identity as a Christian and as a church. And that is Corinth. Let me introduce you to Corinth. It tried so hard to reach to the world, it fell in. As one pastor said, it wasn't wrong. It wasn't wrong that the church was in Corinth. It was that Corinth got into the church. If I were to summarize this book tonight, I would say, well, what happened to the church in Corinth is they fell into the trap of adopting the world's wisdom. And when they did that, they lost everything that was distinctive to Christianity. The world's wisdom. Because what Christianity offers is a crucified Christ. A message that is not wise to this world. And by adopting the world's wisdom, it contradicted everything Christianity was about. That's the problem in Corinth. That's the summary of the church in Corinth. That God's wisdom had nothing to do with the world's wisdom. and the church in Corinth had so bought into the world's wisdom, it had lost completely God's wisdom. In the coming weeks, we're going to unpack this church, and it's a church typically presented as a church full of controversies. I remember a book, 20 controversies that almost killed a church. But I think it's not quite correct to look at it that way. Sure, controversies dominated, but those were all consequences of Corinth adopting the world's wisdom and forgetting their uniqueness, their separateness as a people of God. And now you understand how important this is for us. One of you walked up to me and said, Pastor, you're going to preach through Corinthians. You know what they call that. I said, no, 1st and 2nd, California. I had no idea. Well, that's where we are, so it'll work. This epistle could have been written today. And I believe that if we give ourselves to study this and learn from this, even though we're going to wade through some tough stuff, the Ascondido URC will be all the stronger as a church. I mean, we will really be stronger as a church if we give ourselves to understand this epistle to Corinth. So what I want to do tonight briefly is just highlight and give you the introduction to this epistle and look at three things that I believe can be summarized from the first nine verses, you could highlight it by saying what the church was supposed to be, what the church had become, and how Paul begins to encourage them forward. So what the church was supposed to be, what the church had become, and how Paul begins to encourage them forward. Look at verse 1. Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ to our brother and our brother Sosthenes. At the beginning of the epistle, Paul addresses this church in Corinth as an apostle. That's important because many, we're going to find out, were challenging his apostolic authority, and he'll even deal with what are called super apostles in the second book, the second book of Corinthians. But he's doing this so that they would understand that what he is about to say comes with the authority of Jesus Christ. In other words, Paul is saying, I want you to understand I'm sent by Jesus Christ, and the message that I give, the words that are coming to you, come in that kind of authority. That's serious. You're not getting a chatty, nice little epistle here out of the gates. Paul is dealing with things. Paul has things on his mind. At one point, he had to call his visit to this place difficult, a painful visit. What's going on in Corinth? Let me give you a little background. Corinth was destroyed by the Romans in the year 146 BC, and later it would be rebuilt by Julius Caesar in about 29 AD. So what happened was you had a city that was being filled with roman culture everything that embodied rome filled corinth and it was a melting pot it was a melting pot of all sorts of peoples and cultures mixed into the roman way rome dominated their laws their religion remember the imperial cult dominated the time that was the worship of the emperor corinth was strategically important for rome it was known as the master of two harbors One that led to Asia and the other that led to Italy. It was a major trade city. Merchants swelled and swarmed the city. But what I think is most important here to remember is, is that this church was going up and being founded at a time when Corinth itself was going from rags to riches. Can you imagine what that was like? I drive through LA today and it's just depressing. You see nothing but pavement and graffiti. Can you imagine years ago when you go through L.A. and that was all going up, the excitement? Brand new? You get pictures of that. You see it in movies. You might even think back to the time when this country was formed and many came here to do what? Practice the freedom of religion. That was one of the major reasons that people came. And the country at that time was going through some of the greatest expansion and growth and potential for advancement was off the charts culturally. And, I mean, the money to be made, the success, the opportunity. I mean, what do we call the United States of America? The land of opportunity, prosperity, and wealth. You even went through the years of the Industrial Revolution and what happened in this country. When America, when the United States was new and fresh, it was exciting. You were involved in the rise of a giant. being a part of that. We're kind of going through a time now where that's being unraveled. But what an exciting time to be living when this powerhouse of Rome is rising up. And they're reaching a climax here of power. And here is Corinth. Julius Caesar had made this a key city culturally and politically for Rome. You would walk into Corinth. The Isthmian Games would be going on like the Olympics. Thousands would come to these games. You had a building boom going on in the city. It was called the most dazzling of all the modern Greek cities. All of this new wealth. And Rome offered the Roman dream, of course. The city was set up. Anyone who wanted social status and advancement, this was the place to go. Everyone was pursuing wealth and honor. And how do you think that came? Well, it depended on what you got involved with, didn't it? You could have the best entertainment of the day. You had the best plays, the best festivals. All sorts of new cults were rising up. The Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome was promised. Rome was called the gift to the world in providing for people. What did it provide? Peace and security. sound familiar when everyone came to the US it was known as having the American dream and it was offered to everyone you watch those old movies and they depict you know the nation horror was something like the great depression but the glory of the United States was something but here was a problem something filled Corinth And what was encouraged by the Roman government was the total acceptance of Roman ideology. To obtain that, you had to adopt Corinth's morals. You know what was a common idiom of the day in Corinth? What do you say when people fornicate? Well, I don't want to get into that, but you have all sorts of names for that in our culture, don't you? Well, fornicating in Corinth became known as Corinthianizing. Corinthianizing. And guess what? All the cities knew about the girls in Corinth. When the guys came over to Corinth, if you were dating a Corinth girl, you were either dating a prostitute or somebody who was completely promiscuous. Prostitutes filled Corinth. One major wicked problem dominated Corinth. Guess what it was? Sexual immorality. Well, there's no way you could be a Christian in this culture and not be unaffected by that. There's just no way. And you see why this is as relevant and as alive an epistle today as ever? I mean, this could have been pinned today. How much do you think this problem has infiltrated the church? If I asked the question, how bad do you think sexual immorality is in California, you'd laugh, right? It's just awful. How bad in the church? No one would be laughing. How worldly is California? How attracted are we to it? It's probably so ingrained in us we don't even really know how it's affected us. Well, here's what happened in Corinth. The church became so attracted to what Corinth was offering, it lost the heart of what it stood for. Put it this way, if you love the world and fall into its attraction, what becomes of the Christian message? That's the million dollar question. What becomes of the church? Here's the real test. What is the Christian message? Rome took their gods, and you go through Roman cities to this day that are torn down in the ruins, you still see busts. What did they do with their gods? They put him on stone they put caesar's bus to be bowed down to they took zeus they said when he shook his curls mount olympus would shake their gods were powerful their gods were studly i mean you never put up an idol without a god having without having chiseled abs biceps what was christianity's message. A Savior who is not beautiful. The Son of who? God. Feel that? The Son of God took on our flesh, subjected Himself, and came under the law. A God. The God of heaven and earth. But think of it from roman view a god did that became the curse and suffered at the hands of mere men whipped and beaten and crucified and bloody and was murdered on the cursed tree and what is god's wisdom well listen no christian in those days wore a cross i mean we dip it in gold today and put it around our necks what a silly thing that was the worst instrument of cruelty and torture and to imagine that the son of god went up on it now imagine trying to bring that message in this culture and then telling a bunch of social elites they need that you kind of understand why over and over and over, Paul kept telling Timothy, don't be ashamed, don't be ashamed. All the while you're living there struggling with yourself and the lure of it all, you're struggling with what it offers you, finding yourself tempted with the same opportunities, and there's no real opposition like in other cities. There was some persecution, but it was relatively easy to be a Christian in Corinth. That's one of the most difficult environments to be a Christian. Every value of Corinth was antithetical to Christ. What do you think happened to the church? Well, if you embrace the principles that dominate the world, if the world swallows you up, its behavior, and you begin to value its system and its morals, that system takes over the church. And that same kind of competition for status and glory and a name matching the way that society embraces those things becomes dominant in the church and it becomes a club. What happens to the ministry? Everything. And now you see why you have a church full of problems. Let me run through just a few briefly. In chapter 1, next sermon, what's he dealing with? All these people running around picking their favorite pastors. The cult of the pastor. I follow him, and I like him, and he's the one you need to listen to. and I like him. I mean, is this alive today? The cult of personality in the office of the pastor is out of hand. In chapters two and three, Paul chides them for using worldly methods and techniques for doing ministry, forgetting that God's ministry is foolishness to the world. In chapter five, toleration of sexual immorality. Chapter six, brothers suing one another. You understand when have a social status and ladder in the church, how easy that would be. Chapter 7, sexual immorality destroying God's design for what? Marriage. Chapters 8 and 9, abusing liberty between brothers. Chapters 11 and 12, the ruin of the Lord's table, even drunkenness. Chapter 13, the absolute abuse of gifts, thinking that the real spiritual ones have the best. And then there's the little people with nothing. And then a wrong view of the body, so much so that Paul has to re-teach the whole and make clear doctrine of the resurrection. It's a book overcoming the world's wisdom, dealing with this whole idea of the haves and the have-nots over the glory of Corinth versus the crucified Christ. Now, with all of that, I launch you into the first verses. To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all of those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What stands out to you? What's the single thing that Paul is saying at the beginning of this epistle? He's emphasizing one thing. Holiness. Did you see it? to those who have been made holy in Christ Jesus. Notice again, he says it again. Called to be saints, separate ones. Called to be those set apart to God. It's as if he's reminding them out of the gates, you're his holy nation. Do you think about this for you? Remember what was said? That He gave Himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works. You know the church in Thessalonica, what the Lord said to it? This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who don't know God. You know, and we're studying Jacob and I've rehearsed grace and more grace and more grace, but you know there's a goal to that. That's coming. God's going to deal with Jacob. Holiness. And it's as if at the beginning of the epistle here, Paul is reminding these Christians and his church, that this church, that when Christ set His claim on it, He bought them. He doesn't do that to let us remain in filthiness. You ever notice that sexual immorality leaves somebody in a state of emptiness and guilt and filthiness? It's fascinating that this church who had fallen into that and people who had fallen into that, God begins this epistle to them and He says to them right at the beginning, You don't have the freedom to live like a Corinthian. I pulled you out of that. I set you apart. You're part of something much greater than you. You're part, and you share with all of those who ever call on the name of the Lord today. Do you realize that? We are a part of, with everyone in the world who is in Christ who called on the name of the Lord and worship. You know, Paul had a rough time with this church. A real rough time with this church. And I'm amazed, you know, by this church because I think I would struggle to know what to do with this church today. When we say in the Belgic Confession, the three marks of a faithful church are the pure preaching of the gospel, the right administration of sacraments, and church discipline strike out on all three. I mean it. Major problems in this church. The gospel was not being purely preached. They had used worldly wisdom. Church discipline was neglected. And you had people getting drunk at the sacrament. False church? Well, I want to leave us tonight with this thought. How does Paul approach this church? Under the inspiration of the Spirit. He reminds them of a few important things. Look what he says. I want to remind you, I appeal to you brothers by the name, verse 10, of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree, I'm sorry, back up. I give thanks to my God, this is verse 4, always for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus. Notice this, that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge. Did you hear what He just said? He wants them to know how the Lord regards them. Grace was given to you guys. Grace came to you. And I'm moved by that. Do you ever stop and think that when the Escondido URC began, the grace that was given to this church and the grace that continues to uphold this church. Grace was given in every way. You were enriched in every way. You received it in all speech and all knowledge. You received the gospel, The testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. In other words, the gospel you heard and it was confirmed. God confirmed it in you. Love that. You received it. This church had fallen into the trap of the world, but he wanted them to know, you never lacked. You never lacked. No, no, no. You had been given the gospel. It was confirmed in you. You've been given the message. And then Paul says in verse 7, as they wait for Christ, this is what's remarkable. You're not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, guess what He's going to do for you? He's going to sustain you to the end. Now, before He deals with any of the mess that's coming, did you see the whole picture just presented? I gave you grace. I've confirmed it in you. And I'll keep you to the end. What a remarkable, remarkable opening. Guiltless in the day. of our lord jesus christ why because god is faithful and he called you you see all this ties to this morning he called you into the fellowship of his son well as we open up this book then tonight we need to remember you know the lord will confront us at times through this book as a church but why does he do that you know if you ever feel confronted in the preaching you know and maybe phil pastor gordon was aiming that at me today i promise you i don't ever aim it at anyone okay i pray to god that i'll never do that but if we're good thessal and ikan and we're good bereans one of the ways that the lord keeps you to the end is addressing what needs to be addressed and calling us back to him and holiness because we don't understand how filthy we are when we go out into the world and get contaminated and then drag it right on into the church. And sometimes we fall and stumble into sin. There are men struggling here with sexual immorality. The discouragements are real. And people feel like giving up all the time. But the Lord comes to us in this epistle and confronts things to lead us in the paths of everlasting righteousness and He wants you to know I'm not giving up on the project that I started. So what an encouragement as we begin this book. His people, His church, and if you give yourself to study this, the Escondido United Reformed Church will be greatly strengthened in what we believe in the positive truth and progress in holiness in a way that pleases Christ. And isn't that our goal here? That's His goal for us. Isn't that our goal for us? To progress in holiness as a church in a way that pleases Christ as we learn to treasure Him above all earthly powers and wisdom. He who called you is faithful and presents you faultless. Let's go to Him tonight in prayer. Heavenly Father, we bow the head and are thankful for these epistles that instruct us in righteousness and call us to holiness and remind us of who we are. You are faithful. And as we again see from this morning, the continuity that when that calling comes and you confirmed it in us, you just told us you'll complete the work that you started. And for that, we are immensely grateful. Only give us as a church ears to hear what your spirit has to say to the Escondido United Reformed Church through this book. And may we be your special treasure, set apart, sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen.