"Paul's Example" Kathryn Kuhlman 1 Corinthians Series Part 7

Well, sir, I have a letter and the writer lives in Fruesburg, New York. And she said, Miss Schoolman, we've learned a long time ago that whenever we have a question and we're praying for the correct answer, sooner or later we get it from you. You know, it's kind of nice. And she goes on to say, here we are living. amongst five churches in this little town of Fruesburg, and we have to take 11 hours out of every Sunday and travel nearly 300 miles to get the word of truth. But, oh, we're so glad that we have found it in your ministry. You know that's priceless. And those people live in Fruesburg, New York. Every Sunday, they travel nearly 300 miles. And as the writer says, we take 11 hours out of every Sunday just to attend the service in the Stanbaldatory in Youngstown, Ohio. My, when I stop to think of my responsibility as a minister of the gospel. I dare not give anything less than my best to him and to these precious folk. By the grace of God, I vow to give you the best that I have. And I promise you, you'll never be disappointed in the Lord. I want these little heart -to -heart talks that you and I have together to become a very... part of your day, your life, your living. This thing of being a Christian is the most practical thing in the whole world. I know you think of me as being a minister of the gospel. It is not a profession with me. It is a life. I pray it shall be so with you. You not only profess Christianity, but I pray to God that it is a life with you. Father, take the word again and make it real to our hearts for Jesus' sake. Well, and now... another one of those good heart -to -heart talks. Somebody says, oh my goodness, wait, wait, wait till I get out my Bible. That's right. I'll wait for you because there is no substitute for the Word of God. Believe me. Now, if I say something that is contrary to the Word of God, always remember, The Bible is right. I am wrong. If in the place where you worship, that minister says something that's contrary to the Word of God, always remember the Bible is right. That's why I ask you when I give you a portion of the Word of God, we have these heart -to -heart talks. Always sit there with your Bible open. And everything that I give you, I try to back up with the Word of God. We are now in the fourth chapter of 1 Corinthians. Oh, and I just love this portion of the Word of God. You know, they were having a knock -down drag -out in that Corinthian church. Now, don't smile about it. They were human in exactly the same way that we are human. And wherever you will find human nature, you will always, invariably, sooner or later, find dissension and jealousy. Well, it's just because we're human, I guess. And those early Christians were no different than we are today, than the folk are in your church. And they were having divisions. They were having their difficulties. And there were those who had complained to Paul. And that was the reason for this first letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians in that early church. Oh, this is great. And he says in so many words, fly goes... running around in your conceit as though he had a right to boast. You don't have a thing in the world to boast about. They were loaded with spiritual pride. He puts them right in their place. He says not one of you have cause for spiritual pride. Not one of you have cause for your conceit. For the very things that you're putting to an improper use, causing differences. These are the things that are gifts. And you've received them from God. They're not yours to boast about, to be conceited over. You have nothing, you are nothing, outside of that which God has given you and blessed you with. He had just said in the third chapter when some of them have said in their little clicks, you know, and you'll find a click in every church. Always. Now, I don't care where you go to church. You may be a Baptist. You may be an Episcopalian. You may be a Presbyterian. As sure as there's a place where men and women gather together to worship, there'll be a clique. They had a clique there in that early Corinthian church. One of them said, I am of Apollos. And they were in that little clique. Another said, I am of Cephas. There was a little clique over there. Then there were those who said, I am of Paul. I'll only go to church when Paul preaches. He's intellectual. He has what I like. And so I'll just wait till Paul comes back. You know what he said? Who then is Paul? Just who is Apollos? Just who are we? I have planted. Apollos has watered. Oh, this job of planting is a big job. It's an important job. And this thing of watering after the seed has been planted is most important. But why should either one of us strut around in our conceit when after all it is... God who giveth the increase. I have nothing to boast of. Apollos has nothing to boast of. Cephas certainly has nothing to boast of. The thing wouldn't grow anyway. There wouldn't be any fruit. There wouldn't be any results unless God himself gave the increase. Oh, that's great. We better remember that. We've gotten so far away from it. Let's come back again to real, honest -to -goodness scriptural teaching. Then Paul does something. He drops into satire. And for just a second, I want you to see a masterpiece of matchless satire. And it's exactly what it is. He was laughing at them, perhaps in what one might call a holy laughter, but yet with utter contempt for what they'd been doing. You're filled. You're rich. You're arrogant. Ha, ha. What is he saying? In just one little sentence, he says the whole thing. I would that he did reign. That we also might reign with you. You're rich. In other words, you think you're rich. You're full. Full of what? Conceit. Spiritual arrogance. Spiritual pride. You're so satisfied in your own conceit. You think that you have all that any Christian has ever received. And really, there's nothing worse in the whole world than spiritual pride. Spiritual conceit. He said, I wish you understood what it really means. to reign. Said Paul, then you and I could reign together in the true sense of the word. We have here a piece of matchless satire. Read it. It's there. It's the eighth verse of the fourth chapter of 1 Corinthians. Then he gives him this marvelous statement of his estimate. of the position of a born again christian oh this is glorious that ninth verse for i think that god hath set forth us the apostles lost as it were appointed to death For we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men. He was looking back now. He was looking all the way back to the time of the prophets. God had had his priest. God had his kings, his prophets. Oh, they were holy men of God. Go back to Abraham, if you will. Go back to Isaac, if you will. Mighty men of God. Go back to those Old Testament priests. chosen of God, anointed of God. Go back to those Old Testament prophets. Again I can hear the voice of Jeremiah saying, Oh, it's not by might, it's not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. Again some... how I can hear the voice of Isaiah. As he cried forth, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and by his stripes we are healed. And yet, do you realize, because the fact that they were born and lived On the other side of Calvary, not one of them could stand and face the whole world and say, look upon me and see in me the transforming power of the son of the living God. See in me redemption's work, not one. Not one. Not one of those holy priests during the Old Testament dispensation could say to those who sought advice, who sought forgiveness, who sought instruction, look. upon me as an example of the power of the shed blood of the great Messiah, God's matchless Son, Jesus Christ. No. They could only point to types and shadows of the one who is to come. Not one of the Old Testament prophets could stand before the whole world and say, behold, I am an example of a man who's passed from death unto life. The transforming power of the Son of God. I am an example. of what redemption has done in a man's life. Not one. Because they lived on the other side of the cross. That's the reason Paul makes a statement. That's one of the most thrilling things. Beloved, the first time I was given this spiritual revelation, I cried like a baby. Why? For the first time I realized the tremendous responsibility that was mine. I realized that I was in a position to do what no Old Testament saint was ever privileged to do. I realized that I had a position that Jesus could not do for himself. Paul saw it. Let me read it again. For I think that God hath set forth us, the apostles, last. Why? For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. Is the question. I am a public spectacle. As a born again man, you are a public spectacle. As a born again woman, you are a spectacle. Do you realize that the very angels of heaven Even knowing the plan of redemption, having seen God's perfect blueprint for redemption, had never seen redemption's plan consummated and in complete operation until after Jesus dismissed his own spirit from his body. Until Jesus died on the cross. Until he rose again from the grave. That was the first time that an angel had ever seen redemption's plan. The power that there was in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. In action. In power. in the life of a human being. Oh, that's glorious. Today, you and I can do what Jesus Christ could not do for himself. Sin had never touched his body. Sin had never touched the life of the Son of the Living God. And he could only go just so far and no further. He could not, through his own body, his own life, challenge the world and say, look upon me and see redemption's plan, see the power of my own shed blood. No. Why? Because he was the only one who could challenge the world and say, which of you convinces me of sin? Because sin had never touched that life. He was perfect, absolute perfection. It takes a sinner, saved by the grace of God, to be a spectacle of the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Paul continues, we are fools for Christ's sake, as a spectacle, as one who's been redeemed, whose life has been transformed. We are fools for Christ's sake. But ye are wise in Christ. We are weak, but ye are strong. We're honorable, but we're despised. Even unto this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain running place. and labor, working with our own hands, being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer it. Why? Because we are new creatures in Christ Jesus.