"Remember to Whom You Belong!" Kathryn Kuhlman 1 Corinthians Series Part 9

another slice of good old -fashioned Missouri cornbread, or in other words, a heart -to -heart talk. And I'll be very frank to tell you, if in the next several minutes I can get you to remember at all times, under all circumstances, to whom you belong, It will be the most profitable heart -to -heart talk that you and I have ever had. And I mean exactly that. There are four words that are found in the Song of Solomon. I am his. And if you can get the full meaning, the full significance, of those four words until they become a living, vital part of you. It's going to take all of the defeat out of your life. It will change your thinking completely. You will literally be a new person. I am his. Somebody said to me, Very recently. You know, Miss Grumman, you are always so sure of yourself. At all times. No matter what the crisis, no matter what happens, you always are so sure of yourself. Not really. I'll tell you a secret. I'm not sure of myself at all. But I'm dead sure of him. I am sure of my God. I am so sure of my God that I'd stake my very life on him. I am so sure that I can trust him under all circumstances. I'm not so sure that I could trust myself under all circumstances. But I'm sure that I can trust him. His strength, his power, his courage. I am so sure of his word that I would stake my very life on any one of his promises. So that when... You look at my life and look at me as a person and you feel that I am so sure of myself that I am a person of complete self -assurance. Remember, it is because I am so sure of the one that I love and the one on whom I lean completely. I know that under all circumstances, I can say with Paul, who proved it to the very end, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Not only by the skin of our teeth or just a very thin veneer. We are not only conquerors, we not only will have strength for just that moment, but we are more than conquerors through him who has never lost a battle, who knows no such thing as defeat. who knows no such thing as worry, fear, anxiety, then if I am his, I belong to him, then neither should I be worried, neither should I have fear, neither should I be troubled, because I belong. Now that's exactly what Paul was trying to get through the heads of those Corinthian Christians. He began his letter with it, reminding them that they were saints of God, reminding them that they were sanctified in Christ Jesus, reminding them that they were literally the very church of God, reminding them of their position. And in all these things, he was trying to say to them, remember to whom you belong. We come to our second heart -to -heart talk regarding this person the Word of God is found in the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians. And he begins it with a word that is very challenging. Dare any of you, knowing that you belong to him, knowing that you are his, Knowing that he has never failed. Knowing that he is the source of your supply, your power, and that he is God Almighty. And that all that is his is yours. Watch it. And because you do belong to him, none else can possess you. or has the right or power over you, except according to his will, knowing that you are his property, and that he will defend you, that he loves you, and that the adversary can claim no right over you. Oh, this is great. Stop right in the middle of the kitchen floor and look up in the darkest hour of your life and remember to whom you belong. Maybe you will feel like saying it right out loud. I am his. I belong to him. In a moment of defeat. in a moment of discouragement. You don't have to run over to your next -door neighbor to get advice from her. She's unregenerated. She's unconverted. She doesn't know Him as her Heavenly Father. Serving your business, you don't have to go to some godless somebody who is unsympathetic, who knows nothing about the power of God. And in your distress, get his advice. God knows he has troubles enough of his own. If he was so smart, he wouldn't be having those troubles that he's confronted with, you know? And it's like that. The one who is a Christian has at his command the greatest power there is in heaven and earth. God. God Almighty. That's the reason. Oh, this is so consistent. This is so practical. When Paul, almost, should I say, impatient, he stood aghast to think that they would have the audacity to go to the heathen, the pagan. The outsider, that's somebody outside the church, to get help, to get advice. Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Are you talking about those who were in the church? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world, and if the world shall be judged by you? Are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? If you can't get along among yourselves, if you can't get along at home and in the church and with your own brethren in the church without having to go outside the church to get help and to get advice, then how in the world are you going to be able to help him rule and reign as saints of God. Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life. If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak. To your shame, he says. Then he goes a little deeper and he says, remember to whom you belong. Remember something, he says. You are children of God. You are sons of the Most High. One of these days and all this argument that he uses is priceless. The unrighteous are not living in contact. with the principles of eternal justice. They haven't true knowledge. They haven't true wisdom. The only one who has true wisdom, the one who is perfect knowledge, is the one who is your Heavenly Father. The one who has perfect principle is God himself. The unrighteous are not living in contact with these principles of eternal justice. Then why go to them for help, for advice? The day is coming when the Unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. It's your inheritance. Remember to whom you belong. You are literally joint heirs with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He reminds them to whom they belong. Then here's something. You know, every once in a while, Paul got just a little sarcastic. It would be better to say it was Paul's satire. Oh, I tell you, I appreciate this so much. And sometimes I think it's overlooked. But I want you to see. his satire in this because it is priceless. If you think that Paul was easy and very patient, oh, my friend, he knew human nature. He knew to whom he was writing and speaking. They were all puffed up with spiritual pride. And there's nothing in the world that's so nauseating, so disgusting. As men and women in the church with spiritual pride, they were all puffed up. Oh, sure. They had had this wonderful experience with the Lord. They knew that they'd been born again, and so they felt a little better than those on the outside, you know. And they were saying, by the very essence of their action, we know it all. We have an experience that you don't have. Now, you know, there are those who get the idea believe in the speaking in an unknown tongue. I do. Oh, my friend, I do. I have to believe it because it's in the word of God. God's word teaches it. I do, my friend. What I say is that there's a time and a place for these things. But I have seen folk just because they have spoken in an unknown tongue, become very puffed up over the experience. And you can hardly touch them with a ten -foot pole. They feel that because they have had this experience, that somehow with the experience, God has given them the authority to be a little judge. And I swear sometimes, that they actually think they have greater wisdom and can judge better than God himself. You know why I believe they think it? Because they act it. Oh, dear me. Paul threw it right back into their laps, knowing that they were all puffed up with spiritual pride. because of their spiritual experience and their spiritual knowledge. And really, in the final analysis, they had very little spiritual knowledge. But it comes right down to it. But they became very puffed up over that which they did have. So, what's Paul's... Let me read it to you. Oh, it's great. He says to them, Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? think you're so smart. You think you have so much when it comes to spiritual things. And yet, is it so that there's not one among you wise enough to deal with these things in your everyday living, in your lives, that you have to go out? the church to get spiritual help and spiritual advice. Isn't that priceless? Then he goes on. He says, all right, there was that time when you practiced idolatry. You were fornicators, thieves. There was a time you were covetous. drunkards, he names all of these sins, but that day is over with. Now you're washed. Now you're sanctified. Now you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God. You are a new creature in Christ Jesus. And with that glorious experience, After having been born again, you are a living, vital part of him, his body. You are literally a joint heir with the very son of the living God. You are his. Remember to whom you belong. You don't have to go outside the confines of God, the church, the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ, to get help, to get advice. That's exactly when you get in to the messes that you get into. That's exactly why you get into all the... that you get into is when you go outside of the person of the Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and His glorious Word. Remember, under all circumstances, to whom you belong, you are... He is.