"We are Saints, and will Judge the World" Kathryn Kuhlman 1 Corinthians Series Part 8

Through this changing world below, I would not choose my path to go. Tis his hand that leadeth me, then oh, how safe his child must be. Sometimes we walk in sunshine bright, sometimes... In the darkness of the night, in sometimes the way I cannot see, but his precious hand still leadeth me. Sometimes there seems no way to take, but his hand a way doth make. And sometimes I hear him gently say, Come, follow me. This is the way. So why should I mind the way I go? For his way is best for me, I know. And he is my strength, my truth, my way. He is my comfort, my rod, my stay. And so, beloved, on we travel. Hand in hand. Bound for thy glorious heavenly promised land. And always, through all eternity, I'll praise his name for leading me. And with perfect trust and perfect confidence, we place ourselves, our lives, into your care and your keeping. Just keep leading and we'll keep following. I just feel like having a good heart -to -heart talk with you. And I hope that you're feeling like you'd like to have a good heart -to -heart talk with me. If you do, we'll have an awful good time together for the next few minutes. And I'm going to talk to you about something that's very practical. You know, after all is said and done, the Bible is very practical. In fact, this thing of living a Christian life is the most practical life in the world. Jesus himself is a very practical... person right down to earth. And there isn't a need in our life. I don't care who you are, under what circumstances you are living. I don't care whether you are rich or poor, learned or unlearned. I want you to know, regardless of what your need is, there's a promise in the Word that'll meet that need. There isn't anything that concerns a human life but what the Bible speaks of that very thing. Now, here's something that's very practical, and I feel that we have disregarded it. Turn, if you will, please, to 1 Corinthians, the sixth chapter. And everything that I'm going to have to say will be in the first 11 verses. That's right. You should have known I was going to have a heart -to -heart talk with you, and you should have gotten your Bible out. Then we could have saved a little time. That's right. You have it now. All right. Read it, if you will, please, with me. The first word is most important. And in the entire Word of God, this is the very first time any chapter begins with this word, dare. Dare any of you. It's a mighty challenging word with which the apostle starts. Dare any of you. Had you the courage? We see it once. It's a question almost of amazement on his part, as though the apostle on the human level was saying, I don't understand why you are doing it. I don't understand how you dare do it. How you even had the courage to do it? How dare you? How dare you what? Having a matter against a neighbor? How dare any of you go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? It's a challenge. The implication is that to do such a thing... would be to violate the very principles of their life. And he says, dare you do it. Hand you the courage. Their action was a violation of the very genius and value of their life as Christians. To take the matter of disputes within the church, outside the church, and ask the opinion. Ask the heathen to ask the unregenerated for their help, their advice. And the emphasis is on that word, you. Dare any of you. Oh, that's great. You mean you didn't know it was there? Sure. Dare. Any of you. To whom is he speaking? Those who have been born again. He is talking to those who have been regenerated. He's not talking to the unsaved. Having a matter against another. He is still speaking to those within the body of believers. In the body of Christ. He's not talking about the unbeliever. Both are Christians. Get this picture. Both have been born again. Both are members of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are in the body of Christ. Dare any of you go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Now, before we go a little deeper into this study of the word and get the full meaning of it, let's just pause and go back to the beginning of Paul's letter. He was writing, of course, to the Corinthian church. And they were having trouble within the church. They were having trouble among themselves. Disputes and jealousies. They were just ordinary people like the rest of us. Human nature hasn't changed one iota. Know that. All through the years, human nature has not changed. Man is just the same today as he was back there. Go to the beginning of Paul's letter. He'd received word of the condition that was in the church. And instead of approaching them from a negative standpoint, he used the positive. Oh, it's great. Do you want to know what he did? The very first thing that he did, he put them on their own honor. He reminded them of their position as Christians. He reminded them of the fact that they were more than just plain, ordinary men and women. For having been born again, he calls them the Church of God. Oh. Could he have called them anything greater than to remind them that as believers they were the church of God? And then he goes a little further. He continues and he calls them sanctified in Christ Jesus. You're not just the ordinary run of... People, since your experience of regeneration, remember you're sanctified in Jesus Christ. Then he goes a step further and he calls them saints. That's really putting them on their honor. You're saints. You don't dare do the things that you're doing. because of your position. You have forgotten to whom you belong. You can't act like the unregenerated. You're the church of God. You're sanctified in Christ Jesus. You're saints. Now then he continues with that same thought and it's Still positive. And if you can learn this lesson, it's the greatest thing in the world that I could teach you. Remember to whom you belong. I pray that right now the Holy Spirit will take the word and make it a very part of your living, your thinking. a very part of you, and it will change your life completely. Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? These are children of God. And he's reminding them that they are sons of the Most High. And that in their disputes, in going to the heathen, the pagan, the unregenerated, they were going outside of their own ranks for wisdom when the Christian should have greater wisdom than anybody else in the world. Why do you go to the unsympathetic person for advice? When the Christian brethren are supposed to be better equipped for doing the job than anyone else. Dare you, it's a challenge. And remember, not necessarily neighbor, but... Any of you having some dispute with another of you, dare you go to the unrighteous for help. Why do you, who profess to be Christians, regenerated, sons of the Most High, go over to your next door neighbor, who is not a Christian, that make no profession whatsoever. of Christianity. They have no regard for God or the things of God. Why do you go over to the next door neighbor when you get into trouble and ask their advice? Let's pinpoint this thing. You are a Christian woman. You have God as your Heavenly Father. You have the Word of God and you have perfect confidence in the Word of God. You know how to pray. You know how to get hold of God in prayer. You find that your husband is untrue to you. You're having domestic difficulties. And so what do you do? Instead of doing the thing that you should do as a born -again woman, as a child of God, you go over to your neighbor lady and you sit by the hour and tell her all of your troubles and try to get advice from her. When if you only knew it, She's having the same trouble herself, and if she could help you, believe me, she'd be holding her own husband and his affection. Maybe she's just keeping her mouth shut about her troubles, using a little more wisdom than you're using. She's not blabbing it all over the neighborhood. Maybe she's just a little smarter than you are and keeping it to herself. Yet you go over to the unregenerated and you try to get advice from her. How in the world do you expect to win her for God when she sees through your example that you have no power in prayer, that in a time of distress, in a time of trouble, You yourself do not go to the place of supply. You do not go to the powerhouse. You do not act as though God is your Heavenly Father. And it's just like that. This is old -fashioned Missouri cornbread that I'm giving you today, and I think it's needed. If you are a Christian, act like a Christian. If... you believe that your Heavenly Father is all -powerful, act like it. If you believe that he who has promised will keep his promise, if you believe that you are a son of the Most High, if you believe that you are a joint heir with Christ Jesus, you do not have to go outside of the ranks. of born -again Christians to seek advice. That's exactly what he's talking about. Dare any of you. All this is challenging. Uh -huh. Yeah. The church has no right to get mixed up with the world in their troubles. Their business dealings. Don't take it into a pagan atmosphere. Don't take it to the unsympathetic. That's when we really get into trouble. Then, he reminds them of something. 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? In other words, how in the world are you going to be able to judge the world as a part of Jesus himself when you can't take care of your own personal matters? You're inconsistent in your living. You're inconsistent in your thinking. We need a fresh baptism of consistency among Christians. Do you remember what Paul said once in 1 Timothy regarding elders and deacons in the church? I quote his exact words. In other words, he's saying, if a man cannot govern his own children, if a man has no control over his own son, his own daughter, that man is not in a position to either be an elder or a... deacon in the church. How can he rule over others in the church of God when he has no rule over members of his own household? The whole thing begins at home. It's like that. If you had no control over your own life, your own emotions. If there is no self -discipline in your own life, how in the world can you discipline anyone else? Oh, this is wonderful. This is the most practical, the most logical thing in the world. And it is true when he's talking about ruling and reigning with him. Let me just take a half second. I have the Bible right here, and let me turn to it, and you turn to it too. The fifth chapter of the book of Revelation. This is what he's referring to. It's there in the tenth verse, all right? And has made us... unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on earth. That's a part of our inheritance. As Christian, as born again men and women, he's appealing to the consistent life. any of you go outside of the ranks of the spiritual to get help to get advice when one of these days you are going to help rule and reign this earth with him when right now You don't have enough power in your own life to go to the right source for help. Do ye not know that the saints shall rule the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life. In the next broadcast, we're going to go a little deeper into this subject that's so needed.