The Corrective Epistles

… Hymn number 212. I'd be grateful if a local brother will start an appropriate tune. Called from above, and heavenly men by birth, who once were but the citizens of earth, as pilgrims here we seek a heavenly home, our portion in the ages yet to come. We are but strangers here, we do not crave a home on earth, which gave thee but a grave. Thy cross has severed ties which bound us here, thyself our treasure in a brighter sphere. 212. Called from above, and heavenly men by birth, who once were but the citizens of earth, as pilgrims here we seek a heavenly home, our portion in the ages yet to come. We are but strangers here, we do not crave a home on earth, which gave thee but a grave. Thy cross has severed ties which bound us here, thyself our treasure in a brighter sphere. O God our Father, in coming together at the end, or towards the end of another busy day, another day's march nearer home, we give thee thanks for giving us the privilege and the opportunity of singing with holy fervour words that we know to be true. We recognise the immediate challenge involved in taking such words upon our lips. Called saints, what an amazing dignity this is. Thou hast set us apart for thyself. All that we were once connected with, as to the flesh, severed completely once and for all. Every outstanding question dealt with to thy glory and for our eternal blessing. And we thank thee for the measure in which our lives that we live day by day are a fair representation of that necessary response to thee, the God of all grace, for the greatness of every expression of thy love toward us. We think of the many of thy people not so favoured as ourselves. We give thee thanks for the creature comforts we enjoy. Comfortable homes, more than sufficient to eat and to clothe ourselves with. The congenial fellowship of like-minded believers. Opportunity to turn to thy word as individuals and collectively too. Opportunity to witness to others of thy saving grace. And we pray even now that there might be those who have turned in repentance towards thyself and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as a result of contact with thy people this day. We commend our families to thee, some locally, others further afield, and we commit them to thy care. We pray that the things that we hope to enjoy and be challenged by here tonight might come before them too, and that the immense ramifications of willingly exposing ourselves to the challenge of thy holy written word by thy Spirit, that this might have its effect upon them and upon us. Think of some who aren't well. Think of some recently bereaved, others who are lonely and isolated, and we happily commend them to thee. And for ourselves as we open thy word, bless to us, we pray, the reading of the holy scriptures and the comments that are made that we might accept again from thee the necessity that there is to respond in personal life and godliness to thy great mercy that thou hast shown toward us. We commit us into thy good hand. We seek thy help and blessing. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Would you turn, please, to the first epistle to the Corinthians and chapter 1. 1 Corinthians, chapter 1 and verse 1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all but in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Christ Jesus that in everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you so that ye come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Now chapter 7, verse 1. Now, concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me. I think that will suffice for the moment. I was very pleased to receive a phone call advising me that I'd been allocated five sessions of ministry while I'm in Ipswich and Felixstowe area. That was one problem solved. How many sessions? Of course, resolving one problem always leads to others. The next problem was what kind of material would be suitable to bring before you that would be best calculated at the present moment to be profitable and helpful to you. And I found my thoughts going along this line of problem solving. Now that's not a popular subject, I know. I once worked with a man, my boss at the time, who frequently gave me a policy statement. This was his approach. He said, never make a decision today that you can put off till tomorrow. And he said the other thing is never tackle a problem today that can be left till tomorrow. He says usually you'll be overtaken by events and no decision will be necessary. And he said, with a bit of luck, he wasn't a believer, the problem will go away or resolve itself. Now, we can see the folly of that in an unbeliever. But sadly, as believers, we often give the impression that even if we don't put it into words, that's our policy about problems. Never make a decision today that we can put off till tomorrow. Never tackle a problem that can be left till the next day, and so on. Now, be that as it may, in this or any other locality, it does lead to the healthy exercise of inquiring from scripture as to whether or not problems need to be tackled and should be tackled and the best way to do that. Bearing in mind that you've allocated me five sessions, this led on to the thought, ah, Paul wrote five epistles to Christian companies which were of a corrective nature. As we know, seven major epistles addressed to companies of believers bear the name of the Apostle Paul. Romans laying the foundation of Christian truth, Ephesians giving us the top stone of Christian truth, both of them instructional, and the other five that he wrote had a strong corrective element. I thought, I trust, it works out to be so, that there will be merit in having a look at the five corrective epistles coming from the hand of Paul, see what the problem was, and see how the text of each epistle gives us details as to how the problem had to be tackled. If in so doing, it furnishes us for whatever problem may come along tomorrow or not next year or until the Lord shall come, well that, of course, will be helpful too. Another general remark, and then into Corinthians. I never, or certainly rarely, feel free to name names about those I receive help from. I'm not afraid to acknowledge help received, happy to receive help from any source. But I would be loathe to give the impression that if I give you the source of information as to someone who passed on something helpful to me, I'm loathe to give the impression that I have a doubt as to the veracity of the suggestion, and I'm leaving myself the escape clause by suggesting, well, if you don't agree with it, or if it's wrong, don't blame me, with Mr. So-and-so. The other thing is, or another thing is, if something is true, it stands on its own merits to be judged by the plumb line of Holy Scripture. If others feel free to say, well, as Mr. So-and-so said in 1927, well, I will listen to that, and that will be helpful. But, certainly, another thing is, I may have heard a brother say something, I may attribute it to him, and, of course, he in his day no doubt heard it from someone else. Very, very little of what we hear and say is original in the sense that it's the first time it's ever been said. What we have to make sure is that whatever we hear, or whatever we say, it has been judged in the light of the truth of Holy Scripture, we've made it our own, and then we are free to pass it on, so that if anyone says why, well, we can give some reason for the hope that is within us. I say that because there must be few of us who haven't heard the five corrective epistles of Paul put together under the five Ds. Now, that's a good letter to choose because it comes into the text of at least some of the epistles. The grave matter at Corinth was disorder, moral disorder. As we come through the New Testament, we next come to Galatians, who were deceived, they were deluded, on a major matter. Philippians gave every evidence of dissension, and that needed to be corrected too. The Colossians were wrong as to doctrine concerning the person of Christ, and the Thessalonians were in a dilemma concerning those who had fallen asleep in Christ. If the Lord will, we look at the last four on further occasions. Tonight, we are going to look at this matter of disorder. Disorder. That was the problem. Disorder. It's certainly true. In many areas of the country, in many of our meetings, that's what I'm speaking about, that perhaps for several years, for any one of a number of reasons, we have neglected to tackle problems, not excluding the matter of godly order, as laid down in Scripture. If we aren't careful, and if we haven't yet arrived there, the time will shortly come, when having neglected to deal with problems, for so long, we will find ourselves, if we don't now find ourselves, completely incapable of dealing with problems that arise after such an extended period of neglect. Paul was aware that things weren't right at Corinth. He had a great feeling for them. Read the Book of Acts, refresh your memory. How long time he had spent with them. How he agonised before God for them. Knowing their condition. And then he receives a letter from them. I only read that brief comment in chapter 7. Concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me. They asked him questions about relationships between the sexes. They wrote to him about that. But like the Lord Jesus, when the Lord Jesus was asked a question by many, he didn't so much answer the detail of the specific question as answer the questioner. The Lord invariably drew the attention of a questioner of things that he needed to know and to put right. And then the detail would follow. I'm sure many examples from the Gospels come to mind. Now, Paul did not turn immediately to a detailed answer about the question that the Corinthians posed. And perhaps there's a lesson for us in this. Yes, he's going to talk about disorder. Whether it's inside marriage or outside of marriage, he's going to address this problem of moral disorder. But before he does, he begins with that opening section which we read together, where the thing that is emphasised, as ever in these epistles, is that which is according to God. When we get to the second epistle, second Thessalonians, second Peter, not so much second Corinthians, but the last day epistles, James and Jude, before dealing with the problems there, in every case, the writer, by the Spirit, draws the attention to that which is established by God in Christ by the Spirit, that which is not subject to disorder, that which is not subject to failure or breakdown. And then the necessary other matters are gone into. So it is at Corinth. Not the time or the exercise to expound this opening section, except to say this. The apostle says, God who is faithful, God who is entirely consistent with what he declares himself to be, God has conferred upon you the utmost dignity. We took account of it in the verses we read, in the hymn that we sang in commending ourselves to God in prayer. The implication straight away is this. Since God in his holiness has wrought from himself and for himself, and conferred upon you such a holy dignity, what holiness, what dignity, what practical holiness becomes those who have been called out of the world, those who have been brought to light by the confession of the name of Jesus Christ as Lord. And so he goes into that first of all. Now, what I propose to do now, as a framework so that we can all take away and meditate on it for ourselves, is to see the outline that Paul gives to them, giving God's idea about order. Yes, they have asked him about disorder. It's a necessary problem to be tackled, but notice how he does it. In chapter one, he details for them the preaching of the cross. We do well to take account of the words the Holy Ghost teaches. Very often we can get at the heart of the matter in any book or scripture by focusing our attention on significant phrases. Chapter one, then, the preaching of the cross. And we'll come back to that. Chapter two, the activities of the Holy Spirit of God in achieving on earth what man could never achieve for himself. Chapter three, building on this, we get a treatise on building work in general and the tests that need to be applied to any building work that is done. This leads in a very direct, straightforward way in chapter four to the matter of stewardship, building the ultimate test and, in view of that, the matter of stewardship. Now, all this in a very orderly way against this background of disorder in the Corinthian assembly. And then, beginning at chapter five in a detailed way, but really pulling together the threads of things that have been said onwards from chapter one, he says, right, you've drawn my attention to one aspect of disorder, he said, but I will take the opportunity of referring to other things that need to be drawn to your attention. And again, we have, if you like, we have another set of Ds. Where we read in chapter one, verse eleven, or verse ten, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you. Now, the root cause of much that was wrong at Corinth was that too much was made of prominent brethren. It's a pitfall into which we can fall so easily. The ministry of Mr. So-and-so appeals to me. Well, that may be right. It may be that the approach of Brother So-and-so is just right for the way that I think. That doesn't mean it's best overall or most suitable for someone else. But even in the gifts that the Lord has placed in the assembly, for my help, can become a means of raising one man on a pedestal above another. Or it may be that I think Sister So-and-so is the most godly sister I've met. She is the only one with the answer to any moral problem that arises. Well, all that I think about such a sister may be perfectly true. The devil soon gets in in causing us to look to others than the Lord Jesus Christ for our guidance and our power. Well, it was like that at Corinth. I don't think for a moment that the party spirit was crystallised personally round Paul and Peter and others like them. I think, as a matter of grace, that Paul takes it to himself. He doesn't refer to the real party leaders at Corinth. He says, for instance, it would be wrong to be split over whether you're going to follow Paul or Peter or anyone else. Whether in conversation, whether on the platform, whether formally or informally, we do well if we quote others when we are pointing out good examples to follow. And if we find it necessary to speak of errors to avoid, we do well to refer it to ourselves and not to other people. How sad it would be, seemed to be so at Corinth, that reference selfward when a good example was sought, criticising others when negative things had to be said. Let us take the practical point. Look for the best that we can in others. Let us be as critical as we need to be with ourselves. You see, when we say, yes, if there are problems, they should be tackled, let us not get into the mould or the mind where we are always looking for something to carp and criticise about. There's enough without looking for it, I'm aware. But Paul says, now look, he says, don't put Peter and myself on a platform. He says, judge everything as before the Lord. And this was the root problem. And really, right through from chapter one, right through to chapter four, this matter of divisions and party spirit came through again and again. And because there were four chapters taken up with that, it shows how vital it was. When we get to chapter five, we get a reference to conduct which was entirely disgraceful. Disgraceful conduct. We see it in scripture. Sadly, we've seen it in our own generation, in the country where we live. Matters which at one time wouldn't have been countenanced, wouldn't even have been discussed, certainly not in a mixed company. We find that in our land, matters which the Bible would call utterly disgraceful conduct, have been, first of all, tolerated, then condoned, and we are at this stage in our nation's history where these matters are even promoted now as something to be looked upon with favour to show how clever and sophisticated we've become. We are getting very like Corinthian, very Corinthian in the standards of conduct which are accepted and promoted in society in which we move. In chapter six, he moves on to this matter of disputes. Again, if there are divisions, party spirit, one vies with another as to the degree of sophistication, as to the conduct. It gets worse and worse, a downward spiral. It's also true that where divisions are tolerated, that this will lead to disputes. How sad at Corinth. The apostle says, now look, you are equipped positionally to judge matters on behalf of God. Your destiny in the world to come is to fulfil that role. You'll even judge angels. And he says these little matters that crop up locally, you're not even morally fit to deal with them. What a disgrace, he says, that these matters which even some of the nations abhor in Corinth, and you're flavoured by the local situation, he said, and you're even tolerating and preening yourselves on how sophisticated you are. Well, he says, disputes arise and you cannot even resolve them as brethren together. How obnoxious to God that those who are going to be set as judges on behalf of their Lord and Christ were even going to court, having civil actions one against another. Wrong way round. Inviting the world to judge between brethren instead of anticipating the time when judgment would be committed to those who are Christ's. Well, in chapter 7, the matter they immediately asked about, there was this matter of domestic disputes. He's considered social matters, he's considered business matters, and now he considers domestic matters. Oh, they don't run away, do they? Troubles in the family. Troubles in business. Troubles in the world. All prompted. All beyond their moral power and moral will, because there was so much of that which we must return to very shortly, this matter of the preaching of the cross. Chapters 8 and 9 goes into this matter of idols. Divided affections. The struggle between utter integrity and loyalty to Christ and giving to other things or other people that personal fidelity to their Lord and Saviour. And he goes into this in chapters 8, 9 and 10. Now, having gone into that necessarily, he said, now you've raised with me the matter of order. He said, with a measure of reluctance, he said, because I feel so strongly about them, I've gone into these matters, but in order to transfer your thoughts away from man's disorder to that which is far more profitable for you to consider, God's order in the assembly. Very simply, basically, in chapter 10, we get much necessary teaching about the fellowship, Christian fellowship and its responsibilities, relating that to what he speaks of as the Lord's table. Chapter 11, he speaks of the sweetest privilege and the expression of that fellowship, the Lord's supper. Chapter 12, he outlines the gifts that have been established in order that there might be an orderly growth and development of the body of Christ, how orderly God is. And in chapter 13, he gives an account of the very atmosphere that is intended to regulate and govern the fellowship, the atmosphere of divine love. Chapter 14, he talks about the gifts in function. No point in having gifts there unless they are seen to be put to use and functioning for the development of the body of Christ in that atmosphere of divine love. And in chapter 15, he comes again to this vital matter. He said in both first and second epistles, he comes again and again to this basic fundamental truth, the personal bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and the personal actual coming of the Lord to bring this time of disorder to an end once and for all. And then in chapter 16, to emphasise that Christianity is essentially practical, he goes into various salutations and practical matters. Now, in going quickly through the epistle like that, that he's seeking to transfer their thoughts away from the negative side, the problems that were local, onto things which would better occupy their time, we need to just refer back briefly to chapter 1. In chapter 1, he puts his axe to the root of the tree. He said, all these matters of disorder, the one you referred to me in your letter of enquiry, the other matters that I felt it necessary to refer to you, he says, all of these things arise because they are the activities of man, man according to the flesh. And he says, in case you haven't considered it before, in case you've forgotten the teaching I gave when I was with you, he said, something has taken place in the history of the world which has brought to a judicial end before God this old life which you lived before. And of course, in chapter 1, he says, the event which brought the history, your one-time history, to an end before God was the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Read the detail of chapter 1 again. We cannot fail but arrive at this conclusion. Man's wisdom gets us nowhere in the things of God. Hard lesson to learn. Man's wisdom gives rise to the various kinds of disorder that the first ten chapters detail. Happily, he turns immediately to the second chapter and said, if man's wisdom gets us nowhere in the things of God, the Holy Spirit of God conducts us into the very depths of God. It's a salutary lesson to read chapters 1 and 2 together. At Corinth, the local society preened themselves on the sophistication, the intellectual giants that there were, the cleverness of the human mind, and the degree of tolerance in their enlightened minds of things that ordinary people would abhor. But Paul says, you're coloured by the same thing, and he says, that kind of thinking made it necessary for Christ to die, the death of the cross. And there's no room for man's thinking or man's intellect or man's society. And every step of the pathway to progress is in the hands of the Holy Spirit of God. Happy hunting ground for the Bible student, but that's the simple message. I feel I should leave that there and turn to the second epistle. Would you turn, please, to second epistle and chapter 2. As we read some verses, ask yourselves these questions. How was the first epistle received by the Corinthians? Was it acted upon? Was there a positive result? And if there was, what was that result? Chapter 2. I read, with your permission, the first 11 verses. I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me? And I wrote this same unto you, lest when I came I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice. Having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears. Not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part, that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many, so that contrarywise he ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. To whom ye forgave anything, I forgive also. For if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. Chapter 7, verse 6. Nevertheless, God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me, so that I rejoiced the more. For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent, for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrow to repentance. For ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. So on, really, till the end of verse 16. Whatever approach you or I would have taken in writing to the Corinthians in what we have as the first letter, the best way of assessing the result of that letter is to read the second. How different the tone! The major matter that Paul had raised with them as to detail was this matter of gross immorality. And he said, deal with it, even if it needs, and he says, in this case it does, even if it means severing your connection with him. Oh, that's harsh, you see. The first thing, of course, was sorrow before God at their condition which tolerated it. The second thing is, all discipline is with a view to restoration. And unless that's in mind, there's no point at all in taking the first step. These letters make that plain. Some of the Corinthians, you know, they said, he's frightened to come and see us. He can't look us eyeball to eyeball and tell us where we're going wrong. It's like that now, you know. It's impossible to write a letter, pick a telephone up, and say the most terrible things. And say the most terrible things that we wouldn't dream of saying face to face. Some of the Corinthians had that impression about Paul. He has to say, look, if I wrote instead of coming, it wasn't that I was afraid to face you with it. He said, but if I'd come, I would have spoken more strongly, not less. He said, at least I could keep my feelings in check, writing soberly as before the Lord. And he says, I'm delighted now that my letter first of all caused repentance in the company at tolerating the matter, and then ultimately the action you took led to repentance in the individual. He says, well, now be as ready to receive him again as you were to take the disciplinary action at the time. Oh, how easy it is to say. How difficult sometimes to do. Not speaking of this locality, but how easy it would be if there was a brother or a sister that was awkward, difficult to get on with, if we managed to contrive excommunicating them, whether righteously or no, when it was evident there was restoration before the Lord. How easy it would be to say, well, really, do we want them back again? Didn't they cause a lot of trouble before? Are we sure that we want to subject ourselves to that again? Paul says, be more ready on the side of restoration than you were necessarily on the line of discipline. And he says, not only does that make it right among yourselves locally, he says, what freedom I now feel. Read quickly, but not too quickly, through the first epistle and then straight on through the second epistle. Notice the change of the mood. Notice the change in the style. Notice the difference in the kind of thing that he speaks about. As it was between the local believers, so it was between the apostle and the Corinthian company. He's free to speak about himself, for one thing, in a way that he hadn't been before. Read the personal remarks that he makes about himself, his history and his feelings, in the second epistle, that he wasn't free to detail in the first. Having done that, having cleared his own relationship with them, notice how he presents the truth objectively in Christ, and then the necessary subjective answer, in the way they live one with the other. Again, if you look at chapter one, in the second epistle, as to cause, speaking objectively of the Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter one, he talks about the sufferings of Christ. Four times in the letter, he speaks about the gospel of Christ. Chapter eight, he speaks about the glory of Christ, or the chapters two. Having outlined the truth objectively, referring it, first of all, to the Lord Jesus Christ, he says, because of this, and because I'm free to tell you some of these wonderful things about your Lord and Saviour, he says, having tackled your problem, having taken the necessary action, having now been restored in happy fellowship one with the other, having dealt with the party spirit, he says, there are graces and virtues and qualities, proper to Christ personally, that can now be seen amongst you. Browse through, he speaks of the sweet savour of Christ. He speaks of the epistle of Christ, the living demonstration of the life of Christ that comes out in the believers. He speaks about the constraining power of the love of Christ. Again, in chapter eight, he says, he know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Towards the end, he speaks about the meekness and the gentleness of Christ. And then, in that well-used so-called benediction, again, he refers to this matter of the grace of Christ. As you read in a continuous way through the letter, notice that these moral beauties of the Lord Jesus can now find expression in the lives of the Christian believers at Corinth, because they've faced up to necessary matters and they've resolved them to the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ and in accordance with what scripture has said. No suggestion that the sweet savour of Christ or the grace of Christ or the meekness and gentleness of Christ coming out in their lives individually or collectively in the first epistle. But once they'd faced up to the issue, resolved the matter under the guidance of the Apostle Paul, their sorrow and his sorrow turned to joy and these moral beauties are able to come out in this happy way. Taking that as an outline, I'm sure there's much food for the soul in going through these epistles, bearing in mind that the necessary foundation is laid in chapters one and two, that man's wisdom gets nowhere in the things of God because it was brought to an end in the cross of Christ, but that in the new life, lived before God here upon earth while we wait for the coming of the Lord, the only available power is the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Let us sing in closing hymn number 422. Easy to take the words upon our lips, true enriched spiritual experience insofar as at any moment there is nothing outstanding between us as individuals before the Lord, as companies of the Lord's people. God and Father we adore thee, for the Christ thine image bright, in whom all thy holy nature dawned on our once hopeless night, thou didst send him as the witness of a life beyond compare. Think of those lines against what we've been hearing about the gentleness and the loveliness of Christ. By thy spirit we received him, now in Christ how blessed we are. The whole hymn 422. We adore thee, for the Christ thine image bright, in whom all thy holy nature dawned on our once hopeless night, thou didst send him as the witness of a life beyond compare. Thou didst send him as the witness of a life beyond compare. By thy spirit we received him, now in Christ how blessed we are. Praise be thy is, his transcending, all that hails the heart and voice. His love, love, love unending, hearts to give of their own joys. …

… Let us turn to the Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 8, Romans 8, verses 3 and 4. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The Epistle to the Galatians, Chapter 1. Now, verse 1. Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia. Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel, which is not another. But there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again. If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, O God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Chapter 6 Verse 17 From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. The exercise for the week is very much in line with the mood of our time of prayer. That any difficulties that arise, that any problems that need to be resolved, any discipline that needs to be applied, is all intended to be with a view to full restoration of spirit. To communion with the Lord Jesus, and the establishment of that basis for the enjoyment of every blessing that the blessed God has prepared for those who love him. Individually, collectively, and corporately, and ultimately for the establishment of the glory of God in the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ. To this end, we are looking, in turn, at the five corrective epistles that bear the name of the Apostle Paul. On Saturday, we looked at the epistle to the Corinthians, the epistles to the Corinthians. They give us a fair example of a situation with many negative connotations. The disorder that arises when man's wisdom gives rise to man's activities, which are the display of the disorder that arises when man has his place, man according to the flesh. And how that negative situation was so dealt with under the encouragement of the Apostle, that this opened the way for the development of true order, God's order, in the assembly as given in chapters 10 to 14. All in the light of the significance of the death of our Lord Jesus and his personal bodily resurrection outlined in chapter 15. And then having dealt with this, in order that man's order might be removed, God's order established that there might be the way made clear so that the development of the personal graces of our Lord Jesus Christ, that are given in the second epistle, that they might have room for promotion and development. Such was the attempt on Saturday night, a basis for further private meditation. Tonight we turn to the epistle to the Galatians. Again, a negative situation which, when dealt with properly under the hand of God, opens the way for the development of that which is positive and constructive under the eye of God. If, in Corinth, the difficulty was disorder, in what we would speak of as Central Turkey, Galatia, the difficulty there was that true believers had been deluded into accepting erroneous doctrine. They had been deluded. They had been deceived. And the matter that arose was so serious that the Apostle uses stronger language to the Galatians than he used to any other assembly. Now, if I had been asked to guess, with some general acquaintance with the problems at Corinth and Galatia, if I had been asked to suggest, without a detailed study of the two epistles, if I had been asked to suggest which letter was addressed in the strongest language, I'm sure that I would have guessed, without prior knowledge, the epistle to the Corinthians. The grave moral disorder and the condition of soul that permitted it, condoned it, promoted it, was so terrible that I would have guessed that the strongest possible language would need to be used. He does indeed use strong language. But when we turn to the Galatians, we find that the matter there was even more serious than that at Corinth. Before we go any further, let us consider the relative problem. There is a comparison, because these are the two epistles which contain the statement, Again reminding us of the general principle that there may be something introduced which appears to be small, but if it isn't dealt with and removed when it's small, it will nag away and grow and develop till it becomes of such a size that it seems almost insurmountable. And the problem at Corinth was bad behaviour, a serious problem indeed. But the language, the relative language is such that we must face up to this, that in Galatia the problem was even worse. Now, in order that we might establish this, I'm going to read verses from most of the chapters, even if we get no more than right impressions tonight to lay a foundation for future meditation, I'll be more than satisfied. Let us look again at the epistle to consider the language that is used. In chapter 1 we read the verse 6, I marvel that ye are so soon removed. Chapter 3, verse 1, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? That phrase justifies the title of delusion or deceit as crystallising the problem. Verse 3, Are ye so foolish, having begun in this spirit? Are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Chapter 4, verse 9, But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements? Whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Chapter 5, verse 1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. Verse 7, Ye did run well. Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. Verse 11, I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off. Which troubled you? For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love to serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Chapter 6, verse 11, Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Back to chapter 1, please. One way of gaining help from the scriptures is to read an epistle, get a general impression, to go back to the beginning and comb through, noting salient features, and then to start at the beginning again and comb through, and every time we go through, look at finer and finer detail. And we'll be doing a little bit of that tonight. Now, he uses strong language indeed. Now back to chapter 1. Look at verse 6 again, please. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. I would think most of us are aware. If not, perhaps this is an opportunity. In the New Testament, there are several words translated into English as another, but there are certainly two which bear a particular significance. One of the words means another of the same kind. The other word means another of a completely different kind, if you like. One is a difference of quantity, it's a quantitative difference, another one of the same kind. The other is not so much a quantitative difference as a qualitative difference. It's of an entirely different quality or character. Now, the way Paul was guided by the Spirit to write verse 6 and 7, he says, now, you've been called into the grace of Christ, he says, but you've been removed, he says, unto another gospel of a completely different kind, which is not another gospel of the same kind. There's a double emphasis. He says it's so bad that this other gospel of a different character is not another one of the same character, he says, because it's no gospel at all. It's no good news at all. He says, in fact, it's a perversion of the gospel. Oh, how topical Scripture always is. We understand well, don't we, in these days where we are encouraged to use food and drink which is pure, unadulterated, without any additives which might contain impurities which will be bad for us. We are well equipped to understand the language of Scripture here. There be some that trouble you who would pervert, adulterate, pollute, corrupt the very gospel that we believe. And that was the problem that the Galatians had fallen foul of. The basic problem can be summed up in the question, is Christ sufficient? Or, looking round, how happy most of us have been. That from toddlers onwards, we've been educated that, in the proper sense of the term, we've been trained to understand that salvation has been wrought and won by Christ alone. And that our blessing rests 100% on him. You see, of course, I've never believed anything else. Praise the Lord for that. Sadly, there are many committed believers in the world today who are encouraged to accept as the Galatians had been encouraged to accept. Oh yes, there's only one foundation for blessing, the person and the work of Christ. But then they were told, and there were so-called Christian teachers, had come all the way from Jerusalem into central Turkey, and they said to the believers, you're alright so far in trusting Christ for salvation. Oh, but there's something more needed. There are certain ceremonies that have to be fulfilled. You should really be circumcised. There are certain days which are special for certain ceremonial activities. New Moons and Sabbaths, the text is there. And really, unless you fulfil these ceremonial functions, and unless you always bear in mind that God has given his rulebook, the law of Moses, as your guide for life which must be kept, unless you do all that, your salvation will never be full, entire and complete. Sounds alright. How many present-day believers would fully go along with the idea that the law of Moses, whether we say the Pentateuch as a whole or the Ten Commandments as a summary of it, that the law is the rule of life for the Christian? Then it sounds plausible. What does Paul say to the Galatians? He says, it's another gospel of a different character to the pure gospel. It's an adulteration of the gospel. It's corrupt. It's impure. It's unadulterated. And he says, it's no gospel at all. And it's that doctrine that Christ is most of all, but his work is not quite sufficient, that it needs these additional things to be kept by the Christian before the salvation is complete. It's that that compelled the Apostle Paul to write to the Galatians in using the language that he did. Now the fundamental message is, at Corinth there was bad behaviour and that was terrible. At Galatia there was bad doctrine and the Apostle says, that was even worse. Most of us, most of the time, might well go along with the idea that doctrine is good, doctrine is proper. We need to have a body, an outline of Christian truth. But really, surely the most important thing is the practical outworking in the lives that we live. Well, that's good. That's good. But that's very different to saying that the law is the rule of life for the Christian. And we'll come to the text and demonstrate that. Scripture as a whole upholds this principle. Good doctrine, rightly understood and applied, is the basis for good behaviour. Indeed, good doctrine, properly understood and practised, is the only true precursor to good behaviour. And sadly, lived out in history, not excluding the last fifty years, the converse is also sadly true. Bad doctrine, sooner or later, leads to bad living, bad behaviour, behaviour which is obnoxious in the sight of God. Where there is improper behaviour and good doctrine, the good doctrine will eventually produce the state of soul where the behaviour will be corrected. Good behaviour in itself could never, by its practice, lead to good doctrine. The apostle says, good doctrine is more important than good behaviour because it can lead to good behaviour. And the converse sadly expressed significantly in the Corinthian epistle, 1 Corinthians 15, about verse 33, evil communications corrupt good manners. Bad doctrine leads to bad behaviour. Now, we are going to scan through, just for a few moments, the language that Paul uses to demonstrate the utter folly of displacing doctrine and trying to substitute man's behaviour as the regulator of all that's to take place. Now, there are four words that we need to consider in the epistle that, by the Spirit, Paul uses to emphasise the end and the only end of man's activities. Now, the first word we're going to look at comes, first of all, in chapter 1 and verse 8. We look at verse 8. Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Chapter 3, verse 10. As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Chapter 11, verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Seven times over, then, this word curse is injected into the text. Take the earliest opportunity, read again Deuteronomy chapters 27 and 28. People of Israel gathered together, two high mountains, Ebal and Gerizim, representatives of six of the tribes were put on the top of one of the mountains, representatives of the other six tribes were put on the top of the other mountain. And Moses said, this is to be a demonstration. He says, on the other hand, on the one hand he says, look, hope I've got them the wrong way round, check the test, the right way round, top of Gerizim, representatives of six of the tribes, to demonstrate the fact that if you obey everything that God says, he will bless you. And there's a list for the six tribes, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless, six blessings held out to them. If you disobey, he said, you'll be cursed. Curse, curse, curse, curse, curse. Equal opportunity for blessing or cursing. Six tribes or representatives of six on each of the high mountains. That's the prospect. That's the potential. That's chapter 27. Chapter 28, there's the outcome. God says, well, through Moses, God says, now, I'll tell you what's going to happen. He doesn't list six blessings and six curses. Curse, curse, curse, twelve of them all in a row. Tells us, if you want the law, he tells you what the law says. The only possible outcome of pleasing God by what you do is to have the curse fall upon you. Paul takes up this matter in Galatians. He has the same message for converted believers as for those who, in the days of the wilderness, were under the law. He says, in yourself, you know better than you were before you were converted, there's something in you which, when allowed to unleash itself, will result in every activity being of a kind which will cause you to be under the curse. It's a severe lesson. But, not unlike Corinthians, man's wisdom in man's world, giving rise to man's activities, have only one outcome. The curse of God. Now, this leads us, I must leave that there. Let us move, then, to our second word, the word crucified, used four times in the epistle. Chapter 2, verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Chapter 3, verse 1. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you? Chapter 5, verse 24. They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Chapter 6, verse 14. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Man's works, man's activities, can only lead to being brought under the curse of God. The curse can only be removed. Everything that man does as a result of his own efforts can only be dealt with before a holy God on one basis, by one work. The death of Christ, not by natural causes, not only by violence, but by crucifixion. Death by crucifixion is not only abrupt and final and violent and painful, it is a shameful death. What a sorry commentary upon the works of man, that it has to be brought not only to an end, but a shameful end, signified in a shameful death by crucifixion. Examine the distinctions between those four examples where the word is used in the epistle. The true Christian position is to accept that everything that I might try to do with my strength and my wisdom from my own volition only brings me into shame before God, and could only be dealt with fully before God by death by crucifixion of the Son of God. The Christian accepts that. He says, my works were such that they had to be brought to that shameful end when Jesus my Lord was crucified. That's the assessment before God of man's activities. Please meditate further upon that. Chapter 5, we must move on. Chapter 5, verse 11. I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross ceased. Chapter 6, verse 12. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Seven times the curse that arises because of man's activities, seven times over it's stressed. The necessity of a shameful death, bringing to a shameful end man's activities, stressed four times. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, emphasised in a three-fold way. Chapter 5, verse 11, tells us that the cross is God's continuing witness that anything that I can do in itself because of what I am as a man can only come to one end before God, it's brought to an end in judgement. The cross is God's judicial comment on man's activities. Man trying to please God by the works that he does. Additionally, in chapter 5, verse 11, it says if I have anything connected with myself, even religious works and ceremonies, the offence of the cross is ceased. What is the offence of the cross? The offence of the cross is, it's offensive to me, it's offensive to my flesh, to tell me there's nothing in me or about me that's capable of pleasing God. Or the false teachers went to the Galatians and said, now look, the work of Christ is vital. But as some would say, you know, there's a little spark of good in you which just needs fanning into a flame. Promote it, develop it, cultivate it and you'll really find that there's all sorts of ways in which you as a person can please God and it's necessary to do that in order to get a full salvation. Pollution, corruption, adulteration of the pure gospel. It's offensive even now to tell someone that they are in such a sinful and moral state before God that there's no way in which you can please God and there's no way that you can earn salvation as a result of anything that you seek to do before God. Now that's offensive to the flesh. Give me something to do, give me a performance to aim at, metres in a second, words in a minute, an examination to pass, something where when I've done it I can say, there you are, I did it, I achieved it, look what a good boy I am. Preening myself on what I've been able to do, that's no gospel at all. Oh how thankful we can be that it's not true, that there's anything about us which contributes to God's plan of salvation. What a sorry state we'd be in if one millionth of one percent of our salvation depended upon anything that you or I can do. We'd have no assurance of salvation at all. It's all of Christ. Paul said to the Galatians, is Christ sufficient? Yes, a thousand times yes. We've tested the strength of the language, we've combed through for that. We've gone right through these words, curse, crucifixion, the cross, there is another word, almost at the end of the epistle. I think we'll leave that till the end. Turn back to chapter 5 please. Chapter 5, verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, verse 22, but the fruit of the spirit is. Then we get the ninefold fruit of the spirit. Really, this is the crux of the matter. Man's activities are listed in verses 19, 20 and 21. Do we believe it? In our mixed condition, if it wasn't mixed there'd be no struggle, God says there is that in us which, given due reign, would express itself in adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. That is what man is capable of if the circumstances are right. Terrible thing. No wonder that all the judgment of God that's due on such things had to be expressed in the judgment of God as to sin upon the Lord Jesus Christ, expressed in the shameful death by crucifixion. And that's the end result of man's unbridled activities. A sorry tale. Not a set of rules, nothing connected with the activities of man, but rather the fruit of the spirit. Now this is where we get to the crux of the matter. May well be that some of us take offence at this idea of saying the law is not the rule of life for the Christian. That's what the Bible says, that's what Galatians says, but does that bear examination? Oh, proper behaviour to the honour of Christ is essential, not by the keeping of rules, not by aiming at a standard, but as the natural outflow, the outflow according to nature of that which God has formed within us. There's a major distinction between the two. Fruit arises because there is life in the plant which has been established, the life is promoted, and the ultimate outcome of that life flowing through the branches, the life expresses itself in the bearing of fruit. Not by the keeping of any commandments or set of rules, it's according to its nature, naturally expressing itself in the bearing of fruit. Christian behaviour to the honour of Christ is the natural expression of the life that is within. Romans 8 verses 3 and 4 give us the doctrine of it. Romans, the exposition of the gospel. Galatians, the vindication of the gospel, that there's no other way before God. The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Deeply significant that in the epistle to the Galatians there are fourteen references to the activities and the expression of life in the spirit. And those who walk not according to the flesh, showing the works of the flesh, but according to the spirit, the life by the spirit expressing itself in fruit according to God, God finds its outcome in love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. A basic, clear, simple message. Blessing can only come to us because Christ personally and the value to God of his work is sufficient for every necessary aspect of our salvation. He refers to it, chapter 1, the opening verses, As to the past, he gave himself for our sins. As to the present, that he might deliver us from this present evil world. As to the future, glory forever and ever. Amen. It's to be entered into in a very personal, individual way, chapter 2, verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. I can do no more than accept God's statement, God's judicial comment, that not only all that I've done, but all that I am in myself has been brought to the proper shameful end. The curse of God being carried out in that shameful death by crucifixion at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. As an individual, Paul said, he can't say it for you and me. We can't say it for each other. I can only say it for myself. So can you. I have come to realise that God's comment is the only possible judgement on the situation. I am crucified with Christ. The old I, the old life, finished once and for all, nevertheless I live. Yet, not the old I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live, in the flesh, I live, it's a life of faith. The focal point, the centre, the basis, the foundation of that life is Christ. My trust, my faith is in him, the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. We move on again to chapter 6, similar comment. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The more we get to know ourselves, the more grateful we need to be that salvation resides in him alone and not connected with anything that you or I can do for ourselves. Entire, whole, complete, eternal, heavenly, spiritual, because it's in him. The apostle says that's the salvation I can glory in, based upon the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on as an individual to say, now it's God's judicial comment, but it was also man's comment, that the one who lived that perfect life, the one who alone magnified the law and made it honourable, they said of him, we don't want a man like that, away with him, crucify him. Paul says, I need to say, if that's what the world thought of him who loved me and gave himself for me, I want nothing to do with a world like that. By which he says, by the cross, if that's what the world thought of him, I'm crucified to the world. I would regard it as a shameful thing to be connected personally with a world like that. Or no, he adds, he says, I realise that if I say I want nothing to do with a world like that, that treated my saviour like that, it won't be very long before the world says to me, good riddance, we don't want you either. Personal, and it has its result. Verse 17, he says, from henceforth let no man trouble me. I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Not only the curse, not only the crucifixion, not only the cross, but here the marks, the stigmata. Not a miraculous copy of the marks that were incurred by the Lord Jesus in his personal body on the cross, but the outward evidence that he was so true to the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him. That he'd suffered every kind of abuse in the world where he endeavoured in every way to be true to the Master that he served. Read the catalogue in 2 Corinthians 11 of the things that he suffered, even in his body. Oh yes. Letting the fruit of the Spirit develop and manifest itself in the power of the Spirit will lead to the offence of the cross, will lead to its effect even in our lives. Living in a way that is true to the one who loved me and gave himself for me will certainly lead to that persecution. Yes, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution in my spirit, in my soul, even in my body. It will become evident in the life that I live that because I've aligned myself with the one who was cast out of the world by the shameful death of the cross, that the world will treat me in measure in the way that it treated him. Solemn things, solemn treatment, a solemn matter, but leading in the power of the Spirit to the fruit of the Spirit being exhibited in every department of our lives. Let us pray. Oh God our Father, we give thee thanks that it is with joy that we can acknowledge before thee that the Christ is sufficient to meet our every need. Our need for the forgiveness of sins, the need to develop those features of Christ that are well pleasing to thee and mark us out in this wicked world as those who are waiting for their Lord to come. Help us, our God, to be true to the pure, unadulterated gospel of Christ, that there might be that fair demonstration in the world that cast him out, that there are those who are prepared to be true to him and wait for his coming. We commit ourselves to thee, thank thee for the preservation to us of thy holy written word. Pray that an appreciation of it might deepen in every soul while we wait for the Lord to come. We ask it and give thee thanks in his most precious name. Amen. …

… The person of the Christ, and for his every grace, was made the power by the grace in many lands of grace. Planning all his wishes, since we with him are here, our lives is his, with Christ he grows, in Christ and at his will. The hand of the Father now shall be throughout the whole, and with our faith in him we go, in love the Christ our Lord. Would you turn please to the epistle to the Colossians, and chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2, verse 1. For I would that he knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Verse 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mouth. We are looking this week, in turn, in the order in which they come in the New Testament, at the five corrective epistles which bear the name of the Apostle Paul. The approach has been to see what the problem or the deficiency was, the way in which Paul combated the error, applied the correction, and the way he moved them away from their negative error and weaned them onto something which was positive, good, and wholesome. In the first session, we looked at the moral disorder at Corinth and how, in dealing with that, he moved on to outline for them God's order in creation and in the assembly. We moved on to look at Galatians, and we saw there that if evil practice was bad at Corinth, evil doctrine was far worse at Galatia. And in dealing with that, he was able to demonstrate that the very idea of anything other or in addition to Christ and his work being necessary for salvation was absolute folly insofar as all that we are, as well as all that we've done, has been brought to an end before God in the cross of Christ. We moved on to the epistle to the Philippians, where the difficulty was one of dissension, and we saw how that undercurrent, evidenced by two sisters who evidently didn't get on very well together, disrupted the whole spiritual tone of the local assembly, and how, in combating that, Paul was able to show the way for unity and unanimity and blessing and the grace of Christ being evidenced in the local conditions. Tonight, we turn to Colossians. Perhaps, for completeness, we might say, if the Lord will, tomorrow night at Felixstowe, we hope to look similarly at the Thessalonian epistles. Tonight, it's Colossians. Not disorder, like Corinth, not delusion, like Galatia, not dissension, like Philippians, but error concerning the doctrine of the person of Christ. It came in two forms. There won't be time to look at the text in detail all the time, but look again at the verses we read, chapter 2, verse 16. There we have a list over which we could put the heading, Jewish ordinances, Jewish ceremonies. Look at verse 18, and we can put the heading over that, Grecian philosophy. Chapter 1 tells us that, generally speaking, the order of the Colossian assembly was good. Their state, generally, was good. But this pernicious doctrine was being introduced with subtlety, and if they weren't very careful, it would undo all the good that has gone on to date. Now, on the one hand, to say that it was necessary, that there were those things in them which had to be kept in check by the repetition of Jewish-based ceremonial practices negated at heart the very truth of the Gospel. One reason why we've looked at these things in the order in which they come in the New Testament is because the truth is progressive. If indeed we've learned something of Corinthian truth, and we've learned a little of Galatian truth, and are in the spirit of the Philippians after they were adjusted, it should be relatively straightforward to accept that Jewish ceremonial practices are completely out of court in keeping in check that which has already been given the judicious stroke of death under the hand of God at the cross of Christ. As to the Grecian philosophy, this was more subtle. It hadn't been tackled before. The reasoning was something like this. Man very low in the hierarchy of beings. God at the very top, and rightly so. And in between a hierarchy levels strata of exalted beings, some just a little bit better than men, a little bit superior positionally in the hierarchy, some almost but not quite God. And these philosophers sounded laudable, plausible to some extent. They said, Christ, your saviour, your lord, wonderful person. He's so wonderful that he's well up the order. Almost but not quite God. The apostle spends all the epistle, again and again, saying that in every respect and in every aspect, the Lord Jesus is no less than God because he is God. Now, may as well say it now as later, there are three major portions of New Testament teaching which tell us about the personal glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1. It often appeals to me that we can link them together by thinking of the three phrases, the three pairs of terms, that John puts together seven or eight times in the book of Revelation. He speaks again and again. John, by the Spirit, is able to speak of the Lord Jesus. Many occasions the Lord uses the words of himself. I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the alpha and omega. Not always in the same order. It seems to me that the terms the first and the last are a matter of being. The terms the beginning and the end are a matter of doing. And the terms the alpha and omega are a matter of speaking. In other words, the Lord Jesus in his own person is the sum and substance of all that God is. John 1. The Lord Jesus is the sum and substance of all that God has ever done, is doing and will do. Colossians 1. And the Lord Jesus is the only one. He is the sum and substance of all that God has to say, the alpha and omega, Hebrews 1. Another way of putting the same truth, the same comparison. John 1. The Lord Jesus is the only one who is competent to manifest God, express God, because he is God. Colossians 1. The Lord Jesus is the only one who is competent to act for God because he is God. Hebrews 1. The Lord Jesus is the only one who is really competent to speak for God because he is God. And so his essential deity is expressed in each of these chapters. This is why these three chapters are vital to any self-respecting Christian and Bible student. Well, we can see why then. If there were those who said the Lord Jesus is a good person, and yet almost but not quite on the same level with God, the apostle has to take a tack. He has to take up a method of teaching which will emphasise the essential deity of our Lord Jesus Christ as an antidote to the poison that these philosophers brought in. Now, we hope to take a similar approach to what we have on other evenings in making an introductory proposition and then following it up by referring to some of the significant words used in the text, injected by the Holy Spirit, constraining Paul to use these words to support and to provide this strain of teaching through the epistle. Now, before we look at the detail, look please at chapter 1 and verse 19. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. We could spend all week on this, couldn't we? Well, I'll tell you what is relevant to our study tonight. The one who in his person is very God. All that God is because he is God. Having come into the world in manhood, the things that are true of him and were true of him in pre-incarnate deity are no less true of him in person, having come into the world in manhood, than they ever were before. They are no less true, having come into the world, than they were before he came. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. We'll come back to the words a little later. Chapter 2, verse 9. Notice the tense. In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. How careful the Apostle is to safeguard the truth concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has already said that the one who is in person, and we are coming to the section treating of it in chapter 1, he says, he who is the son of the Father's love, the eternal joy of an eternally subsisting relationship, which continued to be true when he was here in manhood. Chapter 1, verse 19. Now that he's left earth and gone back to heaven, raised, exalted, seated at the right hand of God, continues to be true of him as it was in pre-incarnate deity, as it was in the days of his flesh, and continues to be so now that he's gone back to heaven. The Apostle safeguards the personal glory of the Lord Jesus before he came, when he was here, and now that he's gone home and seated at the right hand of God. This is what I have been indicating during the week, that when we read the scriptures, let us sometimes browse through an epistle, let us use the telescope rather than the microscope, get right overall impressions, and then we can comb through in greater detail after we have the framework. Back then to chapter 1. Let us just cement what has been said. The Apostle is disturbed that in having wrong thoughts of Christ, they should also get wrong thoughts of the grace of God and the salvation which God has wrought. And that concern lest they should get the impression that if Christ wasn't quite God, that their salvation might be less than complete. He uses terms to indicate that they couldn't have more than God has given them in blessing them in Christ. Now, we'll go through some of the words that indicate that. Now, there's one group of words that Paul uses to indicate that they could have nothing more. They have everything. They have all because they have Christ. Now, he uses these words all and every and each and everything time and again. Let us just cast our eyes down the chapter and see how this all-embracing, most full salvation is emphasised. Chapter 1, verse 4, all the saints. Verse 6, in all the world. Verse 9, all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Verse 10, all pleasing, every good work. Verse 11, all might, all patience and long-suffering. 15, every creature. 16, all things. Again, all things. Verse 17, twice, all things. 18, all things. 19, all fullness. 20, all things. All things throughout the four chapters must be about 30 times that the Apostle says you have everything. You remember, the Lord said to the disciples, lacked ye anything? And the disciples had to say, nothing Lord. Oh, that's the message for the Christian believer. That in having Christ and the salvation that Christ has secured and won for us, there is nothing greater or fuller or better that we could ever have. Colossian, Grecian philosophers might say, well, what you've got is good, but if we could introduce you into the Greek mysteries, all these wonderful philosophical blessings that we know about, if only you could come into them, you'd really know what blessing and joy really is. Paul says, by the Spirit of God, you couldn't have anything fuller or better in that you'd be given Christ. So, this is emphasised in the all and the everything. And again, one of the other groups of terms, special, very often, to Colossians, he speaks of that which is full and filled and in a compound way, he speaks of what it means to be filled full, to be given a full knowledge unsurpassed by anything that the worldly philosophers could ever conjure up. And again, let us just look at the words that are used. Chapter 1, verse 9, that ye may be filled. 19, it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. 24, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind. I wish I had time to dwell on that. Time does not permit. Chapter 2, verse 2, the full assurance of understanding. Chapter 2, verse 9, all the fullness, the fullness of the body, the Godhead dwelling in him bodily. That's what it means there, you know, if I race too quickly over that. The Lord Jesus is God. He entered into a condition in which he had never subsisted before. He became a man. When he went back to heaven, he went back in a condition in which he had never been in heaven before. He went back in manhood as a man. And it's the scripture that we read there, chapter 2, verse 9 says, now in heaven, in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily in manhood. Amazing truth. Well, one of the terms that is used is this special term for fullness, full to the brim, full to overflowing, fuller, so full that nothing else could possibly be added. Ten, and ye are complete in him. One of the key expressions of the apostle, the Lord Jesus is so refulgent with every grace and beauty and glory. And our completeness is in being attached to him and associated with him. Ye are complete in him, again in this compound way, ye are filled full in him. And when we consider that they were exposed to this philosophical error which said, yes, the Lord Jesus is a good man, but something more is required. Let us open to you the mysteries with which we are acquainted. Paul says not so. Everything you could ever need, everything you could ever have is in him. Ye are filled full in him. Chapter 3, verse 14. Yes, above all these things put on love which is the bond of perfectness. Not quite the same word here, but again when we come to it we will see, if you are going to have a fullness about your relationships with God, with each other, with people outside, it can only be as based upon your relationship with him. Verse 12 of chapter 4, Epaphras laboured fervently for you in prayers that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. At every stage, every point he makes, he says fullness, completeness, entirety, wholesomeness, good health, being filled full with all that God has prepared for those who love him, you have it in having Christ. There is no need for any addition from whatever source it might come. Now, I leave to your studies. Take time, a large table, your bible, your concordance, your lexicon, your bible dictionary, we all have them on the shelves. Get them out, follow these words through, have a feast for your soul and see how everything that Paul says and the way that he says it is best calculated to combat the error in the case of the Colossians and to act as a grand preservative if we haven't fallen foul of it yet. Well, as on so many other occasions and in so many ways, they were wrong or they were exposed to erroneous doctrine concerning the person of Christ and the antidote to the poison was that the apostle presented Christ to the soul. It sounds trite but it's the only answer and it's not only tradition that says so, it's the example of holy scripture in combating the error, Paul presents the truth of Christ, the pure doctrine of Christ to the soul. Now, we'll need to look at the structure of the epistle just a little more. Chapter one, in general, he goes into ruptures about this wonderful person he speaks of as the son of the father's love. Verse thirteen, the father has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, which more literally might be the son of his love, that is the son of the father's love. I have to try and maintain the discipline of not digressing into some of the weighty matters in the chapter and stick to the main theme. Chapter one then, the son of the father's love. This is the presentation to the soul of that which is the grand preservative against every kind of error, whatever the detail. The soul that is in the good of God manifested, made known in the person of Christ is the soul that is well safeguarded against the attacks of any error that comes along. Now, when we look at this term, the son of the father's love, again in passing, very often, very well, we can say, well, you know, that's Paul's line of doctrine and that's John's line of doctrine. It's nice to see when they come together. I think there's nothing closer to this term, the son of the father's love, Paul's expression, than John's expression, the only begotten one, the unique beloved one. John uses the term, the only begotten. Paul uses the term, the son of the father's love. Now, note with what care the next section is addressed. Spheres of blessing are mentioned, not to speak of the spheres, but to show that in every sphere, the son of the father's love must have preeminence. Many mighty works are referred to, not to highlight the work, but to highlight that only one person is competent personally to do the work. Officers may indirectly be referred to, not to highlight the office, but to show that only one is personally worthy to occupy the office. The emphasis all the way through is on the person who alone is competent. This was why, earlier on, the comparison was made between John 1, where the Lord Jesus is the only one competent to speak for God because he is God. He, the word, the very expression in himself of all that God has to express. Hebrews 1, the only one personally competent to speak for God because in his person he is God. And now, with this subtle attack upon the personal glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle highlights with every phrase, every sphere, every work, every office, the unique competence, the unique worthiness of the son of the father's love and therefore that in all things he might have the preeminence. Now, just to put things in perspective, we are going to look at nine glories of the Lord Jesus. Look at the terms and we have to leave the detail for personal meditation with just an indication here or there. But overall, the personal glories of the son of the father's love. Chapter 2 then moves on to the wonderful blessing in being associated with him and issues that flow from that. And then, in chapter 3 to the beginning of chapter 4, we have the various responsible relationships in which we live in our responsible lives and how the knowledge of the person of Christ and our association with him affects how we are to respond in these various relationships in our natural life. And then he ends with various significant salutations. Back then to chapter 1. Notice, and it's no guess to come to the conclusion that I've proposed, the emphasis is on the person. Notice, end of verse 13 of chapter 1, his dear son, the son of the father's love. Verse 14, in whom, I'm sure this is the way to read it, in whom we have redemption, through his blood. Verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God? 16, by him were all things created. End of the verse, all things created by him and for him. And he is before all things. And by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. It pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell. Having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him, to reconcile all things unto himself, by him, and so on. Very often we have to ensure that we read the scriptures with the emphasis in the right place, even by the inflection of the voice, in order that we get the right message that the Lord wants to give us by the spirit through the words of Paul. So, the emphasis on him. The Grecian philosophers say, well, very good, but limited. The apostle says again and again, in him and in him alone is your every joy and blessing in the fullest possible way. Ye are fulfilled full in him. As to the detail, briefly, in whom we have redemption. Notice here, a small stretch, it is not the redemption that is stressed, it is in whom we have redemption. He is the redeemer, the first glory mentioned. There is only one who could take on the mighty work of redemption. He is the redeemer. Who is the image of the invisible God? The best words of all are the words of scripture. But in speaking of scripture, other words we understand come to mind and just seem to put neatly things in a way that we can readily understand. We learn early on that man was made in the image and likeness of God. From there, it is a fairly short meditation to arrive at the conclusion that image involves representation and likeness involves resemblance. It was God's intention that man was God's representative, the appointed, nominated head of God's fair creation to have dominion over all flesh. He was God's representative. Or in Christ, there is seen to perfection that which the first man failed to produce. Again, because of who he is, alone competent to represent God because he is God. These are no mere repetitious phrases. This is the truth of God, the image of the invisible God. We don't get our truth from hymns. And yet, sometimes, I have learned from these good hymns that we sing, things that have out expounded the scripture to me. The penny dropped with me as to the significance of this phrase, image of the invisible God, when we were singing one day, thou art the image in man's lowly guise of the invisible to mortal eyes. There are things about God that we would never have been able to learn unless the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, had become man and lived amongst men. No time to speak of the likeness, but take that away from meditation. Image, representation, likeness, resemblance. Well, here we have it, his personal glory, the only one who is fit to represent God in any sphere. He then takes this sphere of creation. Oh, let us safeguard this. The Lord Jesus is not a creature. He became man. It may be possible to say he stepped into his own creation. And stepping into his own creation, necessarily, he must take the place of first rank, because he is the creator of the universe. So, we have it here. We have this term, first born of all creation. First, not in time, first in rank, first in order, first in eminence, preeminent in all things. This moves on in a very orderly way to speak of the realm of creation. Putting it simply, perhaps it would not be fair to examine these prepositions in detail. Take it away, think about it. By him were all things created. All things created by him and for him. Verse 17, by him all things consist. Because of who he is, in the glory of his person. All things were created in virtue of his being. He was the instrumental active agent in bringing all things into being. Again, very much in line with John, all things were made by him. He was the object in view. It is for his glory and honour that creation was brought into being. He is the creator of all things. And then, this last one, verse 17, by him all things subsist. We can understand this in a simple way, can't we? Everything continues in being in virtue of his being. Now, such is his personal glory. All things hang together. All things continue to be. All things continue to exist because he exists. Considering the negative side, if it were possible to consider for a moment the Lord Jesus ceasing to be, ceasing to exist, at that very moment all creation would cease to be, would pass out of existence. He is as vital as that to the creation of God. All things in creation, all their being to him, he created them and they continue in being in virtue of his being. And he is the head of the body. I suppose, when we consider the headship of Christ, we are taken to verse 19 of chapter 2, where we get the heading, the title, THE HEAD, in speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me leave it for your personal joy to follow through. There are seven headships in scripture where the Lord Jesus is spoken of as the head. In every sphere, he is the head, he is the chief. Again, good words that we are used to, that we have heard, that we need to think about. The Lord Jesus is head organically as to the life he is coursing through. Couldn't be there without him. He is the head racially. There is a race which has been brought into being where he is the head. And he is the head administratively. He is in control with all that goes on. And again, those three prime features of headship which were vital in the Colossian context, direction, nourishment and control. In order that everything that goes on, goes on under nourish by him, promoted by him and under his personal control. Well, again, I must leave that to your meditations. Move on please to chapter 2. As we do so, I did not emphasise, worth taking away, verse 18 of chapter 1, HEAD OF THE BODY, THE CHURCH. Notice the distinction there. Ephesians says, the church which is his body. That is the emphasis. In Colossians, he is the head of the body. Ephesians, our blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Here, the emphasis on his personal glory, the head of the body, the church. Who is the beginning, the originator and the origin of all that God is doing? That was true in the realm of creation, true in the realm of resurrection. First born from among the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. Verse 20 says he is also the reconciler. Chapter 2, just a touch. It's one thing to say of what is true in Christ personally. We are followers, we are disciples, we are lovers of Christ. But as to being complete in him, it is our association with him which God has forged on the basis of the work of Christ and our response to that which brings fullness and blessing and in Colossian terms and full knowledge of what God has done for us in Christ. Again, more homework. Chapter 2, verse 11. The teaching of chapter 2, let me remind you, hangs upon four prepositions. Verse 11, we are circumcised in him. Verse 12, we are buried with him in baptism. Verse 17, these Jewish ordinances are a shadow of coming things but the substance, the body, is of Christ. Verse 19, hold the head from whom all the body receives its nourishment and so on. In whom, with whom, of him and from whom. It's all available. It's all been made for us in him and drawn from him, he who is the head of the body. In him, in the cutting off of the Christ, we learn in verse 11, all that was true of us that was obnoxious to God has been brought to a sudden end in the cutting off of the Christ. That's death. Verse 12, he says death leads to burial. We are buried with him in baptism with a view to coming out of death in newness of life in association with him who is alive from among the dead. Buried with him in baptism. We are not only given a new position, risen with Christ, we are given a new condition. We are quickened as verse 13. We've been given new life in him. And he says everything that we have is derived of Christ. Verse 17, we've moved on from the shadow to the substance and then in verse 19 he says the peril of the Colossians was they were not holding the head. The head was there, refulgent with every fullness of resource. Thereby their actions were tending to cut themselves off from the only possible source of supply. In going back to the old ways and to the old dispensation, even to pagan thinking, they were cutting themselves off in practice from the source of every good thing that God had prepared for them in Christ. So is the teaching of chapter 2. In chapter 3 he says now then, that's the doctrine. Now about the response. Almost every New Testament epistle is on the line of Isaiah 30 verse 21. First of all this is the way, the doctrine. Then this is the way, then walk ye in it. Our necessary practical response. First of all the principles, then the practice. First the belief, then the behaviour. First the doctrine, then the duty. Well so it is here. He says since then ye be risen with Christ if this is all true. He said it will affect every relationship that has been forged for you. He says and you'll live in the power of the association which Christ has forged on your behalf with Christ as alive from among the dead. Look down in the chapter, the first eight verses are our relationships Godward and Christward. What a difference it makes the teaching of the first two chapters. Verses 9 to 17 he says it will affect your relationships within the Christian family, within the Christian circle. Verses 18 to 21 he says it will affect every act within the family circle. Verses 22 to chapter 4 verse 1 he says it will affect your relationships in the business circle as well. Notice one thing in covering those three major circles of responsibility. Notice that seven times over he says that this is the way you will act in the enjoyment of the doctrine if you in a practical way acknowledge the lordship of Christ. Goes together. The knowledge of that which God has done and the preparedness to be obedient to the lord who shed his blood that the blessing might be ours. Notice just run quickly down them. Verse 17 do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. 18 as it is fit in the Lord. 20 this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Verse 23 do it heartily as to the Lord. 24 knowing that of the Lord. And again ye serve the Lord Christ. Those of you who have alternative translations will note that end of verse 16 singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord could perhaps be better translated singing with grace in your hearts to God. So that's minus one. And then end of verse 22 in singleness of heart fearing God should perhaps be the Lord. So whichever translation you take. There is this complete acknowledgement of the lordship of Christ. Not a bit of use of my rejoicing in the doctrine if it doesn't lead me to be obedient to the simple commandments that come to me in the scriptures from the Lord who has saved me. So that 7 fold reference covers that. When we get into chapter 4 verses 2 to 6 I would suggest that that section details for us the spirit in which all these relationships must be lived out. First of all doing everything as unto the Lord. Noting in those relationships it's what is offered to others not what is demanded from others. Whether you take it in Romans or any of the epistles in the practical part. When we come to these business relationships and family relationships and assembly relationships the emphasis is always on what we offer in our relationships with others never what we demand others to give to us. A salutary lesson there. Well that being so as under the lordship of Christ verses 2 to 6 of chapter 4 give us the spirit the only spirit in which they can be lived out. Turn back there please to chapter 1 verse 8. Epaphras declared unto us your love in the spirit. I was once in a bible reading where a brother started to say there is no reference in Colossians to the Holy Spirit. He took a deep breath. No doubt to go on to say at least not in an objective way. Of course he didn't get the chance. Soon as he got to the comma there is no reference to the Holy Spirit in Colossians. Someone else came down and said it is not correct to say that there is no reference in Colossians to the Holy Spirit. There is of course one love in the spirit. Why one and only one? I can only suggest. In certain epistles the emphasis necessarily is upon the activity and the energy and the power and the constraint and the control of the Holy Spirit in this present dispensation. In Colossians there has to be no deviation from the major line of truth that in Christ we have everything and all things. There is no need to turn to anyone else. There is no suggestion of any lack in him. And so most of the time, almost all the time, the reference is to the uniqueness and the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ. But when it comes to our answer to it and carrying on here in the spirit in which he lived his whole life in the days of his flesh, we cannot do that in our own strength. And in chapter 4 verses 2 to 6 give us the spirit in which every relationship has to be lived out. We have to go back to chapter 1 where Paul says now look, Epaphras is witness that you are already acting in that spirit of mutual affection for one another. You are acting in the right way, in the good of what you know to be true, but that love is not based upon any intellectual superiority like the Grecian philosophers. It's no mere repetition of ceremonies like these Jews were pressing upon them. Neither is it natural sentiment. He says the good order amongst you is because it's love in the spirit. So there is this reference to the spirit, not in an objective way. Speaking of his supremacy, other epistles deal with that as the need arises. But here, ever so sweetly, one subjective reference to show that in the living out of all that they know to be true, it is to be done in an atmosphere of love in and by and according to the spirit. Take time sometimes, please all of us, to look at the salutations from chapter 4 verse 7 through to the end of the book. Keep those lexicons and dictionaries on the table. See what these special names mean. Look at the derivation of the names. Read from scripture as much as you can about the family, background and business situation of all these people. See what a motley crew they were. Just like us. Don't you ever marvel that we ever get on at all? You know, sometimes we say, well, we should get on better than we do. Perhaps that's right. But when you see the variety of approach and background and preference and academic achievements and social status and the kind of people we are and whether we're this or that, the marvel is that we get on at all. Well, have that impression gained locally, confirmed when you read these salutations and see how wonderfully well, in the knowledge of the person of Christ, exercising that love in the spirit, how the sweetness of all the things which need to be shown in local assembly conditions came to light at Colossae in the people that were there. May the Lord help us to study it and put it into practice. Now let us sing our closing hymn, number 492. We get our teaching from scripture. We can thank God that we have a hymn book where the hymns are always scriptural and very often scripture. In this hymn, 492, just cast your eye over it. The first verse is a paraphrase of Colossians 3, verse 1, where we begin. Verse 2, the first two verses, Colossians 3, verse 3. The third verse, Thou art the Father's own delight, Luke 3, 22. We are graced in thee, Ephesians 1, verse 6. Our hidden life in God art thou, again, Colossians 3, 3. But soon thou shalt appear, chapter 3, verse 4. In radiant bliss shall every brow thy glorious image bear, 1 John 3, 2. We do well to be well versed in these sound scriptural hymns that confirm to us what we read in the inspired text of epistles like the epistle to the Colossians. Let us sing the hymn 492. …

… And chapter 17. Acts 17 verse 1. Now when Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down, are come hither also, whom Jason hath received. And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people, and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go. First epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Second Epistle, chapter 1, verse 7. To you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day. Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and he in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. And this is the fifth of five sessions looking at the five corrective New Testament epistles which bear the name of the apostle Paul. We looked at the Corinthian epistle first, where the difficulty to be resolved was disorder, grave moral disorder. We then looked, as the epistles come to us in the New Testament, at the Galatian epistle, where the local saints had been deluded into accepting evil teaching, and this caused for the grave rebuke of the apostle. We then looked at the Philippian letter, where the difficulty was local dissension, showing itself primarily in two sisters who didn't seem to be getting on very well, and this was affecting in an adverse way the spiritual tone and state of the whole local assembly and everything they did. We then looked at the epistle to the Colossians, who were wrong as to doctrine concerning the person of Christ, and in each of those four epistles we noticed how, in taking up and dealing with the error, that the apostle did it in such a manner and in such a way that he was able to lead on to the positive statement of good doctrine, leading to good behaviour, and that this had its positive result in each local assembly. And tonight we turn to the epistle to the Thessalonians. We read those verses in Acts 17 as a background to looking at the epistles, because it is the history of how the assembly was brought into being. When we read the epistles, particularly the first epistle to the Thessalonians, we certainly get the impression they were young believers, young in faith. They did not have a great amount of spiritual experience. And even then, having that impression, it is rather staggering to look back into the Acts of the Apostles and to find that when he wrote to them the first epistle, and we gather from internal and external evidence, that it probably wasn't many months after that that he wrote, after the visit, that he wrote the first letter, it is rather staggering to realise for the first time that his visit, when he had imparted to them the major teaching of the coming of the Lord, was a visit which included three weekends. It so happens that by the time I leave Lowestoft a week on Monday, if the Lord will, and he hasn't come, I will have spent three weekends in this area of the country. Now when you say three weekends, it may be, as I will have done, God willing, two weeks and two days, just before one weekend to just after another. At most, it can be almost four weeks if I arrive just after a weekend and leave just before a weekend. And without labouring the point, while it's almost double, whether it's just more than two weeks or just less than four weeks, not a very long time indeed. And as we know and recognise, if you're having meetings every night or almost every night for about a fortnight, the point comes where you say, well other things need to be done. We all have responsibilities and there's only a certain amount that we can take in and we get to the point, if not spiritual stagnation, certainly we might get to the point of intellectual indigestion. Now this is recognisable and there's only a certain length of time and a certain amount that we can take in. Now when we consider that, we are amazed when we read the first letter to the Thessalonians and we see what Paul has to say about what they'd gained. Now before we look at that detail, I love, perhaps it's true to say, I covet, we could all covet Paul's style. There was an error to be dealt with, and in the Lord's mercy we'll come to that. But first of all, let us marvel at his style. First of all, following the example of the Lord in the addresses to the seven churches, Revelation 2 and 3, he gives them credit for anything that is worthy of credit. That's the first thing that he does. Then he provides ministry which is strengthening for the moment and also fortifies them for the future. Comfort and strengthening provided. And then, and only then, does he take up this vital matter and perhaps because they were so young in their faith, he was very careful not to stumble them by the way that he took up the necessary disciplinary action, because it was a form of discipline. Well, let us take account of that, take note of it, as we pass on, and let us just look briefly at an outline of the chapters and see, first of all, in chapter one of the first epistle, the remarkable progress that they had already made. Remember, three weekends and the week in between, the weeks in between, at most maybe three and a half weeks, perhaps as little as two weeks and a bit. He spent the time with them, he'd ministered to them, he'd left them, they had been meditating on what he'd said for perhaps a few more months. Now, let us each, as individuals, as local assemblies, think back as to how much progress you and I would have made individually, collectively, if that had been our circumstance. Would it have been possible for the apostle to give us the credit that he gave the Thessalonians? Verse one says, they knew God is their father. The same verse says, they acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Well, thank God! From earliest belief in the gospel, these were things that are common to all of us, knowing God is father, calling upon Jesus as Lord. By the time we get down to verse seven, we find that they were good examples to other Christians. Verse eight tells us, they were deeply committed to the gospel, and verses three, nine, and ten tell us that their very lives commended the gospel that they preached. Marvelous summary of their spiritual state after a few brief months of Christian experience, and happily, the end of the chapter says, they were waiting for the coming of the Lord. Much food there when we meditate upon all those happy things in chapter one, but we must move on to chapter two. If I had to give a heading over one Thessalonians chapter two, I think I would recommend this chapter as the chapter which outlines the need and the provision of nurture. I understand that this term nurture has become fashionable in Christian circles. Maybe it's a fashion, but it's nothing new. We can certainly go back to first Thessalonians chapter two, and we learn about the nurture of young Christian souls. And if you want a meditation on the features of Christian nurture, have a meditation on chapter two. I would only say, in passing, as we must move on, nurture necessitates someone who cares. Oh, how simple, but how essential. Not, as Peter says, lording it over the assembly, but as ensembles of the flock. Uh, notice, uh, things to look for, that in this, this is the chapter which gives us the answer to that regular quiz question. If you have quizzes, uh, which man was the best mother in the Bible? Of course, here he speaks of nurture as the function of a nursing mother looking after a new born baby. And we know the infinite momentary care that the nursing mother of her own little baby, we know the special care that's appropriate to that. And it is in this chapter, verse seven, he says, we were gentle among you. You see, there was a matter to put right, and he was the one to do it. But he doesn't go in frontal attack the way he did at Corinth or Galatia by necessity. Here, with these babes in Christ, he is gentle. He says, we were gentle among you as a nursing, as a nurse, a nursing mother cherishes her newborn baby. And again, he says, in the same chapter, verse 11, he says, there are some things about the nurture of newborn babes, spiritual sense of the term, which demand not only the, uh, compassion of the nursing mother, it needs the protective care and the constant provision of every kind of necessary resource that is seen in a father in a well-regulated growing family. He speaks of himself as a nursing mother. He speaks of himself as a father. And having done that in providing that balanced care that's seen in the aggregate of proper motherhood and proper fatherhood, we find that he doesn't hesitate to tell them things that they need to know to warn them of potential danger and the steps that need to be taken. And of course, um, there's much more detail than that. We must move on to chapter three. Give them credit where due in chapter one. In chapter two, uh, he gives the elements of Christian nurture. Chapter three, to me, is so general that if it were my responsibility to give an address on that chapter as a chapter, I would have to think very hard as to the sort of detail that I would want to draw your attention to. But certainly one question that arises in taking note that when there was something to be done and he wasn't in a position to go himself, he wanted to, he needed to see how the Thessalonians were getting on because he couldn't go himself. He sent Timothy. He delegated the job to Timothy. Now, let me ask myself, taking account of Timothy as a youngish believer with some experience and yet still some development in his own soul possible. The question arises with me, if Paul was here now and if there was a local assembly at some distant point where Paul needed someone like-minded who would make a fair assessment without partiality or prejudice and come back to the apostle with a true report, I wonder whether Paul would have decided that you or I were suitable for that kind of responsibility. That's a salutary question to ask ourselves. Am I in the sort of spiritual state? Have I the sort of impartial wise judgment that the apostle could draw upon as he was able in the case of Timothy? If we want to know, we have a plumb line. Start in Acts 14, as far as I remember, the first reference to Timothy. Trace through the history of Timothy over the years, maybe 20 years, and see to what extent my spiritual progress has kept pace with the way the development that Timothy demonstrated in his own life. And then perhaps I'm able to say whether or not, in the grace of God, I would have been the sort of person that Paul would have called upon to make such an assessment on behalf of the local assembly. I'll turn the question round before we move away from chapter 3. If we were a local assembly, if the apostle Paul sent such a Timothy to our meeting to our meeting, to spend time with us, long enough to know how we really are and not how wonderful we might appear to strangers who make one visit in a lifetime, long enough to know what the local difficulties are and how we meet them, how we serve the Lord together, the calibre of our service and worship, I wonder if we were such a local assembly. I wonder what sort of a report such a delegate, such a Timothy, would take back to the apostle Paul. Now, this is nothing to debate, something to meditate on, something to pray over as we move on, but just think about these questions whenever there is opportunity. And let us move on to this vital chapter 4. The breakdown is very simple. Again, I leave it for your meditation. Chapter 4, the overall breakdown, the first eight verses, purity and how essential it is, personally, family-wise, assembly-wise, the need for pure, unadulterated transparency before the Lord, not a matter of exhortation, a matter of sole condition before the Lord. Let us accept that before, again, before he gets to the detail of the problem, he presses the need for purity. Verses 9 to 12, a short section, and yet he says, once this matter of purity has been established, there is then the matter of brotherly love. And he says there won't be brotherly love in the proper spirit of the term unless as individuals, as families, and as a company, this matter of purity has been established. Having done that with discretion, with proper compassion and care, true nurture, he then comes to the problem. Oh, how right we can see it was not to stumble these young believers by charging in and putting them off. And so we get to chapter 4 and verse 13. I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren. Whenever you see that phrase, it comes about eight times in the New Testament epistles. Something important follows. Take note of the formula. It's an important one. I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren. It's a negative way of saying this is important, take account of it and act upon it. Introduced in this negative way, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren. And this was the problem. Not disorder like Corinth, not delusion like Galatians, not dissension as at Philippi, not doctrine concerning the person of Christ at Colossians. At Thessalonica, they were in a dilemma concerning those who had fallen asleep. When he was with them, he had evidently spoken freely and happily about the coming of the Lord. Jesus is coming, sing the glad word. Indeed, exulted in the thought, the Lord Jesus was coming to take them to be with himself. Everything would be set right. Christ would set all things in order. The Apostle had gone, months had gone by, and some of the local believers had died. They were distraught. Have they missed the blessing? Are they missing out? Will they be deficient? Have they been defrauded? Have we misunderstood the teaching concerning the coming of the Lord? Others said, well, the Lord's coming. What's the point of going to work today? The Lord's coming at any moment. Let's just sit and watch and wait. The Apostle has to put both these things right, or perhaps... With subtlety, we can see why chapters 1, 2 and 3 are put before chapter 4. There's much to be done in the service of the Lord. As long as we are left here living responsible lives, there's some aspect of the work of the Lord that we need to be and can be involved with, directly or indirectly. No need to feel that our time of service is over. I have met many who are despondent and say, the Lord may as well take me. No one needs me any longer. It must be a terrible mood to get into to feel that no longer are you needed, family-wise or meeting-wise. There's no need to feel like that if the Lord leaves us here. There's some aspect of the work of the Lord that we need to be involved in directly or indirectly. The Apostle takes the matter up in two ways. First of all, he says, as far as the death of the believer is concerned, he said, let's use a different term. He said, let's use a term which conveys the right idea. The death for the believer is different to the death of the unbeliever. For the believer, death is a condition into which we enter with For the believer, death is a condition into which we enter with the expectation of coming out of it in wakefulness. Let us look at death as a transient, a passing condition, nothing that's permanent or everlasting. And the Apostle says, the best word we can use for it is sleep. Not sleep in the sense of being insensitive or insensible, but sleep in the sense of being transient, in the sense of entering into it with a view to waking in the morning. And then he says, now what I'm going to tell you now, he says, is extra special because it's a special revelation that I've got from the Lord. And then again, this formula that he uses, not unknown to us, verse 15, this we say unto you by the word of the Lord. As is well known, he uses this four times over in the order in which they come. 1 Corinthians 11, he uses it when he lets the brethren into the secret of the manner in which the Lord's Supper is to be celebrated and the significance of it. When he speaks of the gospel in Galatians 1, he introduces it again as a special revelation from the Lord. And in Ephesians 3, when he speaks of the mystery, he speaks of it as something that he was passing on as a direct word from the Lord that he hadn't received from anyone else. Now here, with those other three, there is the truth concerning this problem as to whether or not those whom they said had died but were now advised that the death of the believer could be looked as going to sleep. It is with that in mind that the apostle takes up the teaching. In passing, and it's worth studying, in the main, there are two words for sleep used in the New Testament. And if you check with the Greek Old Testament, you'll find that it's consistent there. One word is asleep, asleep, which is induced by the power of another. The other word is asleep, which is entered into consciously and voluntarily. And it's no surprise, when you trace it through in the text, that whenever the sleep, whenever the death of the believer is referred to in the New Testament by use of the term sleep, it's the sleep which is induced by another, a sleep which is caused to come upon the believer. Or isn't this why the apostle, when he speaks of those dead believers whom the locals thought had perhaps missed the blessing, he says they are asleep through Jesus, subject to his sweet constraint. He has caused them to enter into this temporary transient condition out of which they would awake into his very personal presence. How happy then that this term sleep, which is induced under the constraint of the power of another, is the way the death of the believer is spoken of. What a consolation to the Thessalonian believers. They thought that their dead relatives, beloved brethren, had missed the blessing of the coming of the Lord. Well, having dealt with that, having put it into perspective by saying that it is this special kind of sleep induced by another, he says, verse 14, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again. Let us pause there. Do we believe that Jesus died and rose again? Of course we do. We wouldn't be believers if we didn't believe just that. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world and because he loves us, he died for us and rose again. How basic it is. Worth bearing in mind that the truth that he's going on to unfold before them is something which has the same parameters, the same boundaries, the same perimeters. What he's going to speak about, he's speaking about those who believe that Jesus died and rose again. Not speaking of any personal qualifications, not speaking of any personal endeavours or devotedness or special character of work that they have done for the Lord. What he says extends to those who believe that Jesus died and rose again. He says, even so, them also who believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God reign with him. Now the sense here, he says, now don't concern yourselves. He says, when the Lord Jesus comes in glory with the host of saints with him, as we read Jude 14, 15, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints. When he comes with his entourage, with all his saints with him, Paul says, those who've fallen asleep through Jesus will be with him. Don't concern yourself about them. And then, and then, the question perhaps arises, how is it possible that that might be so? And so we get a little parenthetical portion, a little bit in brackets, verses 15 to 18, before he resumes. He's speaking about the coming of the Lord to set all things right when he comes in power and glory, having his own with him. Chapter 5 verse 1 goes on with the details of that. But of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. Verses 15 to 18 of chapter 4 give us an amplification as to how it can possibly be that those who've fallen asleep in Jesus will be with him when he comes. And then we get the outline, how simple to us, how well known, but how necessary to refresh our spirits with the detail. He distinguishes between those believers who, when the Lord Jesus comes, will be alive on earth at the time, and those who, when the Lord Jesus comes, will have already fallen on sleep. Let us again say, in case there's any doubt, when the Lord comes, in the detailed manner which is given in the next few verses, there will be only two conditions in which believers will be found. At the time of his coming, there will be those who have died, and there will be those who are still alive. Now, they are the groups that the apostle is considering, and he goes into the detail. He says, we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. Just pause there ever so briefly. If you look at chapter 2, verse 19, well, let us do it now, how much he concentrates on the coming of the Lord in this epistle. End of chapter 1, verse 10, he says, we are waiting for the coming. Chapter 2, verse 19, he says, there'll be joy at his coming. Chapter 3, verse 13, he says, we'll be established at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Take account of that, the first use of the term in the epistle, with all his saints. Chapter 4, verse 18, there will be comfort. He is ministering comfort concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus. Chapter 5, verse 23, that they might be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in chapter 2, verse 19, chapter 3, verse 13, and chapter 5, verse 23, there is the term coming, the coming of the Lord. Always take account of the context when this term is used in the epistles. It is a comprehensive term, literally his presence. It may be used for the term that we are coming to, the catching away, the snatching, the rapture. It may refer to when he comes and destroys the enemy with the brightness of his coming. It may refer to the time anywhere along that continuum between the rapture and the appearing when there are his saints are in his personal presence and include other vital matters. So, let us not jump too quickly, too readily to any one conclusion as to whether it's the rapture or the appearing or somewhere in between without examining the context very closely indeed. But here in chapter 4 then, this term in chapter 4, verse 15, is the same term, the presence of the Lord, a comprehensive term as discussed. We who are alive and remain unto the coming shall not precede those who are asleep. Paul says, and we must keep on quickly, Paul says, you are concerned in case those who've fallen asleep through Jesus, those who've died since I spoke to you about the coming of the Lord, he says, don't be concerned, they are not at a disadvantage. In fact, he says, they themselves will receive the first touch of power when the Lord comes. And he goes on to say, the Lord himself should descend from heaven with a shout, voice of the archangel, with the trump of God. Again, happy hunting ground for the Bible student. The dead in Christ shall rise first. They will receive the first touch of the power. And he says then, he says, when they have been raised, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. You remember the brief reference to some of us who feel we're no longer needed. It would perhaps be better if the Lord took us home. Good desire, but not the Christian hope. The Christian hope is never to go to be with the Lord forever. …