Admonition Podcast

Good morning.

Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to First Corinthians.

Paul would visit the church at Corinth, the city of Corinth, where the church would become
established through the work and the labor that he was involved in.

Paul will remain in Corinth for 18 months.

He will work with the church that is burgeoning there in that city as it is growing.

He will teach many.

He will convert many, though we'll point out in chapter one that he physically didn't
baptize many of them.

Many of them were baptized by others that he as he taught them, but physically only
baptized Crispus and Gaius and the people of their house.

But he was their father in the faith.

He was the one who had brought them to the gospel and brought the gospel to them.

He had instructed them on how to live, how to operate and function within the body of
Christ, though many of them did not adhere very significantly to what they had been

taught.

So Paul is going to have to write to them because of the word that has come to him from
the household of those who are present in Corinth.

Concerning the problems that they have.

Paul opens up this letter as he writes to the church at Corinth, and he writes to them
Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our

brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ
Jesus, called to be saints.

With all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and
ours, grace to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, as he writes

to these brethren, as he writes to these young, immature as he will deter as he will call
them in chapter three, carnal individuals.

They are struggling to lay aside the things of their former lives.

The Jews are struggling to lay aside Judaism.

The Gentiles are struggling to lay aside paganism.

They're struggling to set themselves apart from their former way of life.

And at the same time they're grappling with a desire for the miraculous gifts that had
turned the gifts into a contest of who was the greatest.

Paul's going to write to them and he's going to correct many of the things that were going
on.

But where I want us to focus our time this morning is in chapter sixteen.

As Paul finally rounds out the instructions and the corrections and the the explanations
of many matters, having corrected their understanding of the resurrection, having imparted

to them the instruction concerning the offering that was to be collected on the first day
of every week as he had given instruction to the churches of Galatia.

Paul leaves this congregation that had great, was a congregation of which he had great
care for them with a final admonition.

In chapter sixteen and in verse thirteen, Paul gives five imperatives for living the
Christian life as he closes this letter.

He writes, Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.

Let all that you do done with love.

In quick succession, Paul gives these five imperatives, these five commands, and he tells
these Corinthian brethren, You must do this.

This isn't a suggestion.

This isn't something that is optional for them.

These were commands.

He begins with the idea that they must watch.

Some things about which they must watch, if you were to consider some of the remainder of
the book, is that which he mentions beginning in verse 10 of chapter 1.

Going all the way back to the beginning of the letter that he has written to them, he
writes, Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all

speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of the household of
Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

Now I say this.

That each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of
Christ.

Is Christ divided?

Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

Paul tells them that they're going to have to watch out for divisions that come from
leaders drawing away people after themselves.

Instead of pointing people to Christ.

Paul is going to be clear that the problem exists because there are individuals who are
following men instead of following Christ.

They are following the one for whom that person did not die for them.

Paul will point out that when he was in their presence, he determined not to know anything
among them except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Now, when Paul says that, as he says to that to them there in the beginning of chapter
two, he's not saying, I didn't preach anything but the crucifixion, I never taught you

anything about morals.

I didn't teach you anything about living.

I didn't teach you anything about work ethic.

I didn't teach you anything about the resurrection.

I didn't teach you anything about what Jesus did while he was alive.

I only just talked about the crucifixion all the time.

That's not what Paul means.

Paul established their salvation not in him.

But in a crucified Savior who was resurrected.

One who had died for them.

And as a result, one who had established the church, one in whose name they were immersed
for the remission of their sins.

And the one who they should follow.

So many times today, as it was in the days of the Corinthians, individuals want to follow
whoever they enjoy listening to the most.

Who they agree with, who they like what they say, they like how they say it.

They like the temperament with which the message is presented.

But those things were not the determining factors that Paul establishes for whether or not
to follow someone.

Rather, Paul makes it clear you follow Christ and him alone.

Now, if you turn over to First Corinthians chapter eleven.

Paul does not contradict himself when he says to them in chapter eleven and in verse one,
Imitate me.

Just as I also imitate Christ.

Paul's not saying you can't have a good example in front of you.

Paul's not saying when you look at your brethren, you don't say, you know what?

That is exactly the way Christ would have done it, and that's how I'm going to do it.

Paul is not saying that there are not those with wisdom and insight and knowledge and
experience and the things which they that you ought to listen to.

As a matter of fact, he's going to talk in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and 13 and 14
concerning the teaching that should happen in the assembly.

Paul is in no way implying that when that teacher gets up within the assembly of the body
of Christ in Corinth, don't listen to him.

You might be tempted to follow after him instead of Christ.

Oh.

Paul's making it clear the moment you start dividing yourself to follow a man instead of
following Christ, you have a problem.

Paul's going to tell them as he closes out this letter, you watch.

You be aware and on guard.

Number one against division.

But number two, against immorality.

If you turn to First Corinthians chapter five chapter five.

Paul will write to them and say it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality
among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles that a man

has his father's wife, and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has
done this deed might be taken away from among you.

For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged as though I
were present him who has done this deed.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together along with the spir
along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan

for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus.

Not glorying, or sorry, your glorying is not good.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

Paul, as he warns them to be on guard, will tell them earlier concerning this sin
individual situation that they have to correct and the steps that they have to take in

order to proceed with it.

But he is warning them to be on guard against immorality.

That immorality and sin taking part in the body of Christ will fester and it will destroy
the entire body.

Verse 9, he writes, I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral
people, yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or

with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the
world.

Paul says there is a limit to our fellowship.

But as he discusses the idea of being together with someone, he says, I want you to
understand I'm talking about within the body of Christ.

I'm not telling you you gotta separate yourselves wholesale entirely from the sinners in
the world.

Otherwise, if I did, I'd have to tell you how to get off the planet.

Rather, what I'm telling you is within the body of Christ, if you find someone who is
living in an immoral way, you do not fellowship them.

You do not take part in that with them.

You do not join yourself to them.

You do not condone what they're doing.

As a matter of fact, you withdraw your fellowship from them and you deliver them back to
the hand of Satan because they have decided to follow him instead of God.

He says, What do I have to do with judging those who are on the outside?

Do you not judge those who are on the inside?

Many in the world.

Will how hold the position, and sadly, many in the church will hold the position.

You can't judge me.

Well, Paul's understanding was far closer to Jesus' understanding than theirs.

Matter of fact, his lined up with Jesus' spot on.

Because Paul said, I'm going to judge you, and I don't even have to be there to do it.

I'm gonna judge you before I even show up.

I'm gonna judge of this matter and I'm not even gonna be present.

Because if a person is living this sort of life, they're judged.

And this is how you are to proceed.

He says, But I'm not worried about you going around judging everybody in the world.

They're already judged.

They're judged by not serving Christ.

They're judged by by not being obedient to the Father.

They're judged and condemned by their own actions, by their own unwillingness to submit to
God.

But if you've got somebody in the body of Christ who's claiming to submit to God, but
they're living like this.

No.

No, them you have to judge.

He says guard against division, guard against immorality.

And we're going to tie this later on to the last admonition, but if you turn to John
chapter thirteen.

Jesus will tell his disciples.

In John chapter 13 and verse 34, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another
as I have loved you, and that you also love one another.

By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

Paul will

encourage, will instruct, will command the Corinthians to be on guard that they love one
another.

In chapter thirteen of First Corinthians, Paul will write, though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not love, I have become a sounding brass and clanging

symbol.

And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and
though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am

nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
but I have not love, it profits me nothing.

Paul says, be on guard.

that you do not replace the love of God with the things that confirm you're obedient to
God.

Because you cannot serve God faithfully unless you do it first from the heart.

We do not carry out a list of wrote commandments that when we have completed that
commandment, that commandment, that commandment, that commandment, that commandment, then

we know if we've done this, this, this, this, and this, we're saved.

Oh, all of those things are applicable, and all of those things are required, but if our
heart is not right, we can do the commandments all we want, and we will have failed in the

singular and greatest commandment, which is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thou shalt

love thy neighbor as thyself.

Paul is going to make it clear, you can do all the list of the little things, but you
leave out the primary one, and all the little things are nothing.

But as Jesus would say, you ought to have done the the the greater things and not left the
little things undone.

Paul will tell them to be on guard against a failure of love, to be on guard against
division, to be on guard against immorality.

But he doesn't just say watch.

He doesn't just command them to be on guard.

He says, stand firm.

Paul tells them to stand firm, to not waver from the direction they had already set set
for their lives.

Turn to second Timothy chapter four.

In 2 Timothy chapter 4, Paul, as he is nearing the end of his life, will write, I have
fought the good fight.

I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith.

Paul is not

Blowing his own horn, as it might be said.

Paul is not announcing his greatness.

Paul is making a simple statement concerning the things he had determined to do and from
which he had never wavered.

No matter what it costs.

No matter the price he paid, no matter the days he spent in jail, or the times that he was
beaten, or the times that he was shipwrecked, or the times that he was desperately in need

of food and hungry, or the times that he was afflicted by those whom he even he taught.

No matter what came, Paul never changed direction.

He stood firm.

Jude would write as he opens his brief letter to the Christians.

Jude verse 3, beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common
salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the

faith which was once for all delivered for the saints.

For certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men.

Who turn the grace of God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus
Christ?

Jude is going to write to the Christians and he says, I I I'm I wanted to write to you
about our salvation.

As if to say Jude had in his mind how much he would have loved to have penned words from
the Holy Spirit about the salvation that is found in Christ, to write eloquently about the

things which Christ did for us, but instead there was a more pressing issue.

And the pressing issue at hand was that the church needed to stand up for the truth.

The church needed to stand firm for the revelation of God that had been delivered to them
and not waver from it.

Galatians chapter two.

Paul would write in the midst of the disagreements and disruption caused by the Judaizing
teachers, that he had gone back to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and with the elders

at Jerusalem, as we read about in Acts chapter 15.

And as he rehearses those events, we read verse chapter 2, verse 1 of Galatians.

Then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas.

And also took Titus with me.

I went up by revelation and communicated to them that gospel which I preached among the
Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run or

had run in vain.

Yet not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.

And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to
spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus,

That they might bring us into bondage, to whom we did not yield submission even for an
hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

Paul says, I'm going to place in your hands.

Freedom.

The gospel of Christ, which is able to free you from the bonds of sin.

But if you allow that gospel to be corrupted by those who would turn you away from the
freedom that is in Christ and bring you again into bondage, you will proclaim a message

that will leave people in just as much bondage as they started in.

And to that end, Paul writes to the Galatians in Galatians chapter one, in the prior
chapter, and writes, verse six, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who

called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there
are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that which we
have preached to you, let him be accursed.

As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you,

Then what you have received, let him be a curse.

Paul tells the church in Galatia as he tells the church in Corinth, you stand firm and you
don't move.

God will tell Joshua that.

As Joshua takes over leadership from the nation of the nation of Israel from Moses, he
will tell Joshua, do not depart to the right hand or to the left.

Paul, as he writes to these Corinthians, gives them the imperative to watch.

He gives them the imperative to stand firm in the faith.

He gives them the imperative to be brave, to take courage.

Over in Second Timothy.

When writing to Timothy and Second Timothy chapter two

Paul will say to Timothy, You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus.

And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful
men who will be able to teach others also.

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Paul will tell Timothy, Y y you you didn't sign up.

To be a regular ordinary person.

You didn't put on Christ and adorn yourself so that you could stay home.

You didn't conform yourself to the command of the gospel so that you could live like the
world.

You signed up to become a soldier of Jesus Christ.

You agreed the commission of carrying out the commands of your leader and of your king.

And as a result, you need bravery.

You need courage to carry those commands out.

Knowing that they're not going to be easy.

Yes, Jesus said, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.

But he also said, Take my yoke upon you.

He said, My burden is light, but he didn't say my burden is non existent.

Paul will tell these brethren, you need to be brave.

For there's a war going on.

You're going to have to

You're going to have to stand against the principalities and the powers and heavenly
places.

You're going to have to stand against false teachers.

You're going to have to prepare the next generation.

You're going to have to make sure and secure your freedom and your hope and your
foundation in Christ, and you're going to have to make sure you don't walk away from it.

And it's not going to be easy.

as you get into second Corinthians, Paul will write to them in Second Corinthians as one
who

Had taught them, was their father in the faith, as one who had led an example of life
before them.

And yet because of complacency they had allowed themselves to be influenced to the point
where they were questioning whether or not Paul was even an apostle.

Paul will have to defend his very authority.

As their father in the faith,

To write these letters to them.

They needed to take courage to drive off the false teachers to hold fast to the truth.

But fourthly, Paul gives them the imperative to be strong.

He says, Be strong.

In James chapter four, James will write to the church.

He writes, verse six, but he gives more grace, speaking concerning God.

Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and
purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James calls upon the Christians to have strength enough.

In their heart, in their mind, in their conviction, in their humility to approach God and
depart from Satan.

To deny Satan the authority over their lives, the authority over their actions, the
authority over their circumstance, rather that he would flee from them when they

determined to be near God.

As a young person

I was always and still am thoroughly amused by magnets.

The curiosity of the strength at which they attract one another when properly aligned.

And the the strength at which they oppose one another when they're not.

And James, if we could perhaps visualize it, is saying that about God and Satan.

You get close to God and you get aligned with God and you're going to push Satan away, and
he will not be able to overcome that.

You draw near to God, you get butted right up to God, and guess what?

Satan doesn't stand a chance.

Now, James has already warned them back in James chapter one.

James chapter one and verse 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has
been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those that

love him.

Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God does not tempt God cannot
be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed, then when
desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown, brings forth

death.

James as he's writing to the church is not leaving the implication that Satan has all
control.

He's also not leaving the implication that the person's own desires and lusts don't play a
part.

Rather, James is saying in chapter four, you change your desire to be God.

You set your affection on God.

You draw near to God, and guess what?

Satan won't have anywhere to attack you.

Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians chapter six.

And he writes in verse 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of
his might.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in

the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God.

That you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace,

above all, taking the shield of faith.

With which you will be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always

with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all
perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and for me, that utterance may be given

to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which
I am an ambassador in chains.

That in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.

Paul, as he writes to the church at Ephesus, another congregation he had spent
considerable time with, says, You be strong.

Don't try and stand by yourself.

Don't try and stand in your own strength.

Don't try to equip yourself with your own tools and your own resources.

Rather, be strong and stand in the armor of God.

So that you can be prepared to defeat Satan.

But lastly, Paul writes to the church at Corinth, and he says, Let all you do be done with
love.

Understand that means that they needed to guard.

They needed to watch out of love.

When they watched for those who were causing division, it was out of love.

When they stood against those who were causing division, it was out of love.

When they watched for those who were taken in immorality, it was out of love.

When they guarded against those who would infect others with the perniciousness of sin, it
was out of love.

When they withdrew fellowship from the man who had his father's wife, it was out of love.

Not that he be separated from God, but that he repent and be restored to a right
relationship with God.

And when in 2 Corinthians Paul will write to them instructing them to take him back and
again extend fellowship to him, it was out of love.

When Paul tells them to be strong in the faith, to be watchful, to stand firm, all of
those things they were not to do without love, but rather with love.

First John chapter four.

John will write.

The apostle whom Jesus loved, as we're told in the text.

In 1 John chapter 4 and verse 7, he writes, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is
of God.

And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

In this the love of God was manifested toward us that God has sent his only begotten Son,
Jesus, into the world, that we might live through him.

In this is love.

Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and he has sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Paul's going to tell the church of Corinth.

You're divided.

You're struggling.

You're carnal.

You're not spiritually minded.

You've got pervasive problems.

Because you need to work on your love.

Your love for one another and your love for God above self.

Do all with love.

When you consider

these abiding imperatives, these five commands.

Truly the same five commands can be said to us today.

Paul would say to each and every one of us, watch, stand fast in the faith.

Be brave, be strong.

Let all that you do be done in love.

If you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ.

That admonition and that imperative is to a Christian.

In order for that to be first applied to you, you must become a Christian.

Paul taught those Corinthians how to become Christians.

He was their father in the faith.

He brought the gospel to them.

And he taught them concerning Jesus Christ, who had been crucified for them, who had died
for them, and they were baptized in the name of Christ.

And Christ is not divided.

Christ is not separated into little pieces.

Christ established his church.

And that was the church that Paul brought to Corinth.

Having put on Christ, though, they now had an obligation as soldiers of the cross.

To equip themselves and to stand as soldiers.

If you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ, you can enter into that
body the same way they did.

Nothing's changed in the last 2,000 years.

You hear the word of God and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

You repent of your sins and confess the name of Christ.

You are immersed in water for the remission of your sins, being baptized.

Paul said, I wasn't sent to bury people in water.

I was sent to preach the gospel.

It was unimportant to me who put them in the water, only that they be immersed.

And so is true today.

If you were to choose this very day to be immersed in water for the remission of your
sins, it wouldn't really matter who put you in the water.

Rather, it would matter the gospel which you were submitting to.

But if you're a member of the body of Christ and you say, you know what, these five
imperatives don't really sound like my life.

Maybe it's time to examine your commission once again.

If you have need of the invitation, why not come now as we stand and as we stand?