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The book tonight, 1 Corinthians, chapter number 1, and in verse number 1, the Bible reads, Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother and to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. So first of all, let me point out a few things. Paul is writing this epistle and he's writing it with Sosthenes. Sosthenes is the one who is helping him write it, or he's saying this is a greeting from myself and Sosthenes our brother, and he's writing it unto the church of God which is at Corinth. And so whenever we see the term, the church, in the New Testament, he's talking about an assembly of believers, every single time, because the word church means congregation, and that's why you'll have geographical locations like the church at Corinth, and then you'll often have it in the plural form, churches. And many people teach a false doctrine that there is just one church. There's only one church, and I've had a lot of Roman Catholics tell me that when I'm out soul-winning. They say, what's this church is? There's the one true church, there's one church, and even Baptists and Protestants have become wrapped up in this thing thinking that every believer belongs to the church, so-called. Well, that's not true because this is the church at Corinth, okay? And they say, well, there are churches, but then there's also one big church. No, if a church is an assembly, if a church is a congregation, I'm not congregated with all believers, I'm not assembled with all believers, therefore there is nothing on this earth at this time known as the church which includes all believers. This is not true. It's a false doctrine. It says, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, and look who else he's writing to, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and then look at the next phrase, called to be saints. And then he says this, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours. So in this verse he's defining what a saint is, because he's saying I'm writing to those that are sanctified, and notice the similarity between the word sanctified and the word saint. Those are both from the same root word there. He says to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus in verse 2, called to be saints, and he's saying they're called to be saints along with everyone else who calls upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours. So that right there tells us that all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord are saints. That tells us right there that every saved person is a saint, because when he says those that call upon the name of the Lord, we could tie that in with, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him dead, thou shalt be saved. And then he said for whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved. And so here we see that a saint is someone who's saved. And everyone who is saved, no matter where they are, if they call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are a saint. It's not like the Roman Catholic doctrine that says there are certain saints. You know, there are certain people who have achieved a higher level of sainthood. And you say, well Pastor Anderson, why is this important? Why does this matter? Well the words that we use matter, and the word saint is a word that is often used throughout the Bible to describe believers, and it's a word that should be in our vocabulary. You know it's amazing today how people have the word Christian on the tip of their tongue all the time. They want to talk about Christian this, Christian that. Well the word Christian is only used three times in the whole Bible, but the word saint is used scores of times, okay? And I'm not saying the word Christian is a bad word. It is a good word. It's a biblical word. But let's use this word also. Let's use this word, the saints. The word saint is a better word, and it becomes important when talking about biblical doctrine. For example, when the Bible says, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Who's coming with him? You know, the Bible says them that are asleep in Jesus will God bring with them. And so that right there can prove to us that all believers are present at that event. And so he says that they're called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Remember where this verse is located, because if you ever need to prove to someone that saints are believers, this is a great place to go, 1 Corinthians 1.2. Look at verse 3, 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 Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge. So he discusses here two areas that we need to be enriched in. He said in our utterance and in our knowledge. It's funny, one time a guy told me, he said, I was talking to him about soul winning and he was a Calvinistic guy. And so he said, you know, the epistles of Paul never teach soul winning, he said. They never talk about soul winning. He said, I don't see it in Romans, I don't see it in 1 and 2 Corinthians, I don't see it in Galatians, I don't see it in Ephesians. He said, you know, if it's so important, why didn't the epistles of Paul talk about it? Well, nothing could be more ridiculous because in Romans chapter 1 and Romans chapter 10, I mean, just things are popping, verses are popping into my head from Romans about going out and preaching the Gospel. Romans 10, that's what the whole chapter is about, going out soul winning, but throughout the book of Romans. But right here we'll see a term that often appears in Paul's epistles referring to soul winning and that term is utterance. Go to Ephesians 6, keep your finger here, and go a few pages to the right in your Bible to Ephesians 6. I'm just going to show you one other example, but throughout Paul's epistles he uses the term utterance to talk about opening your mouth to utter words to give people the Gospel. Look at Ephesians chapter 6 and I'm taking the time to explain this because utterance is a word that we don't really use that often today. It's a word that has fallen out of fashion. But when we say an utterance, if someone is to utter something or make an utterance, it basically just means that they're talking, right? I mean, if somebody utters or makes an utterance, it just means they talked, they spoke, they said something, right? So he's saying you need to be enriched by Jesus Christ in your utterance, which is stuff that you're saying, and in your knowledge, which is the things that are in your mind. Look at Ephesians chapter 6 and I'll show you what I mean. It says in verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. He's saying we need to be praying for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Notice again the use of the word saints. But look at verse 19, and for me, he's saying pray also for me that utterance may be given unto me. What does he mean by that when he says pray that utterance may be given unto me? He says that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. And of course in 2 Corinthians 5, he's going to use that illustration about being an ambassador, speaking of soul winning, saying that we go to the lost in the place of Christ, beseeching them to be reconciled to God, and we are ambassadors for Christ and we preach the word of God that they might be saved. So utterance is referring to opening our mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. And so the Bible says that in everything we ought to be enriched by him in all utterance and in some knowledge. Is that what it says? It says all knowledge. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but is this not teaching that we should know everything that's in the Bible? We should learn everything in the Bible. That means if somebody teaches us Leviticus, we should be ready to learn from the book of Leviticus. If somebody wants to teach us Numbers or Deuteronomy or Joshua, we ought to be ready to learn and say, you know, I don't need that. And that's what people are at today, they say teach me something relevant to my life. I don't need to know about Leviticus, I don't need to know about Numbers, I don't need all this heavy doctrine. You know, just give me something that's a little more relevant and applicable to my life today. We need all knowledge. Everything in the Bible is something that God wants us to know. And God has given it to us, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. I mean we need the whole counsel, we need the whole Word of God. Now it's funny because when you start talking doctrine and when you start, you know, demanding that a certain doctrine be upheld from the Word of God, people will often accuse you of being divisive. And we're going to get to that just in a few verses of this chapter. But then the other thing that people will often bring out when you try to tell them about a certain doctrine or you try to tell them, hey this is important that we understand such and such the principle from the Bible, here's what they'll use often. Well I'm not worried, you know, you shouldn't worry so much about, you just need to be out soul winning. You know, don't spend so much time worrying about this doctrine or that doctrine. Quit worrying so much about Leviticus and quit worrying about Psalms, you know, quit worrying about every little doctrine and just get out there and win souls, we just need to win souls. But wait a minute, he said utterance and knowledge. He didn't say go do all the utterance instead of knowledge. You know, instead of reading your Bible, go soul winning. Man, why would you spend a bunch of time reading the Bible when you could be out soul winning? Because I'll tell you why, if you don't read your Bible and you spend all your time out soul winning, you're not going to know what the Bible says and you're going to fail as a Christian. You're going to fail in your life. And if our church is a church that's just soul winning, soul winning, soul winning, without the knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, our church will fail. We need everything that God has to offer us. We need to be enriched by knowledge and by utterance, knowledge yes, utterance yes. Other people make the opposite mistake. They want to just fill their mind with knowledge but they never do any utterance. They're not doing any soul winning. And they will also fail. And that's why Paul is giving us here the key to success. We need to be enriched by Jesus Christ in all utterance and in all knowledge. Someone will say to you sometimes about a certain doctrine, that doctrine doesn't matter. Every doctrine matters. Everything in the Bible matters or it wouldn't be there. And if someone is teaching a lie, it ought to be rebuked and reproved. It doesn't matter what it's about. And people will say this, that's not a salvation issue. Show me that in the Bible. Only fight for salvation issues. Only take a stand on salvation issues. Is that what the Bible says? No, the Bible teaches that we should stand on all knowledge, all utterance, we should reprove all false doctrine. For example, you know, if you look at what Paul was rebuking when he was rebuking false doctrine in 2 Timothy chapter 2, he said that, a few false teachers, he said concerning the truth they have erred saying that the resurrection is past already and overthrow the faith of some. You know, so their doctrine about when the resurrection took place, you know, whether or not it was a so-called salvation issue, Paul felt the need to rebuke it. Paul said they're wrong. Paul said I'm going to call their name and point out their heresy and their false doctrine. You know what? Every doctrine is important. Everything matters. And so don't ever get this attitude that says, well only salvation doctrine matters and only preaching the gospel to the lost matters. You know, that is what the New Evangelical movement is built on. It's built on a doctrine that says the only thing that matters is reaching people. And they say, oh, you're being too strict with your standards of living and you're preaching too many commandments from the pulpit and that's turning people away. If you'd soften the message, stay away from the commandments, just focus on Jesus. Just focus on the most important thing. Just talk about the death, burial, and resurrection and then what they do is they try to bring in just crowds of people because they're not going to offend anybody and then they say we're going to reach thousands of people. And I mean it sounds good on the surface. Yeah, if we just talk about Jesus and the death, burial, and resurrection, we don't cover any doctrine that will divide people. We don't cover any commandments or anything about the way you live your life. Then we're going to reach maximum people. But here's the problem. It never works that way, never. Because they bring in crowds of people but when they've sacrificed doctrine, now nobody's got the salvation doctrine right. And they bring in crowds of people but it's worldly, it's carnal, it's not a spiritual atmosphere. Everybody gets backslidden, including the pastor, including the leadership of the church, and because everybody's backslidden, they're not filled with the Spirit. And because they're not filled with the Spirit, they're not an effective soul winner. Look, I would rather be filled with the Spirit, walk with God, live a clean life according to His commandments, teach the other people of the church to do the same thing, and you know what? Even if the group ends up being smaller at the end of the day, we're going to be Spirit-filled, we're going to go out and we're going to win more people to Christ, and we will win more people to Christ by being righteous and being a preacher of righteousness than to just bring everybody in, throw the standards and doctrine out the window. It doesn't accomplish anything, it's a failed system. You say prove it fails, okay, go soul winning with me. Knock on the doors of the people who go to these megachurches, half of them don't even know what salvation is. And so I'd rather have a smaller group, I'd rather have just 12 guys, you know, that are like the 12 disciples. And obviously we have much more than that here. But Jesus had 12 and He did a lot with those 12 men that turned the world upside down. Why? Because they're Spirit-filled. Why? Because they forsook all and followed Him. Why? Because they lived a clean, godly, righteous life, they cared about doctrine, they cared about purity, they cared about preaching against sin, they preached hard, they did not care about offending people, they cared about offending God. They didn't want to do that, but they didn't mind offending man. And so He says that we should be enriched in all utterance and in all knowledge. He says this, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is a really important pair of verses here, verses 7 and 8. In verse 7 it says, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we're talking about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ here. Look at the next verse, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. So here it's pretty clear looking at this that the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is the same thing as the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, do you see that? He says the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, He said I don't want you to come behind any gift as you're waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, that way you'll be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, confirmed unto the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Keep your finger there and go to Philippians chapter 1, Philippians chapter 1. Let's look at another scripture on the day of Christ because there's a very similar statement found in Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 where the Bible reads, being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So God has begun a good work in us and He will perform that work in us until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. So what is that good work? What is the work that He's doing in us? Well the Bible says it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure, right? So according to the Bible, God's working in us is that He brings us to a point where we do His will and where we do His good pleasure. We do what He wants us to do. He works in us to get us to be like Him, to get us to be conformed unto His image, okay? Now He begins to work in us at salvation and if we'll let Him, He'll perform that work in us until the day of Christ and God is saying He wants us to be blameless in the day of Christ. So we're talking about the coming of Christ. We're obviously talking about the day when Jesus Christ comes in the clouds. Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 because you see in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the Bible is real clear on what the coming of the Lord Jesus is. It is the rapture. It is the trumpet sounding. It is us being caught up together with Him in the clouds. Now there are people out there that will tell you that the rapture and the second coming are two different things. Well either those people can't count or they're just basically repeating what man has taught them instead of reading the Bible and seeing what God says about it. They're just repeating what man has taught them and they just like a parrot that just doesn't think. I mean if a parrot does not think about what it's saying, you can get a parrot to say anything. You could teach it the most obscene thing and it will not even blush or raise an eyebrow and say, wait a minute, I won't say that. Because the parrot does not comprehend what it is hearing or what it is saying. And so we have, second coming, he's not the rapture, rapture's not the second coming. Like a stupid dumb animal that can't think. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4 that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. Now what do people not understand about the fact that 1 Thessalonians 4 says that when Jesus Christ comes in the clouds at the rapture, that is called the coming of the Lord. Is there anybody that doesn't understand that? And yet you can say it and say it and preach it and preach it, but the lie is so strong. Satan has this stronghold of this lie, this deception that's been out there. And you know what, not in our church. And if anybody is struggling with this deception, this spirit of darkness that tells you that the rapture is not called the coming of the Lord, I will get out a dictionary, I'll show you the word coming, I mean I'll highlight the word coming in 1 Thessalonians 4 for you and explain to you that it means that he comes. He's coming. And you say, that's not the second coming. Well is it coming 1.5? Is it the first coming? No, no, no Pastor, it's just not the second coming. No, it is the second coming. Because if Jesus Christ came in Bethlehem's manger, let's count together, shall we? I want to drive this point in, I just don't understand why people don't get it. I hear this almost every day from people. It's not the second coming. He came in Bethlehem's manger, count me, everybody say one. So that's the first coming, right? First Thessalonians 4 is the rapture passage, the most famous rapture passage in the whole Bible. It says that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent, then what shall I say, let's count together, two. So how is the rapture not the second? Oh, there's a future of it after that that's the second coming. If there's another coming after that, you'd better call it the third coming. If you want to talk about some other coming, I'm not going to talk about any other coming, but if you want to talk about another coming after that and call it the coming of the Lord, you're going to have to call that the third coming or else you just can't count. It's that simple. Now you say, well Revelation 19, Jesus comes on a white earth. Well the term coming is not used there. But if you want to call that another coming, then you're going to have to call that the third coming. Now Jesus coming on a white horse is not the same event of 1 Thessalonians 4. Those are two very different events because in 1 Thessalonians 4 a trumpet sounds, Jesus comes in the clouds, he gathers up the elect. Okay, in Revelation 19 there's no trumpet. In Revelation 19 there's no mention of the saints being gathered. In Revelation 19 there's no mention of him coming in the clouds. He's riding a white horse. It's a completely different event. But when we talk about the second coming, we must be talking about the rapture since that's what's called the coming of the Lord. Now look down at your Bible there at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And I just want to drive that in because, you know, there's so much deception out there today and people are unwilling to hear the truth on this. They're unwilling to change because they just have decided that the rapture comes before the tribulation and it's not the second coming. You know what? They've been lied to and they're going around lying to others and they need to just accept it. You know? That they're wrong. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 1. Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we should already know what that is from 1 Thessalonians 4. He says, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him. Sounds like the rapture to me, that we 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. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. So that right there tells us that there are people out there who desire to deceive us into believing that the day of Christ is at hand. Well if we go to 1 Corinthians 1, we saw that the day of Christ was the day that we're waiting for his coming and we're waiting for that day that will be found blameless on that day. Now if this were referring to some other event later than or beyond the rapture, why would we have to worry about being blameless on that day? Everybody listen up and think about this very carefully. When we're in heaven, aren't we living a sinless life up in heaven? I mean does everybody understand that when you get to heaven you're never going to sin again? I mean you're sinning down here because you're living in the flesh. When you're up in heaven you're not going to be drinking and partying and watching Hollywood movies and struggling with sin. No, when you get to heaven you're never going to sin again. That's why heaven's a perfect place. The more you live like that down here you'll have a little heaven on earth. But when you get to heaven you're never going to sin again. So if the day of Christ is some day that's after the rapture, it's some future day beyond the rapture, why would we have to be worrying about being blameless on that day if we've already been in heaven for months or years? We've already been blameless for a long time because we've already been changed. But we want to be blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, meaning that between now and the rapture, between now and the second coming, between now and the day that Jesus Christ comes in the clouds, we need to worry about being blameless. So that when that day rolls around, everybody getting this? When that day of Christ rolls around, when Jesus comes to God, on that day we want to be found blameless and say, hey, I made it to the end blameless. And again, we're not talking sinless. There's a difference between blameless and sinless. For example, to be the pastor of a church the qualification is that you must be blameless. Not sinless, otherwise no one would be qualified. But blameless, meaning that there's no obvious major thing that somebody could point to and blame you and they say that the ministry be not blamed. You know, if somebody says, hey, your pastor's a drunk, your pastor's an adulterer, your pastor is an extortioner, okay? Those are the type of things that would not be acceptable for a pastor. And so he says, you know, we want to be blameless on the day of Christ. God's going to continue the good work He began in us until the day of Christ. Why? Why is He not going to carry it on beyond that? Because once the day of Christ is done, because then we're going to be in His image. Then we're going to be in His likeness. In a moment, a twinkle of an eye will be changed. So the King James Bible says that there's a deception out there to tell you that the day of Christ is at hand. And the Bible says not to let any man deceive you about that because that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Has the man of sin, the son of perdition, been revealed? No. Therefore the rapture cannot happen at any moment because those things have to happen first. That's why you say, oh it doesn't matter, not a salvation issue. Well then why did He say let no man deceive you by any means? Why didn't He say let people deceive you about this because it's not that important? Don't let them deceive you about salvation issues. But when it comes to the rapture, just let people deceive you and tell you that it can happen at any moment because it's not that big of a deal. Is that what He said? Now He said don't allow people to deceive you on this and He clearly says, and by the way the pre-trib rapture is not just a mistake, it's a lie. It's a deception because the Bible doesn't say let no man discombobulate you by any means. He said no, let no man deceive you by any means. So if somebody tells you that Jesus is coming at any moment, they are deceiving you. They are a deceiver. Now I'm not saying that they're intentionally deceiving you because they might just be like a parrot repeating what they've heard, but they are still a deceiver. I mean that's like saying, well that Catholic priest is not a deceiver because he's just doing what he was taught by Friar Tuck or whatever in his Catholic monastery. But wait a minute, he is a deceiver because by repeating the deception you become a deceiver yourself. That's why we need to study to show ourselves approved so that we don't accidentally, inadvertently repeat deception and repeat lies. We need to tell the truth and preach the truth. That's why it's a big responsibility to be a pastor. That's why it should not be entered in upon lightly and we should really make sure that we've studied and learned before we take on something like that and so you young men that are thinking about being a pastor someday, boy you need to do a lot of reading and not just repeat Pastor Anderson or anybody. You need to do a lot of reading, make sure that what you preach is right. But back in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, now that I've got that off my chest, 1 Corinthians chapter number 1, the Bible says after he just finished saying that he's going to confirm us unto the end that we may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ which was equivalent to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like in 2 Thessalonians 2, he said the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, our gathering together unto him, the day of Christ. Both places he equated the coming of Christ with the day of Christ and it's a day where we want to make sure that we're found blameless on that day which means that it's a day that we're found on this earth living our lives hoping to be found blameless on that day so that we can receive a full reward. Look at verse number 9, God is faithful by whom you 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 you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. So that right there says that we should not have division among us. You say well that's because division's bad. Wrong. Wrong. Because go back to Romans 16, you're in 1 Corinthians 1, just go back one page. Because Jesus Christ said in Luke 12, he said think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to bring peace but division. So Jesus Christ said the purpose of my coming is to bring division. So if division were a bad thing then that would mean that Jesus Christ has brought bad things into this world. And we know that's not true. We know that he went about doing good. So if Jesus went about doing good and he said I've come to bring division, then division is good. Did you hear me? Division is good. Even God in Genesis 1, he just keeps dividing over and over again. He divides the light from the darkness. He divides the waters above the ferment from the waters below the ferment. He divides the sea and the dry land. He divides male from female. He divides, he divides, he divides. He came to bring division. He's the God of division. You know my favorite math is not addition, subtraction, or multiplication, it's division. But in Romans chapter 16 here, he says in verse 17, now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause division and avoid them. Nope, that's not what it says. It says mark them which cause division and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. You see, when you're causing division because you're preaching righteous doctrine, that's good division because you're dividing those who believe the Word of God from those who reject the Word of God. And so when you're preaching a doctrine that's right, that's been taught unto us by our Savior, that is good division. That's the kind of division he brought. And so that's a good thing. Now look at 1 Corinthians 1 again with that in mind. So he says division is bad when it's contrary to the doctrine we've learned. Division that's preaching true biblical doctrine, that's good division. For example, if everybody's doing wrong, if everybody's committing sin and I divide myself from them, isn't that a good division? Did I not be lumped in with them? Look at 1 Corinthians chapter number 1. It says in verse 10, 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, period. No. He doesn't say he doesn't want there to be division because division is good. He says I don't want there to be divisions among you. So there should be a very serious division between believers and unbelievers. There should be a difference between the saints and the unsaved. There should be a difference between clean and unclean. There should be division between the Baptist and the Catholic. Division between the Baptist and the Mormon. Division between lies and the truth. But he said there shouldn't be any divisions among you. So how are we going to make sure that there's no divisions among us? We make sure that we all are right. Not like, well since most people are wrong and we don't want to have any division and 60% is wrong and 40% is right, we better all just go wrong, then we can be unified. Isn't that ridiculous? But in practice that's what people do. You know, 51% is wrong. We're going to have to get the 49% that's right to switch to being wrong, then we can all be unified. Because unity is more important than doctrine, wrong. We ought to unify around the right doctrine. We ought to unify around the right. And you know one way that we can make sure there's no divisions among us? People who refuse to listen to this book, just get them out of here. Because all they're doing is causing division. If they don't want to listen to the word, then they can leave. And I'm not going to push them out the door, but just the preaching will do that in many cases when you preach the truth. But look if you would at Philippians chapter 3, just a few pages to the right in your Bible. Now I'm having you turn a lot of places tonight, but I just want to show you these things. Philippians chapter 3. See the Bible explains to us how we can have unity in the church because God said He doesn't want there to be any divisions among us. Obviously everywhere we go we're going to cause division when we're preaching the Bible because that's how it was in Jesus' day and we're preaching the same message as He is. But when it comes to in the church, here's how we don't have division. He says in verse number 15, let us therefore, as many as be perfect, this is Philippians 3.15, be thus minded, watch this, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. So in order for us to not have division, we need to all walk by the same rule and we need to all mind the same thing. Now what should be the rule that we all walk by? The Bible, right? So if we all, let me ask you this, if we all have a King James Bible and we all decide the King James Bible is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice, are we all walking by the same rule now? If we all have the same rule book here that we all follow, that we all believe in, I mean what if everybody in the United States Senate had a different constitution? And they said, well, you know, this is the rule I'm walking by. And then somebody said, no, no, no, I'm going by the 1787 version. And somebody else said, no, no, no, I'm going by the new international version. International treaties or something, you know. And so that wouldn't work, would it? But don't pass over the truth that's found in verse 15 though. Because obviously we need to all walk by the same rule, right? Look at verse 15, let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. So let me ask you this, if you and I both have the King James Bible as our final authority, and I believe something that is completely different than what you believe, right? Even though we're both claiming that we're getting what we believe from the same book, the King James Bible, but we both believe two different things. Doesn't the Bible here say that God will reveal to us the thing that we are wrongfully minded on so that we might get rightfully minded on it? I mean, if I believe something completely different than Brother Garrett, and both of us have the same Bible as our authority, and then we have this disagreement, and then I go home and pray and say, God, I'm going to continue reading my Bible. If I'm wrong about this, reveal it to me. And then he goes home and says, God, if I'm wrong about this, reveal it to me. Isn't God going to reveal to one of us that we're wrong? Won't God reveal to us if we are otherwise minded that God will reveal it to us so that we can all mind the same thing and walk by the same rule? I mean, if God wants there to be unity, and I want there to be unity, and He wants there to be unity, isn't there going to be unity? See what I mean? And so that's the key to unity. It's a willingness to let the Bible be the final authority, making sure we all have the same Bible would be a good place to start, putting that as the final authority, and then everyone having a mindedness or a willingness to be in one accord and to come to an agreement and to let the Bible change what we believe if necessary, because the Bible is our final authority. Now in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 where we were, he says there that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Contention means fighting among you. Now this I say, that every one of you sayeth, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? What is he saying here is a great cause of division. A great cause of division is when man becomes our authority instead of the word of God. See when the word of God becomes our authority, when Jesus Christ becomes our authority, we're all rallied around the same person. But when we have other people in the church that we're looking to and saying, well I'm going to go with what he says, I'm going to go with what Paul says, I'm going to go with what Cephas says. And of course, they're not talking about scripture here, because of the fact that first of all, Apollos didn't write any scripture. So we're not talking about scriptures. If I said I'm going to go by what Paul said, since I've never talked to Paul in person, I'm referring to what he said in the Bible, which is actually what God said. That's not what these people are doing. They're following a man. They're following Apollos, who was a good man, Paul, who was a good man, Peter, who was a good man, but you know what, no matter how good the man, we shouldn't be rallied around them, we should be rallied around Christ as our final authority. And not saying, well I'm going to go with what Paul says. It should all just be, I'm going to go with what the Bible says. And we ought not make doctrines about people. It should be about what the Bible says. And so there's a division sometimes when we rally around personalities and just follow a person. Even if that person's a good person. I'm your pastor, but I don't want you to just blindly follow me to where somebody confronts you on doctrine and you say, well that's what Pastor Anderson says, I'm just going to go with it. I just trust him. I just trust his judgment. No, you need to trust the Bible's judgment. And you need to study it on your own and make sure that everything I'm preaching to you is right, and not just blindly accept what I tell you. He says in verse 14, I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. So here we see that not only are people following man instead of following Christ, but then we also see that people are accusing others of following man and accusing people of leading people astray. So he's saying that people are falsely accusing, or would possibly falsely accuse him, of baptizing in his own name. Instead of baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, I baptize you in the name of, well, myself, Paul. And obviously he never did such a thing. But that's the type of accusation that is out there, and what Paul is trying to say is look, just because I preach a certain doctrine and people follow my doctrine, that doesn't mean they're following me and that it's all about me, he said follow me as I follow Christ. It's about what the Bible teaches and what Jesus taught. He said Christ is not divided, Paul was not crucified for you, you were not baptized in the name of Paul. He says, I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanus, besides I know not whether I baptized the other. So he's basically just counting on one hand everybody who he baptized, right? He's saying, well these are the couple of people I baptized, he's like, I don't think I baptized anybody else. And we know obviously that Paul was reaching hundreds of people with the Gospel. But he wasn't the one doing the baptizing. Others were doing the physical actual baptizing. And he says, man I'm thankful that I didn't baptize that many people, I'm thankful that somebody else did because I'm already being accused of being a cult leader or whatever, you know what I mean? So he's saying, I'm glad people are not able to accuse me of baptizing people in my own name like I was some kind of a cult leader, when really he was just preaching Christ. But look what he says in verse number 17, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. So according to that right there, does it look like baptism is necessary for salvation? Now people out there who teach that you must be baptized in order to be saved, explain this to me. Explain why he says, I'm glad I didn't baptize people because Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel. Well let me ask you this, would that make any sense if the Gospel included baptism? I mean if the Gospel included baptism, he wouldn't say, well I was sent to preach the Gospel, not to baptize. Well if the Gospel included baptism, then he'd have to baptize in order to preach the Gospel, he'd have to preach baptism and basically, you know, that is the Gospel. Be baptized to be saved. But that is not what the Bible teaches, you know, there are so many ways to disprove this doctrine that says that baptism is necessary for salvation. You know you could start with about a hundred verses in the New Testament that say that believing saves you that don't mention baptism at all. That's a good place to start. You know, John 1-12, John 3-16, John 3-18, John 3-36, none of them mention baptism whatsoever. And yet people teach that baptism is necessary for salvation and another thing to keep in mind is that 4,300 and some years of human history before John the Baptist, nobody was baptized. How'd those people get saved? How'd they make it to heaven if baptism is necessary for salvation? Why was Jesus baptized if baptism is somehow necessary for salvation? Jesus did not need to be saved. Jesus did not need to wash his sins away. He didn't have any sins. So why was he baptized? Because baptism is symbolic of the death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus Christ was picturing that and acting that out. He was doing it in obedience to the Father. When we get baptized, we're doing it in obedience to the Father, but it does not get us into heaven. It does not get us saved. And then you say, what about the thief on the cross? He wasn't baptized. Well, God made an exception. No, God doesn't make exceptions like that. You know, he says, whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And it's that simple. It's not a matter of baptism. And plus, here's the other thing. If baptism saves you, then that means you have to rely on church to save you. Because who baptizes you? You get baptized by church. So if baptism saves, that means you're relying on man to save you. I've spoken to people before who were told that they could not be baptized at the church. The church refused to baptize them because they did not either believe correctly or they did not live their life correctly. Now I believe that in order for a person to be baptized, there's only one prerequisite. If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest. So if you believe on Jesus Christ, you may be baptized. You say, well, if a man has long hair, he's got to get a haircut first, then baptized. No, that's not biblical. Well, if he's living with his girlfriend, he's got to get... no, wrong. If you believe, that's enough to get you baptized. And we don't have a baptism class because the water's not that deep. You know what I mean? You don't need a swimming lesson. And in the Bible, when people believed on Christ, they were baptized the same hour, the same day. Just baptized. Just dunked. Done. Now you say, would you ever refuse to baptize somebody? I would refuse to baptize somebody who doesn't believe on Jesus Christ with all their heart. Somebody came to me and said, well, you know, I still believe you can lose your salvation if you don't live right. Well, I'm not going to baptize them. But here's the thing, you don't rely on me for salvation anyway. Because baptism doesn't save, therefore I don't save, therefore this church doesn't save in that sense. Okay, we have to be saved by believing on Christ, and the great thing about it is, we just go directly to Christ. Just call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. You don't have to get saved in church. You can never set foot in church and still be saved if you're a believer. But those who believe that baptism saves, they're basically saying you've got to come to church and get baptized, or you have to be baptized by someone of the church that will baptize you. Well, now you're relying on man for salvation instead of on the finished work of Jesus Christ and on just calling upon the name of the Lord. Just like people have called upon the name of the Lord throughout history and become saints. So the Bible says here in verse number 18, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. Let me point out quickly that in all modern perversions of the Bible, including the New King James, you say, well, I'm not going to use the NIV, but you know, the New King James, come on now, don't be that strict. Well the New King James here says, but unto us which are being saved it's the power of God. Now let me ask this, are we being saved or have we done been saved? I mean, we're saved. And I love the D on the end of that, saved, done, past tense. And so I'm not being saved, I am saved. And so that's pretty important, wouldn't you say? And then the same book, the New King James version, that tells you that you're being saved in 1 Corinthians 1.18 also tells you in Matthew 7.13 that salvation is difficult. So according to the New King James, it's difficult and you're being saved. Well it sounds like you're working your way there. But in the King James it says it's narrow, meaning that few there be that find it. It's a small group, but that it's easy because it's just by believing and then you are saved, done, period, it's over. And that's very important. Look at verse 19, and also it changes preaching to message. These new Bibles are constantly removing the word preaching, have you noticed that? They change preaching to message, they change preaching to teaching, they change preacher to teacher over and over and over again. Because if you go to these newfangled churches, you're not going to find preaching. You're not going to find preaching. You say, well what's the difference between preaching and teaching? Well I heard one pastor say, preaching is teaching with a tear in the eye. I say preaching is teaching with a kick in the pants, okay? Because you know, preaching is a rebuke, versus teaching is just, hey 2 plus 2 is 4. Preaching is, hey 2 plus 2 is 4, and so here's how you need to apply that to your life, and here's what you need to change, and here's what you need. You know, preaching is more forceful than teaching. Teaching is just delivering information. Now, I'll put it this way, all good preaching is teaching. If it's good preaching, it's also teaching. But not all teaching is preaching, you understand what I mean by that? All preaching is teaching, if it's good preaching, but not all teaching is preaching. Because if I just got up and just gave you facts from the Bible, and was not forceful about it, was not preaching with authority, remember when Jesus Christ taught, he taught with authority, not as the scribes, okay? He was preaching, he was authoritatively telling you what the Bible said and what it means to you, okay? Whereas teaching is just giving information, okay? So the new Bibles have attacked preaching. That just makes me want to have more preaching, and use that word more. It's a good word. He says in verse number 19, "'For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.' Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Have not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Now when the Bible says the foolishness of preaching, he's not saying that it's foolish, he's saying that it's to them that perish foolish. Because to us which are saved, it's the power of God. So he's not saying that the preaching is foolish, he's saying to them it's foolish. To us, that's why you have to interpret, you have to interpret verse 21 based on what he said in verse 18, right? So in verse 21 when he says the foolishness of preaching, interpret it using verse 18. Foolish to them, to us it's the power of God. Foolish preaching to us is foolish preaching to them. And he says the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. See if we went to ASU today, which is an institution of higher learning, and asked them, you know, bring us your wisest counselor, because I'm sure that they have a counseling office and they have counselors that can basically guide you in the wisdom of life. And we could get one of their life coaches or one of their guidance counselors, okay? And we could say, give us your wisest counselor. And we know that that person would be a fool without even seeing who they are, without even talking to them. And we know that no matter what we talk to them about, it's going to be stupid. I mean, isn't that pretty much true? If we went to ASU, which is, you know, an institution of higher learning, or if we were to go to, for example, the halls of government of Washington D.C. and go to the Senate and find the wisest senator that they could produce for us, you know, we'd just be lucky if it's not a sodomite, you know, Barney Frank. Or if we went to the House of Representatives and said, you know, give us your wisest counselor, we know that they would give us someone who's a fool. But the world thinks they're wise. The world thinks Confucius was very wise. The world thinks that Lao Tzu was very wise. The world thinks that all these philosophers, whether it be, you know, who are the philosophers of this world? Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, you know, all these great philosophers. When we as saved, born again, children of God with the Holy Spirit residing inside us look at their writings, we have to laugh. We think it's foolishness, right? And then when they look at the Bible, what do they do? They laugh. They think it's foolishness, don't they? Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God and the preaching of the cross is to them the parish foolishness. But in us which are saved is the power of God. That's why it's silly when Christians try to do both. You know what I mean? They say, well I'm going to study philosophy at college and I'm also going to study psychiatry and psychology and go to the counselor and I'm also going to get counsel from the world, but then they also want to listen to Bible preaching. You know, the two are not compatible. The two are at odds with one another. And one of them is right and one of them is wrong and the Bible's teaching here that the philosophies and counsel of this world are at odds with the preaching of the Bible. They're two different things. They're not compatible. They don't fit. That's why it's silly when preachers try to incorporate worldly philosophy of Plato and others into their preaching. You know, and they go into the four personality types, you know, the sanguine, the choleric, the melancholic, you know, and these different things. And they try to interpret that into the Bible and mix that in. You know, I only see two personality types in the Bible, the righteous and the unrighteous. You know what I mean? That's what I see. But anyway, because the Bible tells us how to act. But it says in verse number 22, or it says in verse 21, for after that in the wisdom of... I'm sorry, this one's kind of a tongue twister. Let me slow down and read this verse. Verse 21. For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, referring to the fact that their worldly wisdom and their worldly philosophy, where they go back to the origins of the world, it doesn't lead them to God. Do you see that? Worldly wisdom will not lead people to God. Because you go into a philosophy class and they say, okay, we're going to make the three basal assumptions. First of all, we're going to assume that the universe exists. Okay? Now for me, we shouldn't have to assume that. I mean, it's there. But you know, they say we must make three basal assumptions. First of all, we must assume that the universe exists. Then we must assume that we are able to know something about the universe. And then the third basal assumption is that we must realize that patterns of, I can't remember the third basal, I'm sorry, I'm failing at my worldly philosophy quiz right now. But you know, patterns that are repeating and predictable are more useful than patterns that do not repeat and predict. And so therefore, everything came from nothing. It doesn't lead them to God, it just leads them to the big bang and evolution. No matter how long they work on those principles of, you know, I think, therefore I am, it's not going to bring them to Jesus Christ. Okay? That's what the Bible says. The world by wisdom knew not God. Okay? That's why I think it's silly when people think that they can prove to atheists that God exists using philosophy. And there are people out there who do this. I heard about this conference, the Proof of God conference. Well, faith is the evidence. That's a short conference. Okay? Proof of God, this book, okay we're done, that was a great conference. We just had our own Proof of God conference. But you know, they say, you know, oh, you know, but, you know, and I've seen people try to use philosophy to prove, I can prove the existence of God in 30 seconds without the Bible. I can prove the existence of God in 90 seconds without using a Bible. You know, whenever I hear without using a Bible, I just turn off. Anything after that, I don't care. I don't want to hear it. Because I can't prove the existence of God without the Bible. The Bible is what proves the existence of God. And I believe, why? Because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, not by philosophy. And the world by wisdom didn't know God before you came along. And now that you're here, oh wise philosopher, you will not make them know God through the wisdom of this world. They will know God through the preaching of God's word. The Bible says it pleased God, look at the Bible there. It says for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, not them that are convinced through philosophy and worldly argumentation. Look what he says in verse 1 of chapter 2, and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Did it sound like he was coming to them and philosophizing and proving to them that God exists using logic, using philosophy, using the fossil record, using science? He came to them and just said, you know what, the only thing I wanted to talk about was Jesus being crucified with unbelievers. The preaching of the cross, the preaching of the word of God, because it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, not the wisdom of words, not the wisdom of this world, not your wise words, but the power of the word of God that their faith would not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And so don't get sucked into this logic reasoning argument against atheism. The argument against atheism is, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. That's my argument for the creation. Believe it or be damned. I mean, it's that simple. Preach the word. That's what the Bible teaches. Look at verse number 22, for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. Now that right there, people will take that verse out of context and say, well, the Jews require a sign, so God always gave them all the signs they want. No. God said an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And what was that sign? For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. He said, you know what, you want a sign, you bunch of Jews, hey, here's your sign. Jesus died and was buried and rose again. And then the Greeks want wisdom, right? And the Greeks would be these atheists and agnostics and university students who think they know everything. They're the Greeks of our day. Even if their name is not Papadopoulos or something, I'm saying they're the Greeks spiritually that desire wisdom and logic and reasoning. You know what? Paul doesn't say here in verse 22, the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, so we give it to them. Is that what he said? He said, the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ's crucified. We give neither what they want. He says, under the Jews, let me find my place, it's a stumbling block. And under the Greeks it's foolishness, right? But under them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. So that right there just makes it simple. You preach Jesus Christ, you preach the gospel, you preach the Bible, is it what most Jews want to hear? No. Is it what most Greeks want to hear? No. The ones who get saved get saved because they believe it, because they believe the preaching. It's not that they didn't get saved because you didn't perform enough miracles. And it's not that they didn't get saved because you didn't give them a strong enough logical argument using philosophy. It's because they didn't believe the Word. That's what the Bible teaches here. This is an important passage. He says in verse 24, but under them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. He's saying, look, he uses his Word to do it so that he gets all the glory. It's not done through our minds or logic or methods. It's done through his Word that he might get all the glory. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. See, God gets all the glory. God's Word is what brings salvation, therefore God gets the glory for salvation. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your Word. Help us never to take parts of it and say, oh, that's not important. That's not a salvation issue. That doesn't matter. Help us to study and learn every doctrine and to realize that every truth and every doctrine in the Bible is important. Help us to stand on those doctrines. Help us to be willing to cause division, but help us to be united in the church here by all rallying around your Word, not around man's teaching, but around the Bible itself. And help us to take that Word and that Gospel and to have utterance in our lives where we're uttering and preaching the Gospel to every creature, not bringing worldly wisdom or fancy illustrations or methods, but focusing on your Word when we preach the Gospel and letting your Word bring faith to those that hear it. And in Jesus' name we pray.