First of all, I would invite you to turn to Acts chapter 18. We will begin there in a few minutes. It will also be on the screens. But ultimately, we are beginning a study of First Corinthians, and then when we're finished with that, we will go to Second Corinthians. And this morning, I want to give you an introduction.

So today we begin an exciting journey through Paul's first epistle to the church at Corinth that he founded actually on his first missionary journey. However, he wrote this letter from Ephesus during his third missionary journey in the first half of about AD 55, but yet it's interesting it's as contemporary and as practical as if it were written this year; both the good and the bad issues that characterize the church at Corinth are characteristic of every church everywhere, including our church, as you will discover.

Now, let me give you a little background. The city of Corinth was a Grecian city that was about 45 miles west from Athens, and it was located on a high plateau near the middle of a four-milewide, isthmus, or in other words, a a neck of land. And that neck of land connected the lower part of Greece called the Peloponnesus to the rest of Greece. So it was right there in that neck of land, and the mariners of that day would place their ships on skids or rollers in order to transport them across this isthmus, rather than traveling 250 miles all the way around the Peloponnesus, which was a very, very dangerous route, and the skid pathway went directly through Corinth, so it was a major trade city, not only for most of Greece, but for much of the Mediterranean area, including North Africa and Italy and Asia Minor, which would be Turkey primarily today.

And so this was also a Roman province, the Roman province of Achaia. Now, Corinth hosted the Isthmian Games, one of the two most famous athletic events of that day, the other of course, being the Olympian games. But Corinth was most famous, I might say, infamous, for their moral depravity, for their drunken debauchery. If you mix San Francisco and New Orleans and Las Vegas, throw in a little spring break in Amsterdam, you get Corinth, okay? You get the picture.

Now rising 2000 feet above the city of Corinth was an acropolis, which in Greek means a little city, or a high little city. And it was really a fortified area for defense as well as a place of worship. And the most prominent edifice on the Acropolis was the temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty and love and procreation. By the way, you can go there today, and seven out of the 38 original columns are still standing of that temple, that temple housed approximately 1000 priestesses who were religious prostitutes that served the temple, and they would faithfully discharge their duties there, around the temple and they would go down into the city itself. They also had young male prostitutes that were primarily slaves. And according to the fifth century BC historian Herodotus, every woman of the land was required to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger at least one time in her life; this would be her opportunity to kind of her sacred duty to the goddess Aphrodite.

Now what's interesting is the place was so immoral, and this was so pervasive, that even the pagans blushed when they thought about Corinth, so much so that they adopted the phrase to "Corinthianize," which basically means to behave like a Corinthian, and this would be a way of summarizing the most gross kinds of sexual immorality and drunken decadence. In fact, in chapter six and verse nine, he speaks, he kind of gives an overview. He speaks of fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, and as we will see when we get there, that includes transsexuals and the transgender people, all gender and sexual perversions.

We also know that from temple excavations of Corinth, they have discovered 1000s of terra cotta votive offerings that were presented to Asclepius, the god of healing and his daughter, Hygieia. Worshipers would would seek healing from them, and they would go into those particular temples, and they would lie down, and there would be literally hundreds of 1000s of non-poisonous snakes that they would allow to crawl over them, thinking that that would bring healing to their body. In fact, the symbol of Asclepius was the snake. It's interesting that the medical emblem today comes partially from this ancient cult. You see a serpent that's entwined around a staff.

I might add that that this demonic mythology can also be traced to ancient Egyptian and Sumerian and Babylonian cultism where we see similar symbols. By the way, it's interesting, isn't it, that Satan loves to be symbolized by a crafty serpent. I wonder where that came from right? He appeared to Eve in the garden in that way. In fact, the Lord later describes him in Revelation 12 and verse nine as quote the "serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world." Interestingly enough, ancient Gnosticism, which began to creep into the church in Corinth, and other churches, also used the emblem of the serpent as the embodiment of the wisdom that was transmitted by Sophia. And in various chambers of these temples that they have excavated, there can be found clay molds of various body parts. You can see some of it, even on the internet, they've got pictures of it. You'll see various limbs, fingers, hands, feet, lips, noses, ears, breasts, male and female genitals and so forth. And these clay copies of human body parts were hung all around the temple by worshipers in need of healing. They did not know that their diseased body parts were the result of the dreadful transmitted disease of syphilis, a bacteria that can lie dormant for weeks, and then left untreated it can eventually kill you. They did not acknowledge the fact that even as God has created and sustains a moral order of the universe - and we see this through the laws of physics, right?  Like, for example, the law of gravity - they fail to realize that God also has a moral order to the universe, that he has decreed that as well. And even though the laws of physics are inviolable, they are fixed, they don't realize that. So too, God has decreed a moral order. And even though the consequences are not immediate, they are there because all sin must be punished. The consequences are inevitable.

You know that grisly scene that Paul, I'm sure would have seen there in Corinth, with those hanging body parts, such a graphic picture of sin - we see in Proverbs 12, our Proverbs, chapter 14 and verse 12, that "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death." It's so sad, people disobey God, thinking there's no consequences, and yet the metastasizing corruption of sin is eating away. We see this, for example, in AIDS. I know what it is to sit in front of homosexuals and tell one partner, for the other partner, that you now have AIDS. I know what that's like. I know what it's like to talk with other people who have been involved sexually, especially on spring break, and tell them they have AIDS or some other terrible disease. Now there's a new strain of gonorrhea that is out there called super gonorrhea that has now surfaced in the UK. Some guy picked it up, evidently from Southeast Asia, and evidently, this is a venereal disease that is reportedly resistant to all antibiotics that would normally be given. And that's terrifying, because I read that gonorrhea hits approximately 78 million men and women every year. Folks, this is the corruption of sin. This was what was going on there. This is what's going on today around the world. And like all idolaters today, the ancient pagans refused to worship the true God. That's why Paul says in Romans one "Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored." In other words, treated with shame or contempt. And no doubt that ghoulish scene of those hanging body parts in the pagan temples influenced Paul's thinking in the imagery that he used when he described our bodies as being the temple of the Holy Spirit; that we are part of the body of Christ.

Well, there you have a little background of Corinth. And you know what? That's just the kind of place the Lord likes to plant a church, and that's exactly what he did. He sent Paul there on his second missionary journey. And as usual, Paul started in the synagogue, but he was assisted by two other Jewish believers, two other Jews that had come to Christ, Priscilla and Aquila, and he even lived with them for a while. They were fellow tradesmen. Later on, he was joined by Timothy and by Silas. And as he comes to the city, we see that the Jews just resist him, even violently, requiring them to leave the synagogue. But not before Crispus, who was the leader of the synagogue, comes to Christ along with his whole family. Don't you love those stories? They all come to Christ, and many other Corinthians were converted.

And then, after a little over a year and a half, the Jewish leaders were so upset with Paul that they brought him before a Roman tribunal that was led by the proconsul Gallio. But because it was a religious and not a a civil matter, he threw the case out and said, you people, just handle this yourselves. And soon after that, we see Paul taking Priscilla and Aquila to Ephesus with him, and then he eventually returns to Israel, and another man named Apollos rises up and becomes now the new pastor at Corinth.

Now, let me read to you the inspired history in Acts chapter 18.

After these things, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them,

and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers.

And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, 'Your blood be on your heads! I am clean. For now, I will go to the Gentiles.'

And then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God whose house was next to the synagogue.

And Crispus, the leader of the synagogue believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.

And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, 'Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent;

for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.'

And he settled there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.

But while Galileo was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up againstPaul and brought him before the judgment seat,

saying, 'This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.'

But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, 'If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you;

but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters.'

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And he drove them away from the judgment seat.

They all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio is not concerned about any of these things.

Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow.

They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now, he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent,

but taking leave of them and saying, 'I will return to you again if God wills,' he set sail from Ephesus.

When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and went down to Antioch.

And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures.

This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John;

and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace,

for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ."

So in other words, Apollos now goes to Corinth. So that gives you the background. Amazing story, isn't it? So Paul was the founder, the first pastor, followed by Apollos. And as you might expect, the problem that the church dealt with more than any other, was that of worldliness. New believers had a hard time separating themselves from the immoral, idolatrous, self-centered culture, and this manifested itself in many ways in the church, not the least of which was various forms of immorality. In fact, one man was even sexually involved with his stepmother, which even scandalized the pagans of that day. Worldliness, by the way, is really the idea of of just hanging on to the values and the lifestyle of Satan's world system that is in opposition to God. We see this problem in every church. I might say that worldliness is really the soil, the fertile soil for the thorns and the thistles of the flesh to flourish, and as a result, the Spirit of God is grieved, and he is he is even quenched in the lives of the believer, people begin to operate in the flesh, not the Spirit. They begin to promote themselves. They become even more selfish and jealous, and this leads to strife and divisiveness in the church, and that's what happened there.

You'll see right off the bat, the thing that Paul addresses, that of factions, divisiveness, cliques began to develop. It's like a little church here and there would spring up within the big church. I'm of Apollos, well, I'm of Paul, well, I'm of Cephas, well, I'm of Christ. And here we go.

People in positions become objects of selfish ownership, envy; territorialism begins to develop. One group thinks they're more spiritual than another group, and then people start following men and ministries and movements rather than Christ. And we see this in many churches. We've had it in our church, where you have factious divisive people develop a fierce loyalty to some selfish, self-promoting agenda, rather than the body of Christ. In fact, I believe it's six times Paul uses the phrase "puffed up," which is another way of saying arrogant; people have an exaggerated sense of their own importance and their own abilities.

It's interesting, I was thinking about this, the last four months, I've been dealing with this with three of the pastors that I'm mentoring right now. In fact, I've probably spent at least 10 hours with just one pastor in a church split in another state since I've been back from Uganda, and I'll probably be on the phone for at least a couple hours tonight, and no telling how much tomorrow. People are puffed up; they love themselves more than Christ and his Church. They resent the authority that God has placed over them, so they become furious when they don't get their way. And as a result, what happened there in the church - and it can happen in any church - people begin to slander and to criticize and to pout and to whine and to break fellowship.

And this was what was happening in Corinth. In fact, they were acting like spoiled infants. Paul put it in chapter three and verse one, he says, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not able to receive it. Indeed, even now, you are not able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, 'I am of Paul,' and another, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not mere men?" In other words, are you not just carnal rather than spiritual?

Later on, in chapter 11, he says that every church is going to have worldly, selfish people in it; factious, divisive people, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you. In other words, the Lord even uses this kind of bickering and sectarianism in a church in order to contrast those who are functioning in humility and spiritual strength and wisdom and so forth. So Paul addresses this issue from the very outset of his letter, stressing the importance of humility and unity. In chapter one, in verse 10, he says, "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment."

Now, to give you a little more overview of what to expect as we go through the book, you are going to see that Paul addresses the danger of worldly wisdom that can creep into the church. He's going to stress the importance of being stewards of the mysteries of God and the danger of immorality in the church. He is going to address issues pertaining to marriage, to singleness, to divorce and remarriage. He's going to address issues pertaining to Christian liberty and worship. He will address issues pertaining to the roles of men and women in the church, the Lord's Supper, spiritual gifts, the hope of the church found in the resurrection. And then finally, he's going to give a charge to the church pertaining to financial stewardship.

Now to give you a little bit more insight about the church, keep in mind this was a big church, a lot of people had come to Christ. And although Paul had been there when it was established, followed by Apollos, okay, who was mighty in the scriptures - despite all of that, the church was sliding down a slippery slope of bad doctrine. False teachers had come in. Others had arisen from within, and they were promoting some very novel, intriguing ideas; some philosophies, little subtle shifts in doctrine; very sophisticated, clever deceptions. In fact, according to Second Corinthians chapter 11 and verse three, Paul says that he was afraid lest your minds be "led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." You see new teachers that were springing up weren't interested in rightly dividing the word that they had thus far from the apostles. Instead, they wanted to introduce their own ideas. And this was a real danger to the church. And of course, we see this all the time in the church today, we have to be very careful with this. Many people believe the lie that somehow Bible doctrine, and going very carefully through the word of God, isn't all that important. They just think that we just need to be respectable, nice people; we just all need to get along, you know, that type of thing, but they have very little interest in the deep, rich truths of the word of God that would stir our hearts to faith and obedience and love for Christ and give us the power that we need to serve him in a wicked world. They see no need to to be nourished by the word so that they can bear much fruit, so that they can have their minds informed, so that their prayers will be consistent with the will of God, so that he can answer them. They see no need to know the word to the point where they can experience the soul-satisfying joy of the presence of the living God within them. Beloved, let me just say - this is so important, and this is what Paul's concern was - no doctrine means no discernment. No discernment means no devotion to Christ. And when you have no devotion to Christ, you will have no spiritual power. You will not enjoy his blessing. You will not produce fruit in your life, and you will not have the joy that could be yours in Christ, and you will end up with churchianity rather than Christianity.

In fact, the reason we go into such depths of biblical understanding here is not only to honor the word of God that he has so graciously given to us, but also to help us be more conformed into the image the likeness of Christ. This is why we are unrelenting here when it comes to shepherding and expository preaching, which, as you know, is just the systematic in depth, verse by verse, exposition of the word of God that conveys and applies the God intended meaning of every text to the contemporary issues of life. And without this, believers are going to be banished to an island of spiritual infancy, they're going to go to church just because it's the thing to do, that's where your friends are at. They'll end up having a church that's nothing more than a nursery for Christian brats and whiners and undiscerning fools who look more like the world than like Christ.

Well, with this brief overview, let's look at what the apostle has to say here. I just want to cover the first three verses here to get us started, and I hope this will be encouragement to you. I don't have a lot of time to get into this, and we'll get into it more as we go, but even in these first three verses, there's so many powerful truths that undoubtedly encourage them and will us as well. First Corinthians one beginning in verse one,

Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother,

to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I believe as we look at these three verses, there are three inescapable truths that emerge from them. We're going to see number one: that God calls his servants. We're going to see number two: that God establishes his church, and finally, that God sanctifies his elect.

Now I might also add that the ancient Greeks would put their names at the beginning of a letter, not at the end like we do, so that right up front, everybody knows who's writing and who's intended to receive the letter. By the way, when you get a letter, what's the first thing you do? You look at the end to see who wrote it, right? Well, they just put it at the beginning.

So notice verse one, "Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." Here we see very simply that God calls his servants. Folks, you must understand, had God not called Paul to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, he would have never been an apostle of Jesus Christ. If you remember his background, you will recall that he was like the leading Jewish activist of the day. I mean, you to think about it, take, take Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and I don't know, Bill Maher. Put them all together, and you've got Saul, alright? He hated Christians. Later in chapter 15 and verse nine, he refers to himself as "the least of the apostles," who am not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church.

You may remember that in Acts seven, when the Jews stoned Stephen, they had Paul - whose name was Saul at the time - hold their clothes for them. So you see the proximity that he had, early on, even as a young man, with violent persecution. In Acts chapter eight and verse three, we see the text saying, "But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he put them in prison." But then what happened on the road to Damascus? He received a call, right? And wow, what a call that was.

You remember that God got his attention Acts nine; we read how trembling and astonished he said, Lord, what do you want me to do? Talk about a calling. He was a hater of Christ, and suddenly he becomes a lover of Christ. And then to be an apostle, to be called to be an apostle, which means to be an emissary, or an envoy, or an ambassador; to speak on behalf of someone else. He became the one that God called to speak on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ. What an amazing calling. Beloved, let this be an encouragement to you. I know some of you because you've talked with me and I'm praying with you. Some of you have loved ones that do not know Christ. You've got children that do not know Christ, parents that don't know Christ, friends that don't know Christ, don't give up on them. They may be like Saul who became Paul but look what God did. Never stop praying for them. Never doubt the power of God to do some great work and to shatter the walls of rebellion and hatred that people have for Christ. That's what happened with Paul.

By the way, it happened with you and me too, right? I mean, if he could save us, he could save anybody, right? So we can rejoice in that. Now, important context here, it was important for Paul to remind them that he was indeed called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. And this is important because he wasn't a part of the original 12, but he had the same foundational qualifications as they did, because like them, he had seen the resurrected Christ, and like them, he had been specifically chosen by God to be an apostle, so he had the right to address them with divine authority.

Now I might also add there's two aspects of the doctrine of calling in the Scripture. I want to digress just for a moment. This is important. I'll just take a moment. There is a general call, and there is a special call. In a general call, we see God inviting all men to saving faith. For example, in John seven and verse 37 Jesus said, well it says there, "at the great day of the Feast of Booths, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, "From his innermost being, shall flow rivers of living water."'" Now this general call is universal in terms of time and extent, and all men of all times are thus called, thus invited to salvation. And that call can be resisted, it can be rejected, and yet men are morally responsible for that rejection.

But then there is also, in the scriptures, we see a special call, or sometimes it's called an effectual call, or an efficacious call of God. And that calling is the calling of God, which will inevitably and certainly result in an individual responding to the offer of salvation in saving faith, and this call will always be known by its results. In other words, it effectively accomplishes its purpose of bringing men to salvation. You will recall in Romans eight and verse 28, and following, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Then he says, "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son." Verse 30, "...and these whom He predestined, He also called, and these whom He called, He also justified in these whom He justified, He also glorified." And Paul said in Ephesians chapter one, he says, "I pray,"  in verse 18, "that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe." So Paul was called to be an apostle. And later, in verse two, he writes "to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling,” I love that.

In verse nine, he says, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Beloved, each one of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have been called by God to faith in Christ; called to be saints and servants of the Most High God. And later in First Corinthians chapter one, verse 26 he says, "For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble." Verse 29 he says that "no man should boast before God." It's fascinating how God specializes in calling and saving ordinary people so that they can do extraordinary things. He went on in verse 30 and said, "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption."

So God called Paul to be an apostle. He called all of the saints. I want you to also notice the little phrase "...Sosthenes our brother..." He's mentioned in the greeting. Now, evidently, what happened is, after Crispus - who was the leader of the synagogue - was converted, along with his family, Sosthenes took his place. And then, like we read in chapter 18, Sosthenes is the one who was appointed to take Paul before the civil court at Corinth, and they got thrown out. So what did the Jews do? They beat him up. So I find it interesting, what happens to Sosthenes? He becomes a believer. It's really fascinating when you think how all of this works. So obviously Sosthenes, somewhere along the line, is converted, and he becomes now a brother in Christ. Isn't it interesting? I mean, God is always up to something, right? You just never know what it is.

So first of all, God calls his servants. Secondly, God establishes his Church. Notice he says, "To the church of God..." Not to the church of Paul or to the church of Apollos or Peter. Sometimes I hear people say, Well, I go to Dave Harrell's church. No, this isn't my church. This isn't your church. This is the church of God in Joelton, Tennessee.

So he says, "To the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." Again later in verse nine, "God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son." So it's all of God. Every New Testament church belongs to God. He's the one that establishes it. And today, individually and corporately, we compose Christ's earthly body. We have been bought with the price, the price of Christ's precious blood. And we respond to Christ, who is the head of the body, and we respond to the under shepherds that God has placed in authority over each flock. And we're all part of this amazing organism called the body of Christ. So they were of the Church of God, which is at Corinth. Again, we are of the Church of God that is in Joelton. God establishes his church.

Remember, in Ephesians four, beginning in verse 11, we read how, "...He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers." Why? "For the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." I love this, knowing that no matter what happens in our church, or any other church, we know that ultimately God is in it. It's his church. He's up to something. Jesus promised in Matthew 16 and verse 18, "'I will build my church.'" I'm so thankful that he can do it and that he does it, because I sure couldn't, you sure couldn't. What a mess we would make of it. And that emphasizes that the fact that Jesus is the architect and the builder and the owner. He is the Lord of the church. The church is the "ecclesia." It is the called-out ones. Since the beginning of redemptive history, he has been calling out his people by name.

So he calls his servants, he establishes his church, and finally, he sanctifies his elect. Notice again that Paul writes to quote "...those who have been sanctified." It means those who have been made holy, those who have been set apart from sin and set apart unto God, "...those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling with all who in every place call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours."

Now, folks, this must have been real encouraging to them. Let's stop and think about it. They knew their church was in a mess. Got all these factions going on. I just told you a little bit. I mean, once we get into it, you'll see what a mess it really was. They've got these factions, all of this divisiveness. They've got worldliness. They've got sexual immorality going on. They've got these, these screwball doctrines that are springing up. And they've got, you know, nut job self-promoting false teachers and factious puffed-up church members. I mean, it was a mess, but notice that what he says, you are "saints by calling." I love that. Yes, yes, you're messed up. Yeah, there's a lot of problems, but just think about it. You have been set apart from sin unto God, because God has called you. Doesn't that encourage your heart?  It does me. He called you by name. I mean he did that with Saul, right, who became Paul. He says, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

Folks, think about this. We've been called by name to holiness by God Himself, who, by his grace, is going to help us become, in practice who we are in position. We are saints. Saints by calling. By the way, not saints by merit. We are not saints by miracles that we've performed like the Roman Catholics would have us believe; that we don't go through some approval process by the Roman Catholic Church. No, God is the one who called us by name, who set his love upon us, so that we would call him by name and be saved.

And I love what he says. Going back to Acts chapter 18, notice what Luke tells us there. "And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, 'Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you.'" And here's why, "'...for I have many in this city.'" I love that; that's the elect. He's getting ready to call them. He's going to use Paul and the other people to call them. Folks, you realize that he's got many here in Middle Tennessee and in other reaches that we have as a church. An amazing thought. And many of those therefore, whom God had appointed unto salvation, in eternity past, were still unsaved. So they're waiting to hear the gospel and the effect of which would bring them to faith in Christ. And that's why Jesus said in John 6:37, "'All that the Father gives Me, shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out.'"

As I was thinking about this, I was reminded of what Paul said in Titus chapter one and verse one, he begins that letter, and he says, "Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of..."catch this, "....those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago," which literally means, in the original language, he promised it before time began. And so God calls his elect. He calls those that he has given to the Son. And what a marvelous truth. What a tremendous encouragement this must have been to those people, to those who "have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling with all who in every place, call in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." In other words, in every place that is their home and, in our home, also. There's saints all over the world worshiping the same Christ.

And then he just closes and says, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." What a wonderful statement. Folks, because of God's grace, we can enjoy the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, and which will guard our hearts and our minds through Christ Jesus. Oh, dear Christians, celebrate these truths. Will you think about them today? Talk about them with your children. Remind them from these three verses that God calls his servants, he has called you not just to salvation, but to serve him in various ways. Later on, we're going to see that he has given us all gifts to do that very thing. God calls his servants, and he establishes his church, and he sanctifies his elect. He has set us apart unto him, and little by little, in all of the ways that we can't fully understand, he is conforming us into the likeness of his precious son. So let's celebrate these things. And we're going to see the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus, because we are saints; and that's precisely what Paul will go on to describe and to and to explain in verses four through nine. That's what we'll begin to look at next week.

Finally, in closing, may I encourage you to read First Corinthians. Just read it at least, my goodness, it only takes a little bit read it at least once or twice a week, if you will, more than that, so that you just, you just get the flavor of it; and it’ll become alive to you, and you will see yourself as I go through it. I see my picture next to a lot of verses, and I see your picture next to some as well, right? That's just how it works. So let's celebrate these truths together.

Father, thank you for your word, for its power, for the way it speaks so practically and so compellingly to each of our hearts. May we all take these things in and may we humble ourselves before them, may we tremble at your word so that we can enjoy more fully every expression of your grace in our lives. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.