Will you please turn to 1 Corinthians 15, the last verse, verse 58?
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord.
I repeat it:
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee for Thy great love toward us. We thank Thee for Thy abundant grace. We thank Thee for giving Thyself to us in such a way that we do see Thy glory: the glory of Thy love, the glory of Thy grace, the glory of Thy faithfulness.
O Lord, may Thy glory fill this place. We do feel this is holy ground because Thou art here with us.
Lord, we want to remove our shoes, acknowledging that we are but Thy bondservants. Lord, what Thou hast to say to us, say it. We will listen, and by Thy grace, we will obey. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
We have been fellowshipping together on 1 Corinthians. As we mentioned at the very beginning, even though this letter to the Corinthian believers is always considered a very negative letter because the church in Corinth had so many problems—problems that they knew, and many more problems that they were not even conscious of, but which were very serious problems—thank God, He is always positive.
So His servant Paul, in writing this letter to the Corinthian believers, always took a positive stand throughout the letter. He began with this declaration: God is faithful, Who has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, can any statement be more positive than this one? God is faithful. He has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ.
There is nothing more glorious than this calling. Think of that. We are called by God into this fellowship that His Son and He Himself have had even from eternity.
What a fellowship that must be! How rich that must be—how harmonious, how perfect, how abundant, how spiritual—is that fellowship: the fellowship of the Father with His Son, and the fellowship of the Son with His Father. They share together the same, equally.
And yet this fellowship has been extended to us—even us. You know, brothers and sisters, the very thought of that overwhelms me: that we are being called to come, to enter in, and to have a share even in this glorious fellowship; to know Him, and to know Him in His fullness, in His purpose, in His heart, in His desire, and in His way.
And to have such fellowship with one another. Just as the apostle John said, our fellowship is with the Father and the Son; and what we have known, we report to you, that you may have fellowship with us, that our joy may be full.
Brothers and sisters, think of this calling. How precious is this calling! Have we really responded to that calling?
But it is true that there are many problems, many things that contradict, oppose, resist, and destroy this wonderful fellowship. And there is nothing more destructive than what the Corinthian believers had committed, and that is carnality.
Even though they were saved by the grace of God, even though they had received a life from above—the life of Christ, pure, perfect, spiritual, heavenly—yet instead of living by this life, they continued to live by their natural life: self-life, flesh. And this became the greatest hindrance to the fellowship.
So here Paul was trying to help them—to help them see and get out of this state—that they might really enter into this wonderful fellowship. And the secret, of course, is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Only if they could see what our Lord Jesus had done for them on the cross, only if they would allow the cross to work in their lives, then they would be delivered from carnality and really enjoy that sweet fellowship with Christ, the Father, and with one another. So that is what 1 Corinthians really is.
Now, we have shared together a number of times on 1 Corinthians. Actually, brothers and sisters, to me it seems as if, when you come to the end of chapter 14, it says:
But let all things be done decently and in order.
There you find Paul dealing with this matter of spiritual gifts, how to exercise these gifts, and how we should meet together. He said, “Let all things be done decently”—beautifully, harmoniously, peacefully—and with order, with divine order. No confusion, no mistake.
To me, I feel this word seems to be the end of this letter. If everything is done decently and orderly, then what more can you say? But we find that when Paul seemed to be coming to the conclusion of his letter, he remembered there was something else just as important that needed to be said. So here you find two more chapters, as it were, being added.
We have this morning chapter 15. You know, chapter 15 is a chapter on resurrection.
The reason was that Paul discovered that among the believers in Corinth there were some who said there is no resurrection, no such thing as a resurrection. Even at the time of our Lord Jesus, the Sadducees, the leading party in Judaism at that time in the priesthood, did not believe in resurrection, because from their human reasoning, resurrection seemed to be out of the question.
But to Paul, not believing in resurrection strikes at the very heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because he said, “I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, by which also ye are saved.”
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul received from the Lord and delivered to the Corinthian believers. They received it, they stand on it, and they are saved by it. See, that is the very foundation. Yet there were some who did not believe in resurrection.
So here you find the apostle Paul, in dealing with this matter, again taking a positive stand. He reiterated what the gospel is. He said, “What is that which I delivered to you in the first place?”
For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;
and that He was buried;
and that He hath been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures;
and that He appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve;
then He appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep;
then He appeared to James; then to all the apostles;
and last of all, as unto one born out of due time, He appeared to me also.
So, in other words, what are the cardinal, the chief articles of faith of the gospel? What is the gospel? The gospel is that Christ Jesus died for our sins, and He was buried, but He was raised from the dead and appeared alive to many who are His. That is our belief. That is our faith.
Now, if anyone does not believe in resurrection, you know what it means? It means that they did not really receive the gospel according to what is written in the Word of God. It is against the very truth of God.
Anything that is added to the gospel as revealed in the Scriptures, or anything that is taken away from the Scriptures, is a serious thing. You find at the end of Revelation that such a one will be taken away even from eternal life. There is no eternal life if anyone does not believe what the Bible says, or adds more to the Bible.
The apostle Paul tells us in this chapter that if anyone does not believe in resurrection, then everything is vain. What we say is vain. We become false witnesses. What you have received is vain, because it does not work any longer. You are still in sin.
Even though you say you believe in the Lord Jesus, if you reject resurrection, then our Lord Jesus has not been raised from the dead. So your faith is vain; it does not work. You are still in sin. Nothing has happened. Worse than that, we become false witnesses.
And the apostle said, now, if believing in the Lord Jesus is just for this life, then we are the most miserable of all men. Why? Because if you really follow the Lord, you have to pay a cost; you have to suffer. If there is no life after death, then why are you doing it? You are the most miserable people in the whole world.
There is a direct connection between truth and life. In verse 33 it says:
Evil companionships corrupt good morals.
What you believe will result in how you live. Evil companionship corrupts good morals. You cannot divide these two things.
Truth will give you the right kind of life, but anything that is falsehood will lead you astray and corrupt your life. That is for sure.
So, brothers and sisters, you find it is extremely important that we believe whatever is in the Scriptures. Never add anything to it, nor take away anything from it.
As in Isaiah 8:20, it says:
To the law and to the testimony!
if they speak not according to this word,
surely there is no morning for them.
Everything is to be judged by what the Word says.
So in this chapter, you find Paul not only reiterating the cardinal articles of faith, the gospel; he also tried to explain to them, to a certain measure, the order of resurrection.
Christ was raised first, as the firstfruits; and then we who believe in Him will also be raised.
He even tells us, because some people say, “If there is a resurrection, what kind of body will you have?” So Paul tried to explain that it is like a seed you plant. When the seed grows, it takes up a body that God has given it. Everything has its own body.
What you plant is a mortal body, but in resurrection it is an immortal body. What you plant is a natural body, but what comes out in resurrection is a spiritual body.
Brothers and sisters, he also tells us when resurrection will happen. He said, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sounding of the last trumpet, with the shout of the archangel, those who are asleep in Christ will first be raised; then those who are still living on the earth will be changed, and all will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
So, brothers and sisters, here you find a great chapter on resurrection, telling us what resurrection is, when it will happen, how it happens, and what will happen in resurrection. That is according to the Scriptures.
Now, brothers and sisters, we would like to use this to enlarge it to cover all kinds of false teaching. Any teaching that is not according to the Scriptures, any teaching that adds anything to what the Scripture teaches or takes away anything from what the Scripture says, is a heresy.
And this is a very serious matter. You know, even from the beginning of human history, God’s truth was challenged.
You find in the garden of Eden, God said, “You can eat of all the trees in the garden.” Even the one in the midst of the garden, the tree of life, was not forbidden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you should eat of it, you should die.
Now that is God’s Word. That is the truth. But you find there Satan tempted Eve, questioning God’s Word and trying to add so much more to God’s Word. He said, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?”
Now, if Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat of any tree, then they would die, because they would have no food. Eve said, “No, God did not say that. God said we cannot eat of that tree, nor touch it.”
Now something is added, right? God never said that they could not touch it. So you find that when you try to put more into it, or take away anything from God’s Word, that is heresy—false teaching.
And what is the result of false teaching? Adam and Eve lost their glory. They discovered themselves naked. They hid themselves among the trees from the presence of God. They could not face God anymore.
But thank God, He was merciful. He prepared a salvation for them. He clothed them with the skin of a slain animal, but they were driven out of the garden of Eden.
So, brothers and sisters, wherever there is truth, there will be falsehood. Or you can put it even in reverse: if there is falsehood, there must be truth also. Otherwise, where would the counterfeit come from?
If you find a counterfeit currency note—a counterfeit fifty-dollar or one-hundred-dollar note—you know there must be true, real currency. But false currency cannot be used. It is not only useless; it is a crime.
So, brothers and sisters, you find that from the very beginning of the history of mankind, and throughout human history, especially among God’s people—whether with the children of Israel in the past or with the church of God today—false teachers, false prophets, falsehood, and heretical teachers are always there.
That is the reason why we need to be careful. When you read all the letters in the New Testament, beginning with Romans all the way to Revelation, you find that even in the first century, in all these letters, there is the presence of false teaching.
For instance, Romans is a full dissertation on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet you find in chapter 6 that Paul said there are some who say, “Let us continue in sin, that grace may abound.” Now what kind of teaching is that?
You can continue in sin because the more you sin, the more abundant grace will be. Paul said, “God forbid.” That is false teaching. We who believe in the Lord Jesus should not commit sin.
Thank God, even if we slip and sin, there is a provision for us. That is the mercy of God. But we should not continue in sin as if grace will always be there.
First Corinthians, of course, is full of false teaching, and because of false teaching, corrupt living is everywhere.
Galatians speaks of another gospel, because they added law to grace. Believing in the Lord Jesus is not enough, they said. You have to keep the law; you have to be circumcised. Now what kind of teaching is that? Added to the gospel. Paul said that is another gospel.
Ephesians—you may say Ephesians is all positive. There is nothing negative in it. That is true. But even in that epistle, you find that you have to learn to put off that which is of the old and put on that which is of the new. There is still the danger that we may live according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit.
Colossians: they loved the Lord and sought the Lord, and yet they were told that they would not be complete, they would not arrive at perfection, unless they believed in some mystic teachings and practiced certain rituals. That is Colossians.
In 1 Thessalonians, there were some who said the resurrection had passed. Therefore, those who were still living and believing in the Lord Jesus had no hope. In 2 Thessalonians, they said, “The day of the Lord has already come, so you are too late.” Now, the day of the Lord is the judgment of God. What kind of teaching is that?
When you come to Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, Philemon, and all the rest, you find that it seems as if there are always false teachings, always false prophets, at all times.
That is the reason why, when you come to the later epistles, there is always that warning. For instance, the apostle Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, tells us we are living in the last days. This is the last day, and in the last days there will be false teachers.
People will be lovers of self, lovers of pleasure, lovers of the world, instead of lovers of God and lovers of truth. Dangerous days. We need to be very careful.
The apostle Peter, when you read 2 Peter, speaks of the end of the days. When you come to the end of the days, there will be mockers.
In the first, second, and third letters of John, you find that he said, “Little children, we are in the last hour. The spirit of Antichrist is everywhere.”
In 1 John, there is teaching that does not believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus, saying that He is just a man and rejecting Him as the Son of the Father. In 2 John, it is just the reverse: there is teaching denying that Jesus Christ has come as a man—denying His humanity. In 3 John, you find the result of it: Diotrephes became such a tyrant in the church.
When you come to the book of Jude, he said, “I was going to write to you about our faith, and then I felt I had to contend for it, because people even deny our Master, our Lord.”
So, brothers and sisters, if this was true at the end of the apostolic age, how much more real it is to us today. Thank God, He is working everywhere. Thank God, the gospel is preached all over the world.
But at the same time, wherever the gospel is preached, whenever the Lord is working, Satan is also working. False teaching, false prophets everywhere; false messiahs, false christs. Especially as we are coming to the end of this age, all these things will increase greatly.
Many will be deceived. You find in the Word of God, again and again, warning after warning: be vigilant, vigilant; be careful; take heed. Do not go to sleep.
Brothers and sisters, how are we going to face such a situation?
You know, brothers and sisters, the number-one thing, when we are surrounded with all these things—now let me put it another way.
If a lie is a black lie, as it were, if it is all lie with no truth in it, nobody would believe it. But if it is a white lie, as it were, there is some truth in it, yet mixed with lots of untruth. That is the thing that can deceive us.
To me, I feel one thing: as long as we live in this world, do not ever be so confident of yourself that you will never be deceived.
If you ever think that you are beyond deception, you are already in deep deception. The apostle Paul says, “I do not trust in the flesh.”
Once we trust in our flesh, thinking that we will not be deceived because we are so knowledgeable, so spiritual, and know everything, brothers and sisters, you are the one who will fall into deception. You are the candidate of false teachers.
Never trust in yourselves, no matter how spiritual you are, no matter how long you have believed in the Lord, no matter how knowledgeable you think you are. The danger is, once you lose your watchfulness, the enemy will come. So never trust in ourselves.
Now, if you do not trust yourself, then whom can you trust? Trust the Lord. There is One Who is trustworthy.
Do not trust in any man, no matter how spiritual that man is. Trust the Lord. The apostle Paul says, “I know whom I have believed, and I know that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.”
Commit yourself to the Lord. He is the only One Who is able to keep you from falling.
Seek the Lord. Put your trust in the Lord. Humble yourself before the Lord. Never take a position that you are above deception. Humbly commit yourself to the Lord, and the Lord is able to keep you to the very end.
Thank God, He has given us some provisions to keep us from falling into deception. As a matter of fact, if we really listen to what the Word of God says, even a baby in Christ will not be deceived.
Oftentimes you find those who seem to be more knowledgeable and more spiritual falling into false teachings faster and more easily than those who are babies in Christ, newly born. Why?
Because in 1 John 2 we are told—1 John 2:18:
Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour.
And verse 20:
And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, even he that denieth the Father and the Son.
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also.
And verse 24:
As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning.
If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.
And this is the promise which He promised us, even the life eternal.
So, dear brothers and sisters, you find God has provided two most important provisions. Number one: His Spirit.
Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus, even the first-born, even the newly born child of God, has the Holy Spirit of God living within. He is the anointing, the holy anointing. He is the One Who keeps you in Christ Jesus. He is the One Who teaches you in all things—big things and small things.
He is the One Who will tell you what is true, what is untrue, what is of God, and what is not of God. The anointing, the Holy Spirit within you, will teach you all things.
That is the reason why you find in the new covenant—in the old covenant, the Holy Spirit had not yet dwelt in the human heart. So in Old Testament times, if you wanted to know any truth, you had to be taught, because the law was written outside, not written upon your heart.
You had to be taught, “Know the Lord.” But in the new covenant, you do not need anyone to teach you, because you have a Teacher within you. He will teach you in all things. We will know Him inwardly. If it is not of Him, we will know. We will know.
Now, how do we know? You just know.
I knew a brother who was newly saved. He went to Boston. We were in New York at the time. He was newly saved; he did not know much. He did not even know much about the Bible.
But when he went to Boston, he heard something. And when he heard it, he sensed in his heart, “This is not true.” He did not know how to refute it because he did not have the doctrine, but inwardly he knew it was not right.
So when he came back, he talked with me and told me about it. Sure enough, it was a false teaching. It concerned the deity of our Lord Jesus.
So, brothers and sisters, after we are saved, if we really walk in the way of life—that is to say, not depending upon what people say to us, but depending upon the Spirit of God in us—if from the very beginning we are careful to listen to our inner voice, we will be delivered from many falsehoods.
But unfortunately, most Christians do not do that. When the Holy Spirit moves within us, we neglect it. Oh, we hear so many voices that we do not have the quietness to hear what the Spirit says.
But even with a child, a baby in Christ, the Lord has made provision for him to deliver him from anything that is outside the truth, if only you listen.
That is one thing: the anointing that you have received from Him abides in you. You have no need that anyone should teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you abide in Him.
Then we have another provision of the Lord: what you have heard from the beginning. That is the Scripture, the Word of God.
We have the Holy Spirit within us. We have the Word of God before us. And these two agree, because every Scripture is God-breathed.
Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness.
Brothers and sisters, that is why we need to study the Word of God carefully—not carelessly, but carefully. Because the Word of God, the truth, will tell us what is true and what is untrue.
If we hear something that is added to the Word of God, or we hear something that takes away something from the Word of God, be careful. This is untrue.
So you find God has given us these two ready provisions to keep us from falling.
Then I will add another one to it, and that is the protection of the body of Christ.
We, as individuals, cannot live all by ourselves. God saves us individually, but He saves us to bring us into the family of God, to become members of the body of Christ. It is not God’s will that we who are saved should live by ourselves alone.
There is a false kind of teaching going around: if you learn to live with your brothers and sisters, you will meet many crosses.
As our brother said, do not think that the crosses you meet come only from the world. More crosses come from the church. If you really live a church life and body life, you will find that you encounter more crosses than if you just live in the world.
That is God’s provision to purify us.
We have a false idea. In the world, we have suffered too much. People are so crafty, so cruel. Let us go to the church, and if I am with believers, my, that is paradise.
Well, it is paradise disguised, because this is the proving ground, the training ground, that God has prepared for us.
If you cannot stand your brothers and sisters, you cannot stand the Lord.
I have seen people who have known the Lord for years and advanced in the Lord, yet when it came time, they got cut away from the church, from meeting with God’s people, because they could not stand the suffering. They are all by themselves. Do you think they can go on like that? Eventually, they are completely deceived.
We need the protection of the body of Christ. We need the fellowship of our brothers and sisters. We need to be told, corrected, encouraged, and confirmed by our brothers and sisters.
Do not do something merely because you know it, thinking that it must be right. You may be wrong. Be humble enough to be corrected. Be willing to be corrected, willing to be helped.
Thank God, that is a provision He has provided for us. And I do hope that we will really make good use of it.
Finally, with all these troubles we face, what should be our final attitude? Are we so discouraged that we just give up?
“No use. The world is just full of lies.” The world itself lies under the great liar, the greatest liar, Satan. And even in the church today, it seems not much better. Give up?
What is Paul’s exhortation? That is the verse we read at the very beginning.
First Corinthians 15 ends this chapter with a very positive attitude.
So then, in spite of all these false teachings, difficulties, and trials, my beloved brethren, be firm. Be firm. Do not be moved—immovable.
If you are standing in Christ, if you are standing in the Word of God, if you stand in the teaching of the Holy Spirit, if you stay in the body of Christ: immovable.
Abounding always in the work of the Lord. Not because of all these problems do you labor for the Lord no longer. Work harder, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
And then, if you turn to the last chapter, 1 Corinthians 16:13:
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
Be vigilant, vigilant, watchful. Stand fast in the faith. Quit yourselves like men. Be strong. Wonderful.
And we would like to end this with Jude, the last verses of Jude, verses 24 and 25:
Now unto Him that is able to guard you from stumbling,
and to set you before the presence of His glory without blemish in exceeding joy,
to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory, majesty, dominion and power, before all time, and now, and for evermore. Amen.
Praise the Lord.
Dear Lord, we want to thank You. You are the only One Who is able to keep us from falling and to bring us before Thy glory with joy. May glory and honor, majesty and power, be unto You forever and ever. Amen.