1 Corinthians 4, “Who Do You Think You Are?”

All right, first Corinthians chapter 4 reading the entire chapter hear the word of the Lord This is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court In fact,

I do not even judge myself But I am not thereby acquitted.

It is the Lord who judges me Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time

Before the Lord comes who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart

Then each one will receive his commendation from God I've applied all these things to myself and Apollo's for your benefit brothers that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is

Written that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another for who sees anything different in you

What do you have that you did not receive if then you received it? Why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Already you have all you want already you have become rich Without us you have become kings and would that you did reign so that we might share the rule with you

For I thank God I think that God has exhibited us apostles as Last of all like men sentenced to death because we have become a spectacle to the world to angels and to men

We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong You were held in honor, but we in disrepute

To the present hour we hunger and thirst We are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless and we labor working with our own hands when when reviled

We bless when persecuted we endure when slandered we entreat We have become and are still the scum of the world the refuge of all things.

I Do not write these things to make you ashamed But to admonish you as my beloved children for though you have countless guides in Christ You do not have many fathers for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel

I urge you then be imitators of me That is why I sent you to Timothy and My beloved and faithful child in the

Lord to remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach them everywhere in every church

Some are arrogant as though I were not coming to you But I will come to you soon if the

Lord wills and I will found find out not the talk of these arrogant people But their power

For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power What do you wish shall

I come to you with a rod or with love in a spirit of gentleness May the

Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word a little over two years ago

The school district I graduated from outside of Houston, Texas made the news I'm not sure if his national news or not, but it was made some splash out there

But they just had appointed a new superintendent of schools a man by the name of Lance Hint It's just amazes me who had been a star football player and also a track team member

He was shot putter and discus thrower with me So he was he graduated with me and he was now presiding over the school board meeting

When a man also about my age shared a harrowing story of how he had been bullied in school

And the same school district I was from and almost bullied so much that he almost committed suicide

And because of it he went home after being bullied and he got out a pistol and put the barrel in his mouth

But couldn't quite pull the trigger Now about 35 years later. He told his story to the school board with the with the new superintendent and concluded that bully

Lance was you That video made the news kind of one of these viral things and and I even posted my own account of seeing some of Lance's Bullying and so a reporter from a

TV station in Houston called me up asking for details About Lance and any things he had done and I told him what

I could but I said, you know I only had went to school there for one year. The person you should really talk to is the student body president

KJ Wilde now KJ was an impressive person even in high school. He was the class president

He was a natural leader with an outgoing personality. He once gave an browsing Extemporaneous speech

Which is hard to do by the way, if you ever try to speak before a group of people with no notes Just that's hard.

He did that to us students. He was deeply involved in politics already in the early 80s in Texas He said that he was eventually going to become

President not just of the student body but of the United States. That's who he thought he was

He was a president He knew everybody Everybody knew him and so I told the reporter.

Well, he's the one he probably has all the stories about Lance You want to hear the reporter then inform me that in?

2015 KJ had been sentenced to seven years in prison for embezzling over nine million dollars. I Don't think he's gonna make it to the presidency

Which makes me wonder Who do you think you are I Heard of a study done of children from several different nations the

US was one of them and the South Korea was another and the study consisted of a math test and then a self -esteem question at the end simply ask

Are you good at math? The students from South Korea did the best on the math test

But they were also least likely to boast about how good they were at math They they were the most likely to answer that they were not

Good at math, even though according to the test they were the students from the u .s

Did the worst at the math test? But had the highest self -esteem They thought highly of their own math test.

They were the most likely to answer. Yes. I'm good at math Even though the math tests showed that they really weren't one commentator noted that they felt good about Being bad

Who do you think you are? I? wonder Do you think you're good at math?

The gospel is the good news that God has saved his people through Christ that he has credited to his people the life of Perfect obedience that the

Lord Jesus lived and on the cross he placed on him the punishment that our sins deserved without that gracious salvation

We are kind of that old fact we are then in that that old -fashioned word describes us

Wretches there's without grace without goodness when we see that when we encounter it

We then finally know that that song that amazing grace is not just a title to a great song

But it's an exclamation of a great truth that grace is greater Than our sin then we are humbled and the grace is amazing that saved a

Wretch Like me grace has a humbling power to it The proud hate it the saved

Sing about it The problem with the Corinthian Christians is that so many of them had not been humbled by grace.

They thought too highly of themselves They thought too highly of their heroes like Paul or Apollos or Peter and they thought too highly of themselves

They thought they were really something in this fourth chapter Paul tackles four illusions of What they thought they were

Unhumbled by grace. They thought they were four things first. They thought they were judges Second they thought they were earners

Third they thought they were Kings and finally they thought they were teachers And verses 1 to 5

Paul begins by summing up all that he's been trying to say earlier This is continues. These first four chapters are really all about this problem of their other arrogance and their excessive attachment to men

They could only see The man that they liked Paul or Apollos not the maker and he said see us

Instead of these great men. He says see us as Servants and the word there in Creek literally means is it like galley slaves?

it's just the lowest of the slaves who who rode on command of the captain and then

See us as stewards. That is men put in charge of a deposit

Like we put a bank in charge of our savings expecting them to safeguard it and then make more out of it

They are stewards here See us as these kinds of stewards who are put in charge of this mystery of God That's just the gospel the great truths that were hidden before before Christ But have now come to light and in Christ you see this stuff about mystery here

Don't get this weird idea. Some people have you know, you got to decode the Bible, you know, got a count the number of letters they are in the alphabet and What number they stand for and make some code out of it and decipher something mysterious thing that no one's ever seen now

It's not what he means by a mystery. Okay, he means what's been revealed in Christ now That wasn't known before before Christ.

God is saving a people from every nation and race through Christ that great truth

Has been entrusted to them. They are stewards of it whether Paul or Apollos or Peter They're supposed to protect that and to increase it to more and more people know about it

They aren't to lose it being attracted particularly these Corinthians aren't to lose it by being attracted to other more flattering stories about how or whatever how we can become a

God how we can evolve into a God or how we can save ourselves with enough determination and effort those other stories

That they might appeal to ourselves are feeling good about ourselves to our pride but stewards if they are faithful Don't fall for it stewards

Protect and increase what has been deposited with them here the mystery

The gospel Paul is telling them even even his own fans here. You know his own fan club there

I'm a Paul some of them said he said he didn't invent this message He's not a religious and philosophical genius that concocted this finally home theology.

He's a steward. That's all he's been given this This gospel and entrusted with keeping it safe It's been handed to him by Christ by God and he didn't have to be creative It doesn't have to embellish it too often people today, you know to make a name for themselves

Maybe to sell a book or whatever get their videos watch they got to say they have something new And he said no,

I don't have anything new I just have what's been handed to me I'm a steward over it and that's the people we are to honor people like that He asked only to protect it and to make it known.

That's how they were to think about him and Apollos for that matter We're stewards Apollos to has been entrusted with this knowledge and he was he's not being creative It's not something new but he made up they thought too highly of their own self these people though in Corinth They thought too highly of their self chosen leader.

That was because at root They thought too highly of themselves You know, they wanted to be the one that's following some new great thing, right?

First though they thought they could be Paul's judge They just assumed that they were in a position to appraise

Paul like judges of the Olympics gymnastics Competition, you know, what's that number? Maybe it's coming up next year

All right There's guys that know Some athlete gymnast will do her his or her routine and then they'll be these numbers flashing up different judges given whatever nine point five

That's their attitude. They'll sit back They'll watch Paul or Apollos and sit back and give him so many points for his message so many for his style

For so much for his letter writing so much for his personality, you know, whatever they didn't sit under the word being humbled by it

They were judges. They're sitting back approving of this Disapproving of that some approved of him so highly some of them gave him such high marks

They even said I'm a Paul I'm in his fan club He's their man But they still assumed that it was their place to judge him

Our churches today are full of people who think that they are the judges that the church the pastor exists to puff them up To tell them what they think they already know to tell them how right they are

To affirm them and what they already believe that and if he doesn't do that to their liking Well, they'll go find another one who will

That's just the attitude it's just so prevalent today in verse 3 Paul just shrugged his shoulders You know, basically in other words

They're judging him and he says it's a very small thing that I should be judged by you in verse 3 You catch that?

I mean, that's that's the attitude I'm getting from him It's a very small thing that I should be judged by you. Yeah, it's like I don't really care what you think of me

It's a small thing. In fact, I don't really care what I think of me Even if his own conscience is clear.

He says that doesn't mean I'm right Who do I think I am I'm not my own judge that ultimately sure

I try to examine myself see if I'm according to God's Word, but ultimately I'm not the one who passes verdict on myself

And neither are you so I'm not too concerned about what you think. I'm not even too concerned about what I think

Do I think I can justify myself by feeling good about what I do? I can say I'm good at math, but still be bad at it.

I Can feel I can feel I'm a good Christian and still be a bad one or even not one at all

This ran directly counter to their to their culture in that day. They're they're pagan philosophy and Shakespeare's words and Socrates's thoughts this above all things

To their own self be true You know, we hear that all the time today follow your heart

What does your heart tell you don't anyone else judge you this kind of thing? You can judge yourself

In their view in my own conscious, you know same dead often now my own conscious and my ultimate guide

People think if I feel right about doing something then I am right and I don't care what you think even if I'm feeling right about stealing from you or Hurting you are killing you enslaving you whatever it may be

As long as my conscience is clear then I'm in the clear as though I'm the ultimate judge That's why many people think then and still today.

That was what the world around these Corinthians taught That's what the world around us teaches and that thinking it was still part of the way

They lived and often is today and even in the church is often the way some You still call

Christians around us live. I've heard this even in church as some will say that their conscience is clear They don't feel bad about what they did.

Now. Sure. They threw a fit and told a lie Maybe they broke their commitments or whatever they did, but they just don't feel bad about it

And since they don't feel bad about it, it must be okay But we are not even our own judges not ultimately so Paul says

I don't even judge myself He says I'm not aware of anything against myself anyway, in other words, my conscious is clear, but I Could be wrong

My conscious could be wrong because my my conscious is not the ultimate guide. I could feel good about being bad

Just who do you think you are You think you're the judge Paul knows he's not the judge.

He does not ultimately even judge himself He leaves that up to the Lord. The Lord is a higher court than even our

Conscience so he tells the Corinthians just who do you think you are? You aren't the judge

Don't even judge now. He says don't judge now before the time Before the

Lord comes he's the judge and when he comes he'll You know, well, he might override your conscience.

He might have felt good He might end up saying well, you've been doing bad Paul is telling them before the

Lord passes his verdict You aren't in any position to be passing verdicts of your own whether of a man on a man like myself

Paul saying or Apollo's whether he's serious is here That is whether he harbors secret sins, whether it's his experience is genuine or spurious

God only can decide and he will bring every hidden thing To light not everything is complete yet and We and we're so we have to wait and while we wait

We aren't judges No, who do you think you are?

Do you think you're an earner? Yeah, you've earned and so you've deserved

Every good thing that you you have Do you believe that you have what you have, you know

Only your wages from your job from your business, but your blessings from God even your salvation it's all just The whatever you have from the gifts of the

Spirit you all it's all a result because you're such a great person You've made the right decisions.

You were smart enough to know what was right and what was wrong You did what it took to get the good things that you have right

Who do you think you are? In verse 6 he tells them that he's been applying this truth to himself and Apollos that they are but servants of God to bring them faith.

They're the galley slaves and They are told They're they're stewards looking after a mystery given to them by God You Corinthians he said you're so impressed with us

By us, but really we are nothing It is God who gives faith who gives growth

You're impressed, but let's see how grace has humbled us. He's trying to model for them the humbling power of Grace grace has humbled both myself

Paul was saying and and Apollos. That's why we're not so impressed with ourselves We know we've received grace we know we're only servants

We're the slowest of the servants were these galley slaves rowing in the ship only God's tools to do

God's will That that grace is the only thing that could have been greater than my sin

The last thing that grace does for us is to puff us up That's why the first thing grace does for us is to make us know

Who we are? That we are sinners who need a grace that's greater than our sin in verse 7.

He he asked him What do you have? All the things that you have

What are the thing? What did you have that you did not receive? Other words, what do you have that was not given to you as a gift of God?

What do you think you've earned? What is it? It's a rhetorical question. What's the answer?

What did you have? It's not a gracious gift certainly our salvation our spiritual gifts the truths that have revolution our

Revolutionized our lives the insights that have transformed us the power of the gospel Did you get those because why?

There's something about you They didn't come because we were we were cleverer than other poor sinners

No, they came only because God graciously decided to give them to us.

So we can't both can we? What do you have to boast about That we were just more incisive thinkers.

I just felt so much clearer than those other people. That's why I could see the gospel better Than those other poor guys down the road

No that we were just a you know, I'm a better character than those other people That's why I could see that the being a

Christian was a better life than the life of sin better than what's her name? I made a poem. I'm a much wiser person.

Look look at her Is that our attitude? No shouldn't be no or even there. We have such a better family than that other guy

That's why we're saved and he's not no Sure, God could have worked through our mind our insight or through our family

But we can't credit ourselves. Can we where did our mind come from? What our family come from? We are saved we have spiritual gifts we have every good thing there'd be a godly wife or a husband or Church that helps explain things or we have the ability mentally to understand his word

Whatever it is. We have it all because God gave it to us as a gift.

We just received it So Who do we think we are?

deserving earners Getting our reward for what we did Are just empty -handed recipients the humbling power of grace shows us who we are.

We're we are not earners We're recipients We have not deserved the good things we've been we've been given

We've been but we've been given them graciously that fact makes us then

Re -evaluate ourselves Who do we think we are? We are dependent needy

Recipients beggars blessed with treasures We could have never earned

Who do we think we are? Kings royalty And verse 8

Paul goes, I hope you caught it. I didn't really try to act it out much. He goes full bore in Into this inflated church,

I mean he basically just sarcastically mocking them Where so many thoughts so highly of themselves he wants to burst their balloon

They were going to be they were gonna be presidents. That's what they were They thought they had earned it all all they had and now we see they thought they had

All that there was it's theirs by right They imagined that the blessings of the Christian life that the salvation all the spiritual gifts all the good things that the status

You know the children of the King the royalty of the universe were theirs to enjoy all of them now

Already Paul mocks them Already in verse 8 you have all you want

Paul's just ridiculing them There's really no way I don't see how to read this other than he is being sarcastic that he is mocking them now

Why would he do that? Is it that an unchristian thing to do? Just gonna mock someone ridicule them

Well, apparently not because here he's doing it and he started he's the he's the standard we go by and he is doing it

To poke a hole in their inflated self -importance. They thought they were reigning already

If they were kings queens on earth, you know strutting by and they're and they're royal power

We have the same today in the prosperity gospel people who imagine that they already that they right now

Don't have to suffer any pains or any indignities or any loss the whole

World everything they want is theirs for their They're just saying it all they have to do is say the words and it's theirs this is taught today

They can speak. This is something I've actually seen I saw a guy do this once to speak of the clouds are obscuring the sunset

He wants to see the sunset and so he can speak and the clouds will have to move

Funny, they don't whatever just seem to learn they are kings already

You know the clouds exists for the sunset exists for his benefit that word already

That's a very revealing word. Sometimes it's just one word makes a whole key difference here already He repeats it twice in verse 8 already.

You have all that you want already. You are rich already You're kings But that tells us tells us two important things

One is that all these things that he's that they think they already have That these things really are a valid part of the gospel that we will have

All that we want we will be rich. We will reign as kings and queens right

He didn't you know, he didn't say these things are you'll never have their problem is that the

That they think they should have something that they should will never have their problem is that they think I have it They have it now.

They have it already. Their problem is that they thought these blessings were here It's prosperity gospel teaches this now today the same thing that there's nothing we have to wait on that we can have it all

Now, but eventually, you know, they all end up the clouds don't separate Go away from the sunsets like they want and they to eventually get old and die and Proving that they are indeed still waiting on that last enemy to be conquered that not everything is already

That some things are still Not yet. We still have to wait on some blessings, but but by the fact he says already that means one day

These will be for us Well, there's another school of thought. It's called our preterist not a word

I use many of us probably use often but that teaches that we Sort of like the prosperity people we already do have all there is that we have all that will ever have

The prosperity gospel says already we have all there is we just need to believe it and name it and claim it

The preterists say we have all there is the problem is Our expectations are too high.

Yeah We we need to we need to lower what we want You need to stop being disappointed in getting sick and dying and you know all this bad stuff around us

You just need to accept it. This is this is you have all that you're gonna have this is it That this is all there is and we won't really have what we want.

We won't be rich We won't reign as kings and queens or if we do maybe they won't they won't say it remember I'm not really

I'm not fairly representing their case. I'm mocking them. But if we do they would say it's it's in some kind of It's some kind of vague spiritual way

But already we have they say all that we will already have Well first here

Paul implies that the future blessings the Corinthians was already seen we're boasting it and he's here he's implying that they're real

That they will be rich. They will have all we want. They will be kings and queens But those things are waiting for us

They're not yet for us they are

Not already here the Corinthians like the prosperity people today thought they were now already The Preterists don't think that those things we will ever have them we'll never have all that we want and being kings and queens and All that they're not physical literal blessings that are just symbolic for for whatever but here in in that little word already

We see that they are wrong That we don't have it all yet.

There's still some blessings We have to wait on the prosperity people are right They're actually more right than the Preterists because at least they see that the these blessings

All that you want being being rich being kings being Queens being royalty

Tangible things we will have everything we will have all that We see here that because the

Corinthians were not wrong and thinking that Christ would be Would would satisfy us and make us rich and ruling on earth.

They were only wrong that we have it now Already and this is exactly what

Paul is mocking here He's saying it who do you think you are? You know, it's like like a child that thinks

He could drive now. He's only 10. He thinks he can get behind the wheel. No One day.

Yeah, you could have that you're gonna have a car you couldn't have independence, but not now Not already.

You've jumped the gun get back to the real world You might tell a kid. Hey, wait, you know, no, you can't be behind the wheel.

It's not yours yet And that's what he's telling him who do you think you are kid you're not driving yet Here, he's sharply digging deep into them if you think

It's already here Then how do you explain us Apostles? You know, we are a spectacle

People point to us and make fun of us Because we're so often beaten and abused and suffering

We're like the he's saying you're like the captured men you see in a conquerors prayed who are pulled along at the end of a procession

Make made into a living trophy a king might go off to another country conquer it another country and bring back some captives

They would be a spectacle. So his people could look aha These are the people we conquered and Paul is saying that's what we're we

Apostles are like People are staring us even the angels are staring at us Why are you being beaten like this, but you're dragged and away put on display you're like prisoners that's what we're like Me Paul That's Apostles.

That's what we're like And you're acting you're acting like you are Kings already, but look at us

We're prisoners being dragged around really. What are you saying then Corinthians? That we we

Apostles that I Paul we don't have enough faith. We don't have as much faith as you do Because you get to act like Kings, but we were like prisoners

That's why you're acting like a bunch of royalty while we suffer. Just who? Do you think you are?

The Corinthians imagine they had it all Already and Paul just he just mocks them

We are fools. You are so wise Yeah, right What the puffed up, you know those who have not been humbled by grace

Well, they can't stand the most what Paul is dishing out to them here Being made fun of not being taken seriously.

He might even be laughing at them. He's certainly not laughing with them When he cries out, oh, if only you did rain already

Then we could rain with you You know, then we'd be friends of the Kings We'd have benefits, but no, you don't really rain then from verses 11 to 13

He recounts for them what he and the other Apostles and many other Christians from that time to this they have to endure

Now what we wait for the not yet We have to endure

Hunger and thirst or in rags they're buffeted. They're homeless while doing manual labor to support themselves

They're reviled and persecuted They're they're slandered they're treated like the scum of the earth.

They're treated like Garbage that's what they have to take now well you you

Corinthians you American Christians comfortable at ease already thinking you have it all thinking that you should never have to endure anything hard That before persecution comes you'll just be instantly beamed out of the earth

Isn't that convenient the Apostles, you know, they all suffered John all but all but probably

John were executed for the gospel And John was exiled, you know doing this island many since then have suffered for the truth over 300 men who held to the biblical gospel stewards of the mystery of God faithful men over 300 were tortured and burned at the stake in Smithfield, England in the 1650s instead of renouncing the truth and we modern

Christians modern American Christians are told that Things will get just get better and better or maybe if they don't get better and better if persecution comes

We won't have to taste any of it. We won't have to suffer No, not us all all those other people did but not us will be raptured out of harm's way

Is it that convenient to millennia of Christians have had to suffer for the gospel, but we think

We're special. I Wonder between the prosperity people and the preterist and those who think will be raptured out of danger

Could we modern Americans accept a ministry like this? buffeted in rags

Persecuted a spectacle to the whole universe or do we think? Maybe we think

No, we already Rain, we have it all Already Just who do we think we are?

Who do you think you are? You think you're a teacher? At verse 14

Paul turns from the sarcastic mocking and then the humbling comparison with the the Apostles to it to a gentle pleading

I don't want to make you ashamed. He says He did kind of make them embarrassed. I don't want to make you ashamed

I'm admonishing you Paul said that right after sarcastically just mocking them. He says and you gotta understand the context of that Okay His is mocking it from versus like what from 10 to from 8 to 10 is mocking but in that's in it's in this context of his correcting them

Gently and loving them. I don't want to make you ashamed says in verse 14. I'm admonishing you as my beloved children

That's the context of the mockery I'm admonishing you as my beloved

Children my children whom I love It's only because he loved him so much that he was able to so stingingly mocking them

And now he reminds them that they are they are his beloved children He feels toward them as a father would toward his children

He became their father through the gospel Because he brought the gospel to them because God chose to give them spiritual life through Paul's preaching

He saw them born again He to begin to believe and to grow because God used him for that He cared for them as they as if they were his own children

And he wasn't just trying to you wasn't trying to use them for what he could get out of them You know to get whatever offerings who could out of them

In fact, he didn't take offerings from these Corinthians. Not yet That's why he talked about working with his own hands.

He wasn't using them for that. He could have couldn't he could have flattered them He got it.

He had his own party. There are people his own fan club said I'm a Paul he could have used them told him everything they wanted to hear to get money out of them and Then go to the next church and do the same with them, but he didn't do that.

He cared for them as a father That's why he scolded them. He mocked them and then pleaded with them

Anything to break through their arrogance and get them to experience the humbling power of grace

Who do you think you are? He tells them and he tells us you are still children

You're still students. You're learners This this is why the humbling this is what the humbling power of grace does in our lives

We know we don't have it all together We need to learn we have questions.

We need guidance. We need to change Don't we understand why we Christians? Why are we doing what we're doing right now?

What's this all about? Why do we have someone speak to us when we worship and I've seen Buddhist and Taoist and Hindu worship in action

It's very different they come before an idol and they offer some kind of gift maybe money or something Maybe even a bag of M &Ms and to the idol and burn some incense and then they go

Okay, pretty quick and easy. We on the other hand we sing maybe we give something and we sit and we listen

At least I hope you're listening Hopefully we know we're doing this because we know we need

Instruction. That's what this is about that. We're not all teachers We all need to be taught

Including myself. We all need to be taught but today many church people are are so full of themselves

They can't be taught. You know, you can't put anything in a cup. That's already full and Today many go to church.

They're already full and You can't put anything in them and they instead they're going to church to make sure the pastor is saying what?

What they know he should be saying You know and if they and if they hear something they don't like well, maybe they'll maybe they'll correct him

Maybe they'll do it nicely with a smile But it just never occurs to them that They're the ones that need to be taught

They think they assume they are the teachers and so they're gonna Necessarily, they'll straighten him out

They have no sense That they need teachers But we need what

Paul is doing with these Corinthians. We need people like Paul in our lives here We need spiritual fathers are willing to correct us.

Maybe if necessary even to mock us we need guides We need people whose lives are on the whole worth seeking to imitate.

We need teachers like Timothy He sends to them in verse 17 fateful stewards who pass on to us what they've received

The humbling power of grace should make us teachable Willing to listen and to change

If it does that if grace has that impact on our lives, it does some things to us It makes us ask questions.

It makes us learn it gives us an attitude of knowing I need to learn.

I Need to be instructed. Now. I know I understand you can only understand you can only learn so much at one time

Right, maybe a Sunday school lesson and maybe a sermon and you get so full up Digest it for a while, but you you just have this

Attitude that I need could grace had done that in your life that I need To be instructed.

I need to be changed. I need to be corrected So you have questions you need to make decisions you ask questions of people.

That's what grace does to you But sadly some are arrogant here literally that means they're inflated

They're like a balloon They appear large But they're only full of air

But while they are inflated they think they they don't need instruction. They don't need a teacher. They think they are the teachers

They know the lingo. They know the rhetoric and they could talk some could talk really well

They've read a book or two maybe and they expect now That they should be listened to they may know what to do.

The trouble is knowing the good They do the evil they need God's power to enable them to live under The rule of God and that's what the gospel is.

It's not just a collection of nice sounding Moralistic slogans about being good little boys and girls.

It's about power to live according to God's Word to obey him And to love him without that power without grace

We are remember the word wretches Maybe religious maybe empty talking maybe inflated by a little bit of knowledge that we have

But still wretches Paul it's going to come to them. He says Imagine talking to a church like that.

I'm gonna come to you. I'm gonna set you straight And he will confront their biggest talkers those who think they are somebody

He'll see who they really are They could talk. Yes They're great talkers, but can they live?

Under the rule of God. That's what the kingdom of God means the rule of God And it's not just a matter of mastering the rhetoric of having a big

Bible in one draw under under one arm and thinking I'm a king. I have it all under control

Paul would come and he would deal with them How it will go When he comes

Will depend on how teachable they will be If they receive the humbling power of grace

And it's going to be an easy sweet reunion If they will continue to think that they are something

If they're judges their earners their Kings and their teachers

Well, then he'll come he says He's coming with a rod with discipline

The choice is theirs We too one day

Will know God's visitation He comes Sometimes now with his word with a rod correcting us

Sometimes with his word with comfort With the consolation the encouragement we need

He comes some now Certainly all Will come later when

Christ returns how that meeting will go whether it's a sweet reunion or a painful spanking

Depends on whether we've been humbled by the power of grace

It depends on Who we think we are You know, there's this stereotype is holier -than -thou

Religious person Who feels that he's a he is above he's above it all he feels above all

His own goodness the nobility of his own character and that he has made the right ethical decisions in his life

He's discerned the right doctrines. He stood for the right convictions.

He's kept himself pure and these other miserable people well

It's just their problem that they couldn't manage to do What I did or if they do reach out it's with their nose in the air thinking

You should pull yourself up like I did But that is the opposite of what the true a true encounter with the grace of God does for us

We see that we did nothing to contribute to it that there was nothing that we could do to Impress a holy

God that we could never have known God Unless he revealed himself when we're humbled by Amazing grace when we know it's only grace

That is greater than our sin. It's not our religion not our morality

It's not our families that our decisions is greater than our sin But only grace not what we've done or who we are.

We know that we could never have earned our own salvation

Carefully reasoned ourselves to the truth that we did not save ourselves But that we were saved that everything that we have is a gift.

We understand that is grace That exceeds our sin and our guilt that it's marvelous infinite matchless free amazing grace that saved

Who did it save Who in the light of God's grace do we think we are a wretch

Amazing grace that saved a wretch like me

That's the humbling power of grace So now who do you think you are?