Hello and this is Bob from Hackberry House. Welcome again to God's Word. Father, we approach the last part of this wonderful letter of Paul the Apostle to the Church at Corinth and we ask for grace because we know that God's people have been all around this thing and not in total agreement. I pray that you would give help in this. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, Hackberry House is a website. You can go there by typing into your computer myheartcry.net. When you get there, go to the library page, which recently was down. It is up. Everything is working on it now as of June 1, 2002. Go there and look for the Lesson 43, which we're on now. We're actually on the second page of that. We're just Lord willing, going to finish that up right now. It seems like it might be fairly easy with only six chapters, but these are six of the most theological chapters in the entire Bible, and we'll see if we can do this without getting too far bogged down. Reminding you again that this is a Bible survey, not necessarily a full theology course, although it's tempting to graze in some of these pastors. Well, there are other things on the website that you might want to check out. We have some interesting things, I think, about the ecumenical movement, about Billy Graham, about the Roman Catholic system, about last things, Bible versions. Why don't you check those out and help yourself to any of it. Download it. It's all free. Every once in a while I'd like to hear just an email from somebody. If you've already done it, thank you so much. I have received several over the months. We'd like to hear from others who have never done that. Just say, yes, we're listening. Yes, it's coming in okay. Yes, we understand and agree with you or don't agree and we'd like to ask this question or whatever. Let's get on to the lesson right now. Chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians. We've done all the introductory work on this. I'm not going to back up on it at all. We're going to pick up right here in Chapter 11 and if you'd like to find out about some of these other chapters, go back to the other lessons that we've done. This is 111, I believe, on the audio sermons. Well, in chapter 11, we talk first, we dive right into this thing that, boy, you're just not going to hear much about in most churches, especially in the West today. But I'd like you to know that this issue is not dead, nor was it cultural. I'm going to come down on the side of the Apostle Paul here, and since he has the Spirit of God in him, I believe that's safe territory. Now you ask, do you go to a church that practices head coverings or that demands it? No, I do not. Do you have a wife that likes that? No, I do not. Do you have close friends that are into this? Now you're getting warm, yeah, but that's not why I believe this. I believe this because just like the idea of women speaking and preaching and pastoring in the church, God, through the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, gives theological reasons for what he wants done, not cultural reasons. If he had said, for the present time, like he did in 1 Corinthians 7, then we've got some issues we've got to debate. But this to me is not debatable and I have no understanding as to why the women of our day have ignored this. And you probably have an answer to it. Let me jump ahead real quickly to verse 16 to let you know that I agree with Paul on this too, there is no such custom. So we're not going to talk about enforcing this. We're going to talk about the logic of it. We're going to talk about the theology of it and the common sense of it as Paul did. Paul just comes out and says, first he thanks them that they've been staying with him on all the things he shared with them. And he wants to let them know the order of creation in verse 3. This has been lost too. Forget the coverings. The very basic order that Paul's talking about here, which necessitates the coverings, has been lost too. The head of every man is Christ. Well, everybody will want to agree with that. But then he goes on to say, the head of every woman, it doesn't say Christ, is man. We're talking about, especially in the marriage relationship, perhaps only in the marriage relationship, where this is seen very vividly. So let's talk about marriage here. In a marriage relationship, there's Jesus, there's the man, there's then the woman. When that order is realized in the Christian home, things can happen for God. Things can happen for God. It's just... I don't know if I'm talking to people who are nodding their head or saying the man's crazy. I wish I could see your reactions. Maybe you're picking up stones, but it won't work. on a CD or however you have downloaded this. I'm just going to go ahead with Paul, knowing I'm safe here in my little room. Every man praying or prophesying that has his head covered dishonors his head. It's interesting, isn't it? Christ is his covering. He doesn't need any symbolic covering. He has all of heaven covering him. when he's in Christ. We're talking only about spirit-filled people, and I don't mean that in any denominational sense for our present world. I'm talking about people who are really into the Lord. When Christ is the Lord of that man, Christ covers that man, and when he puts something on his head, it's like a blockage between himself and the Lord, and God says, I don't want that. Take your hat off when you pray. But women who pray with an uncovered head, do the same thing, they dishonor their head. They are to put something on their head as a symbol of the authority, whereas the man is to keep everything off of his head as a symbol of Christ being his authority. Well, isn't the man covering the woman? Yes, but not as fully and not as spiritually as Christ covers the man. And that's what I'm assuming. He doesn't give us an exact reason for the seeming illogic here, but he does give us a clear statement of fact. And that is if a woman stands before God and the angels, and they are all around us. There is a spiritual world unseen to us that's around us all the time, and when they see a woman with uncovered head, they're nervous. They do not like that. That's what it says. And it's a shame. And you might as well take a pair of scissors, he says, and just cut off all of her hair if you're going to not cover that hair. He says if it's shameful for a woman to have all of her hair cut off, It's also shameful for her to be uncovered. And then he gives a reasoning for it. To me it's a little unclear. Verse 7, A man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God. But woman is the glory of man. Now you think that through a little bit more, maybe you'll get some revelation on that. Right now I'm going to give you the fact of it though, and the fact is obvious. Women, I'm telling you what he said, cover your head. Now, you're not going to like some of the rest of this either. Women, maybe you need to cover your ears right now. Forgive me, but I've got to tell you what God said. Man originally did not come from woman. Man was not created out of a woman originally. But woman was created out of a man. This is his theological reasoning. This is not culture. Please put that word away. If you're going to argue against this doctrine, argue against it some other way. But it is a doctrine. It is a teaching. And it is based in theology. It's based in the creation. Verse 9, man was not created for the woman. Sorry. Some of you women who are looking for a man to fulfill all of your needs and to take care of all of your agenda, you did the wrong thing. You did the wrong thing. The woman was created for the man. Now, he goes on to say the other side of that in a little while, but first, speaking about creation, speaking about origins, this is how it is. And this is how life works best. That's why, he says, a woman ought to have, and then they've put in the words, a symbol of authority on her head. In the other version it just says, authority on her head. Because of the angels. who recognize authority when they see it and are shamed by women who do not show that they believe that their husband is their covering. They are shamed by that. However, he says in verse 11, lest we go too far on this, man is not independent of woman. Man needs a woman. And woman is not independent of man in the Lord. For as the woman was from the man, even so the man is also through the woman. As the woman came out of the man, so today, in our everyday thinking, as people are born, you were born out of a woman. And so there is an interdependence there, but he says when it comes to authority and origins and what's first, the ideal is when man is under Jesus and woman is under man. Now if man is connected fully to Jesus, there won't be any unspiritual life in the woman. She'll have everything she needs flowing through the man to her. I'm giving you the scriptures. Please. I'm only giving you the scriptures. Why do I have to keep saying that? Because I know this doctrine's not popular. Then he says, just judge. Judge. Common sense. Verse 13. Is it proper for a woman to pray uncovered? To us it is, but to them it wasn't. Doesn't even nature teach you? That a woman has even a God-given covering? Some people would like to just take it from this. That the woman, what this whole chapter is talking about is a woman having short, long hair. She should just always have long hair and that's her covering. No, he's saying in the natural world, God gave her a natural covering. Gave her a natural covering. But I believe that he's also talking about another covering on top of that. For sure. For sure. The very least we want to get out of this is that women ought to have long hair. And I'm not going to go into a discussion of what is long. Sounds like Bill Clinton talking about what is, you know, what he did years back, trying to define where so that he could get out of problems. Don't do that. Long is long, and just about everybody on the planet knows what that means. Do you, dear lady, husband, do you understand what long means and what short means? Now, if a woman has long hair, I'm reading you the Bible. If a woman has long hair, that's a glory to her. For her hair is given to her for a covering, a natural covering. But then in verse 16, as we said before, if anybody wants to start a fight about this, talking about what's long and all that, no, we don't have a custom, we don't have a rule about it. And the churches of God, we're talking about not the denomination, but all the churches in the earth on His day had never made a rule about this, and it has never been passed down to us. This is as close as you'll get to a rule, but it doesn't say it. It's giving you an exhortation, women. I believe if you want to walk closer to God, if you want to appear to men to be closer, now there's a problem there that many people have long hair and wear hats. but aren't walking close to God. They just have the appearance. Because of that hypocrisy, those other women are saying, see, we don't need this. And that's stinking thinking, if I may put it bluntly. That's not how you think. It's like saying, well, I know somebody that was baptized, and they don't live for God at all, so I'm not going to be baptized. That is not how you think in the Spirit of God. God cannot bless thinking like that. Don't be a rebel. God's Word through this great apostle is clear here, and I'm not going to say any more about it. I want to go to the Lord's Supper now. He says, you've got problems in the Lord's Supper too. There's disrespect with men and women. People don't know their role. You Gentiles, you need to understand what we're talking about here. And now you've got another problem. I hear that you're fighting at the Lord's table. And in a way, verse 19, he says there's got to be factions so we can find out who the true people of God are. You know, they went out from us, but they're not of us. But, you know, because there's so much fighting, verse 20, when you come together, it's not even possible to eat the Lord's Supper. You can't even eat it anymore. You've got somebody, they're making this into a big fellowship meal, and you've got hungry people who aren't being fed, you've got people getting drunk around the Lord's table, and Paul is disgraced, he's incensed with this. Don't you have someplace to eat and drink in? If you're hungry, eat at home. Don't come to the house of God thinking I'm going to get a good meal. You're putting this whole thing to shame. I'm not going to praise you for this because you've got your fellowship dinner, because you're always getting together. Oh no, I'm not going to praise you. That's not why we come together. I receive from God. And I already told you what it was. Verse 23, he says, And he goes through what Matthew, Mark, and Luke told us. So we do have four accounts of what exactly happened at the Lord's Supper. John doesn't give us this. Even John 6, which is not about the Lord's Supper. And he talks about exactly what Jesus did, and we already talked about the Lord's Supper. And he says in verse 26, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Now, people have taken a lot of liberty for this as often as you eat. They say, you see, it doesn't matter how often we take it. We can have it once a year if we want, once a quarter, once a month. And I feel sorry for people who do this. And, you know, the people who do have it, you know, like once a month, they might have it for 15 minutes and that's their whole communion service. I went to a Romanian church the other day. What a time we had. for two or three hours. That was their communion Sunday. Again, I don't like the monthly thing, but the fact that they at least had it that much, but they had it for the whole time. The whole three hours was the Lord's Supper. Everything about that service was about fellowshipping with Christ around His table and talking about Calvary. Of course, Calvary ought to be the center of things anyway. Why don't people have the Lord's Supper a little more? I think it's become so detailed and so difficult with all the little cups you've got to have and everything. There's a way to simplify things. And so people can have this more often, this meeting around the Lord's table. I was raised in a church that did it every week. If you missed it on Sunday morning, you could also take it on Sunday night. I like that idea. There was some ritualism about that. And I realize Rome goes has it every day, and it's not really the Lord's Supper anyway, it's a ritual that they've come up with. So I understand all the arguments against all these things, but let's go back, you know, to the early church. They were always going about having the fellowship of the breaking of bread, daily, house to house. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, every time there was the apostles' teaching, the giving of the Word of God, there was the Lord's Supper too. Why not? Where did we get the idea we can just do this any time we want? Although there is no rule about it. He says, when you come together like this, knowing that the Lord's Supper is a proclamation of the Lord's death, knowing that when you are putting that bread in your mouth and drinking that grape juice or whatever, This is a symbolic sermon and knowing that, knowing that, whoever comes drunk or selfish or not discerning Jesus on the cross and the body of Christ and the people around you, if you're not into any of that, you are eating damnation to yourself, you hypocrite. We're not talking about this becoming the physical body of Jesus. We're talking about you are preaching Christ through this thing. But if you're preaching one thing and living another thing, God says, you're going to have judgment. And He says, that's why so many people in your church are sick. And some of your people are dead. Just like the people in the Old Testament who offered strange fire. touched the ark, things like that. God is displeased when we do those sorts of things around the Holy of Holies. Wherever His presence is and we're not filled with His Spirit and really into Him, He doesn't like that. Don't be surprised if some of the sickness in your church is caused by people who don't discern the body of Christ. Discern it yourself. Ask yourself, Lord, is this why I'm sick? Have I really not cared about the body of Jesus Christ, the church, and the body of Jesus Christ that was crucified for me? Ask yourself these questions. Judge yourself, verse 31, so you're not judged with the world. And then he just gives a simple explanation of what to do. When you come together, wait for each other. If you're going to have a meal, all of you eat together and serve one another. If somebody's really hungry, you should be eating at home. Have a little snack together. You don't have to eat these big fellowship dinners every week. Because then, every time you come together, somebody's going to get judged. You might as well stay home. Let's go to the questions. In the natural, a woman's hair is given for egg covering. That's 34. Number 35, in the church, a woman is covered further because of what? The angels. Number 36, what was going on at communion time at Corinth? Well, there was gluttony, drunkenness, division, church supper. 37, how does Paul know what went on at the Last Supper? Well, Jesus told him, I receive from the Lord. 38, what caused sickness and death in the Corinthian church? Unconfessed sin and unworthy participation. Let's go to chapter 12. Hold on to your hats now. We're talking about the gifts of the Spirit. He talks to Gentiles who really knew how to worship their pagan gods. They could really get carried away. And in paganism, I believe there was, and is today, phenomenon like the speaking in other languages when you're up in an emotional frenzy. You could do a lot of things. And he says, I want you guys to know that when you get into your frenzies and when you're worshiping and somebody comes forth with a prophecy that says Jesus is accursed, that's not the Holy Ghost. And he lets us know right there. that it is possible for gifts, so-called gifts, to come among us that are not gifts of the Holy Spirit, but that are bogus gifts, that are false gifts, and God's people always need to be on their guard. But he does say in verse 7, and I do want us to get a hold of this, that the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. I'm not going to argue what gifts are here and what gifts are not here. I want you to go to God for that. I want you to do what Paul said and ask God for the very best gifts that He'll possibly give you. And if it's not available today, He's not going to give it to you. But there are things available to you in the Spirit. He talks about some things here. Wisdom and knowledge. Saying the right thing at the right moment when you need to say it. Knowing something that you didn't know. Isn't it possible that God could bring that to your mind? Why not? Who said that had to go along with everything else? Faith. A miraculous faith to believe God for what needs to come. into your life? Healing. Can't you pray for the sick and believe that God will raise them up? Why can't you? Who told you you can't do that in our day? Because maybe some gifts are gone. Did God say all the gifts would go? Is there no room for the power of God in your church at all? But, one and the same Spirit, verse 11, does all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. Not as you will. You can ask. You can ask what you want. But God's will has to be taken into account. And God will give you what you need for that body that you belong to. Then he compares the body of Jesus to the human body. And he talks about how not all the members are going to be the same member. If every member of the body of Christ were an eye, then everybody would be seeing stuff that nobody would be hearing. And the conclusion to this is so obvious, and I'd like you to read through that and see. You've probably read it many times. But God has sent different kinds of members. Please don't try to be like somebody else. Don't try to ask for the gift that somebody else has in your church. That's already being done. Ask for something else that's not being done. Look over your church. Now pray, not with a critical eye. Pray and say, God, what does my church need? And God will reveal that to you. And then, God, would you give me that gift? I'll do that. What is the greatest need in my church, Lord? Give it to me. I want to do that. He talks about how the body has been put together in such a wonderful way. And the stuff that we really need is ugly looking. And it's on the inside and nobody knows it's there. But you can't live without it. Your heart, your liver, your kidneys. You've got to have that. But the stuff on the outside of the body that everybody sees and everybody praises Well, you can live with it or without it. Your hand could go. Some of your facial features could go. There's other things in your body that are just there for show. It's an important show. And God gave it for a reason. There's nothing wrong. It attracts people to you. And we have to have those people on the outside that attract others to the body of Christ. That's all right. but that may not be your gift. You may be working on the inside, doing things that nobody else can do. Your heart of compassion, your prayer life may be the thing that's keeping your church together. Continue in that. What a gift you have. And then he says, even though you have all these gifts that you think are so important, that you think that the church just can't live without. We're talking about in those days tongues and prophecy and mysteries and knowledge and faith some of these things in our day, too. If I had all the faith in the world so that I could speak to a mountain and say, mountain, you are gone, you are history, but I didn't have love, then that faith would be accounted for nothing. Here, Paul puts the whole gift theology in perspective as God. Now, here's another one of those things, though, where people say, uh-huh, I know some people who have gifts and they're not loving, so I don't want the gifts. what Paul is saying. Don't throw it all out. That's not what he would have you do. Start at the beginning. The beginning is the gifts, though, and that's the problem, is that many people think that gifts are the end. Or, I've got my gifts, I've arrived. No, you've got your gifts. You're a baby. Babies need gifts and toys and things to do to keep them excited. but not the adults. But you adults, where did your gifts end? Why did you let them go? Did you ever get anything? And now you want love? You want to start at the top? You better go back and start at the very beginning of being filled with the power of God inside of you. Be sure that you're a man of the Spirit before you start talking about this chapter. But even though you've got, if you're one of those people that have 25 gifts, man, you're just really moving in God and things happen. But are you doing any of that in love? Do you love the brothers? Do you care about them? You're actually giving them things. You're giving groceries. Do you do that out of love or so people will see you do that? When you sacrifice yourself, I mean, you really care of yourself. Are you doing that for love? He describes love in in terms that are unforgettable. You've probably heard this chapter so many times that you've got to read this one on your own from four to 7 tells you the qualities of love. You want to look in a mirror and see what you really look like one day? Every time you get a little bit puffed up, my friend, go to 1 Corinthians 13. Read it. Read it in prayer. Don't do it surface now. Read it carefully one word at a time. Every word, then look at yourself. Then read again and look at yourself. And you are going to be so distressed if you have any honesty at all, unless you've arrived. somewhere that I haven't arrived. I'm telling you, I look at this and I feel so nasty and dirty as I realize how much farther I have to go. But verse 8 starts some of the theological problems again where he talks about how tongues will cease and when they're going to cease and I know the argument that says that this is all going to stop when that which is perfect has come and that which is perfect has to be the Bible. And I have been a believer of that for so many years. I understand that teaching. I really do. But there are problems with it. In fact, there are problems either way. There are problems with it. And I found verse 12. He's talking about now and then. Now and then. Now is immaturity. Then is maturity. Now is imperfection, then is perfection. Now is childhood, then is adulthood. So what is now and what is then? Is now the gifts of the Spirit and then the Bible in its fullness? Or is it something else? That which is perfect, is that the Bible? Is it complete? Well, of course it is in one sense. I mean, everything you need for salvation and to live the Christian life is in there in seed form. Everything you need to start with is in there. You can be directed to everything that is godly and holy by just reading this book. That's true. But is it perfect in another sense? Does it tell you all things? Does it tell you what we shall be? That's what it says in 1 John. It has not been revealed according to John what we shall be. We know we'll be like Him, for we'll see Him as He is, but we don't know exactly what it's going to be like when Jesus comes. We know a few details. We know everything we need to know. That's the point of the Bible. The Bible is excellent and perfect for that, to tell us everything we need to know for now. But it doesn't tell us everything. However, one day, one day, we're going to see face to face. Now we're looking into a mirror. But then it'll be like we'll be looking face to face. Now I just know in part. Did you know that the gifts of the Spirit... Can you imagine having lived when the apostles lived? They were such a knowledge back then. It's true that in every congregation they got little bits and pieces at a time. But you put all that together, they had the Bible walking around. And they had more than the Bible. They had all the wonderful facts of what it was like to be with Jesus. All those stories that have long since been put aside. That John was talking about the end of his Gospel. All those things. Would you have liked to have just sat down with John? Talk about a walking Bible. He knew it all. And what he might not have known, Matthew knew. And Paul knew. Just to sit down with these men and to hear their stories is more knowledge than we have now. I disagree with those who say that the age of the apostles was the age of imperfection, and that the age of the Bible is more knowledge today. No, we don't. We have a lot less knowledge today than they had at that time. We have a collection of all the necessary truth for our Christian life, but we don't have all that they had. And yet here's Paul saying, even with all that knowledge floating around, we still don't see a whole lot. We still don't know a whole lot. Then we will know. And when he says face-to-face, I really believe he's talking about Christ. Face-to-face. When I see Him, I'll see Him as He is, and then I will know. Then I will know. Not just in part. I'm going to know as I was fully known. In reading the Bible, as wonderful as it is, I do not know as I have been known. What has been known? I have known, God has known everything about me and I don't know everything about Him. Oh, there's so many things. that I don't know. But man to man, standing with Jesus one day, I'm going to have a body like His, a little bit of Christ in me. The same spiritual body that was raised from the dead, I'm going to have a spiritual body like that according to 1 Corinthians 15. And I'll be able to know Jesus. Now, all that God is in the Godhead, I mean, who could ever know that? That's infinite knowledge. But the man Christ Jesus who came to earth to reveal Himself to man will be revealed to his people in that day in a very intimate way. We will know as we were fully known. He's looking ahead to the coming of Christ. And I'm just going to leave that with you to sort out. Let's go back into the questions. Why did the Corinthians have a keen insight into gifts, even though they misused them? Well, they used to have similar experiences with their false gods. Number 40, how did we get into the body? Through the baptism of the Spirit. Baptized into the Spirit. That's the Holy Spirit just coming upon a man when Christ comes into his heart. Number 41, what point does Paul make using the illustration of a human body? That all are valuable and all are needed. Number 42, is it wrong to want the best? That's what he says, covet earnestly the best gifts. No, it's not wrong. 43, list some things it's possible to do without love. You could speak in tongues, you could prophesy, you could understand mysteries and knowledge, have faith, feed the poor, give your body to be burned, all without love. And then 44, list, 45, when will the gift cease? When that which is perfect comes. We leave it right there. 46, why does Paul honor the gift of prophecy over tongues? And we're not there yet. Go to chapter 14. He says, above all things, you go after love. That's your ultimate goal. When you finally can see this, go after it. But desire spiritual gifts. Now that's a command of Scripture. That's a command of Scripture. If it's out there, go for it. If God has something to give you, ask Him for it. And some of you will find out as you start to ask that you've already got things to use for the kingdom. But if you had to choose between speaking in another language, as he says here, and prophesying, he says you should prophesy. The person who's speaking in another language, well, that's between him and God, and God understands it, and he's praying and getting things done, but he personally doesn't know what's going on. nor does anyone around him know what's going on. He says when you come into the church you shouldn't even speak in other languages unless there's an interpreter here. I'm speaking in the context of the church of Corinth in that generation. That the church may receive edification. That was his bottom line in this chapter. Get the church built up. That's what we're here for. Tongues must be interpreted. That's what it was for. If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful." So what is it then? I want to pray with the spirit, and I want to pray with the understanding. Here he puts the difference between spirit and understanding as tongues and not tongues. That's what that verse means. I will sing with the spirit, sing with the understanding. In Paul's day, to pray in the spirit meant to pray in another language. He even proves it in 16. He says, if you bless with the Spirit, nobody will understand. So the Holy Spirit is on that person and he's praying a real prayer, but it's in another language and nobody understands it. So he seems to be saying here that they could turn this gift on and off at will. It wasn't something that overwhelmed them. You'll see that in the gift of prophecy later on too. So he says, I'm so glad, verse 18, I speak with other languages more than all of you. But I do it at home. I don't bother anybody with this. I communicate to God perfectly through this. But I don't come into the church with it. In the church, he says, I'd rather have five words in my native language than 10,000 in some other language. Brothers, grow up. That's what he says in verse 20. You know, as far as malice and evil, you can stay babies. But as far as the Word of God, let's start to grow up. Let's see what it says, he says. And he says here in verse 21, why tongues were actually a judgment in one sense. With men of other tongues and other lips, he says, I will speak to this people. That's what one of the prophets said. And for all that, they will not hear me. So he wanted people, unbelievers, to see this gift in that day. Jews, Jewish people, to see the gift of languages and to hear the gift in their own language, hear the Word of God in their own language, knowing it was a miracle that they were hearing it, and yet, even though they knew it was a miracle, still they would not believe the Gospel. So tongues, in that day, in some places, was actually a judgment on the Jewish people. Let's go on down to 26. Brothers, I like this picture when you come together. I'm sorry, I'm not totally with the present mode of the present church, what we call church service. It would be hard to find those words in the Bible anywhere. But the meetings of the saints, they aren't like verse 26, are they? Usually when you come into the meeting, one or two people take care of the whole meeting, and you sit there like an audience in a theater, and you might go home and say, that was a good performance. You might say, no, it wasn't. You criticize everything. You're not a part of it. I like classes even now, where I'm a part of the class. I go to a college class now for certification for teaching. And I like it when I'm drawn into the class. I go home thinking about things, thinking about things. God would like His people to be drawn in to the meeting because God's giving gifts to everybody in the church. That doesn't mean they have to participate in the meeting. They might be doing other things with the fellowship, but there ought to be a lot more than one or two people doing everything. You know why they do everything, folks? Sorry to say it, because we pay them. you will look hard to find that kind of a setup in the New Testament church. People who need to be paid ought to be paid. When we send people to places where they're not going to be able to work for a living, of course we've got to take care of them. I respect the man of God in our day who ministers the Word of God but won't demand money for it, knowing that there's so much money needed in other places of the world, so he's going to give his time and then work for it, if he can, right here. Because most of the week, he's not really doing stuff that other members of the church couldn't do. Did you hear that? Well, I'm really going off today. Your pastor, as you call him, your pastor ought to let go of some of the things he's doing during the week, get a job, and support himself, And by doing that, free up other gifts for other people. Look at this church meeting. When you come together, everybody has a psalm. That means, I want to sing number 137, Psalm 137. Everybody has a teaching. The Lord was just dealing with me. He brought this scripture to my mind. I just want to read this scripture and comment a little bit. He's not a teacher, per se, necessarily, but something is in his heart that he wants to share with the body. Other people, in those days, tongues and a revelation, an interpretation, but everything was being done to build up the body. And he said, let's put these things in order. You tongue talkers, you think you have to talk All at the same time? No, you don't. You prophesies? Prophets? You think you've got to talk all at the same time? It just won't wait? You're wrong. If it's from God, it'll wait. That's what Paul is saying here. Let's do this orderly. Look at the order he puts for the prophets, and we could call them the preachers today. We don't have a rush for the pulpit in our day because one man's taking it over, and God never intended that one man take over the pulpit. We were supposed to share with one another. prophets lining up here, one speaking, and the other prophets who have the gift of prophecy, judging that man's prophecy, discerning, is this from God? Maybe people with a gift of discernment, judging that, not in a condemning way, but seeing if it's from God. He said, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. You don't have to do anything. Don't have to interrupt a service to give your message. Oh no, you don't. In fact, those kind of messages need to go through the leader of the church, or the leaders of the church, and ask them to decide whether it should even go forth at all. There's nothing unspiritual about that. And then, as in all the churches of the saints, verse 34, let your women keep silent. Uh-oh, now you want me to keep silent, I'll bet. I'm going to give it as I see it. The women need to shut up, sit down. Women are not called to be pastors. Women are not called to authority in the Church of Jesus Christ. I know we have a lot of people doing it, and God will deal with those. I do not judge them at all. If I were in a board of elders in a local church, I would be a voice saying, no, we can't let that happen. But as I am not, I sit and I have to take part in it sometime. It's going to be hard to find a church that won't allow it in one form or another. But God says it's not right. And again, it's not a cultural thing. Theological. They are not permitted to speak as the law says. When did the law say they should submit to men? Right from the beginning. When the Bible refers back to the law, sometimes it's talking about Genesis, Exodus, the whole first five books of the Bible. Where it says in Genesis, your desire, woman, shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. There is clearly laid out the pattern for male-female relationship in the church. And no woman is to take any authority in the church. He says, you know what? The word of God didn't come from you. It's coming from heaven through the apostles to you. It didn't just reach you. It's reached many people. Many people agree with this. What is wrong with you, Corinth? You think you're a prophet? You think you're spiritual? You better write this down. I'm a prophet of God too. I know the Lord too. If you want to be ignorant, go ahead and be ignorant. He lays it down as only Paul can do. He says, no. Theologically, women, sit down. Number 46, why does Paul honor the gift of prophecy over tongues? because all are profited. 47. What restriction does Paul place on one who would speak in tongues publicly? Pray for interpretation. Do it in turns. Maximum three. 48. What's the opposite of in the spirit? What's in the understanding? 49. Paul's final point of order was to ask the wives to do what? keep silent. I will add there that the word can be translated, wives, and it could be talking to husbands about their own wives who are usurping authority over them in the public meeting. Chapter 15. I'm moving fairly quickly because I believe we've got to finish 1 Corinthians this time and we're getting a little late. We're talking about now the resurrection. He says, this gospel I've been preaching to you will save you. But you've got to hold on to it. Hold on to it. I hope you didn't believe in vain. You people that are trying to let go right now and change the rules, maybe you believed in vain. Maybe you were never really saved to begin with. I want you to know Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And He appeared to Peter. And He appeared to 500 brothers. He was seen by James. He was then even seen by me. I've seen the Lord. I'm the least of the apostles, but I've seen Jesus. By the grace of God, I am what I am, but I have seen Him. And I've labored more abundantly than all these apostles. Please, I'm an apostle. I've seen Christ. Now, Christ is being preached that He's raised from the dead. I go around everywhere preaching Christ. But some of you guys are saying that there is no resurrection. Where'd that come from? If there is no resurrection, Christ isn't risen. If Christ isn't risen, you're still lost. We need the perfect Savior that God would raise from the dead to overcome death to save us. And we're going around preaching a lie. Come on. Your faith is vain. And the people that have died in Jesus, they gave up their life for nothing. No, Christ is risen from the dead. I'm in verse 20. He is number one from the dead. He's the first for us. We're going to follow Him later on. You see, it was by Adam, that death came into the world, and by the second Adam, that resurrection comes into the world. All will be made alive in Christ. And then comes the end. This is the order of things, by the way. First, Christ raises. Secondly, we are raised when Jesus comes at His coming. Sorry, there's not an extra thing mentioned in here, but it's just His coming. And the very next thing that happens The end. The end of what? The end of that millennial rule. Because he's been reigning for a thousand years and he delivers that kingdom, that millennial kingdom up to God the Father. The thousand years that the Apostle John talks about. He puts an end at that time to all rule and all authority because now he's going to be able to conquer death. There will be death during the thousand years. I'll let you look that one up, but it's in there. You can find it in Revelation 20. You'll see death during the millennium. But after the millennium, death is destroyed. And that's the last enemy that will be destroyed. Now, everything is going to be made subject to Jesus Christ. We don't see that now, but we will see it one day. That's in the future. We know that, technically, he rules all things right now. The devil can't do anything without permission. But, in fact, he still has this permission, and there will come a time when he won't even have permission. He will be bound. And Christ rules at that time, fully and actually, invisibly. And we'll rejoice in it. Verse 29, what about those who are baptized for the dead? Whoops, what's that about? The pagans? The pagans went out baptizing people for the dead. Why do you think these pagans do this? He's saying. What about these people that do that? They do it because they even believe in the resurrection. What is wrong with you people? If dead people don't rise to the dead, who put that thought into pagan minds? The dead do rise. The dead do rise. Even if it's to condemnation, they do rise. And he says in verse 30, I affirm, and then I want you to skip that parenthetical statement and go to the end of the verse, I die daily. I'm telling you the truth. I die every day. Why does he go to this? He says, if I have fought with beasts, said Ephesus, animals, lions, or people who were acting like animals, if I've been fighting with everybody because I believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that I'm going to rise from the dead, if I've been risking my life every day, How could some of you be saying that the dead don't rise? Going around saying, if that's true, let's just eat and drink. Be merry. Because we're going to die tomorrow. Come on, guys. Wake up, verse 34. Wake up. Some people don't have the knowledge of God. Who's he talking about? The false teachers that are spreading this lie. That lie's been with us ever since. It's hard to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Anyone that doesn't believe Jesus Christ is risen from the dead is accursed. I speak this to your shame. Stay away from these people that don't even know God coming among you and trying to tell you that Jesus and nobody is going to rise from the dead. I want to tell you, you're going to have a wonderful body someday. You know, when you put a seed in the ground, I'm in verses 35 following, you put a seed in the ground and it starts to grow up and then something just begins to form around it and then this and then that and before you know it, it's something altogether different, but not really. It's really the same, but really not the same. And flesh is like that too. When you plant our body, when you plant our body, you sow this body into the ground, literally into the ground. God's going to put stuff around it one day. That seed has been sown, that incorruptible seed has been sown, but it's going to be broken apart and clothed with incorruptible material, spirit material. And he talks about the stars that have different, you know, there's all kinds of glories. Glories of animals, glories of plants, glories in the heavens, glories of different stars. And I began thinking, well, I wonder, are there going to be different levels of glory even among the believers, just like there are different levels of glory among the stars? Well, yes, we know that's true. But I wonder if it will be visible. I wonder if when you look at one believer, you'll be able to tell right away what he did when he was here. You'd be able to just tell by looking. Now, they're going to be given places of authority all over the earth, and so that will be one way you will tell how much authority he has then. But what about if they just kind of shine and glow with a different light than the ones who worked harder for the Lord? He talks about the first Adam and the second Adam. And he says in verse 47, and I know they try to get this out of there, but it's in here now, the first man was from the earth. That Adam, the first Adam, but the second Adam is the Lord from heaven. Whoa, what a clear statement of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will bear the image of that heavenly man. And then he gives the second coming again. I want you to know that this description of the second coming matches exactly his description in Thessalonians. And both of those together match exactly the description given by Jesus in Matthew 24 when he says, After the tribulation of those days, The sun will be darkened. They will see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. There'll be the catching away of the body of Christ. There'll be angels. There'll be trumpets. And look what he says here. We're not all going to die because Jesus is going to come when some of us are still alive. But we all will be changed, whether dead or alive. We'll be changed instantly. It's not growing somewhere in the ground right now. He didn't mean to make it that way, literally. No, we're going to be changed then. Our bodies will decay in the ground, and decay, and decay, and decay, and there's almost nothing left. But those bones will be raised up and be made into, immediately, those bodies. He's got it all planned out. And instantly, He'll just say the Word, and boom, graves open all over, and people rising up all over. That's all at one time, my friend. The resurrection of life takes place all at one time, and there's only one such resurrection, and it's when Jesus comes. Make no mistake about that. That's been the teaching of the church all these centuries. Let no one change that now. Our corruptible body will put on immortality at that moment. And he talks about how death will be swallowed up in victory. What does he mean there? The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. Well, the law awakens desire. You know what the Bible says about desire or lust? Lust produces sin. Sin produces death. The Law says, don't do this, and that makes you want to do it. And that desire is in there. And then you do sin, and then sin produces it. But that's all going to be done away with because in Christ we bypass the Law, the written Law. We have the Law of Christ written in our hearts. And when we read the Law in the Bible, it's just a reminder, it's a mirror to us to see where we are. We ask Christ to keep changing us and making us into His image. And then chapter 16. Theology finished. We go to practical matters now. The collection for the saints. He says on the first day of the week. Why did they go to the first day of the week? And was this an all-day rest day? I'm challenging you here, challenging your thinking, because people are going to ask you this. Where do you prove in the New Testament that we're to worship on Sunday, rest on Sunday? Well, you can't prove a Sunday rest day. There's only one rest day given throughout Scripture, but the meeting day. Here's a time where we see, along with Acts 20, verse 7, that the meeting day, one of the meeting days, and perhaps even the most important meeting day, was the first day of the week. We're not told why, except that the Holy Spirit fell on that day, and Jesus rose from the dead on that day, and I think the Christians appreciated that and wanted to make that their special day from that time on, although they weren't commanded to, except here. We can go along with that meeting idea, but please understand that in Acts 27, the only other time that the first day of the week is mentioned, it talks about how Paul preached till midnight. Do you see that they started in the morning? No. The first services of first day meetings were in the evening. In the evening. Some would even argue the first day of the week begins the night before. Maybe Saturday night, the Sabbath at night. Others would say it would be the next night. But there is no mention anywhere here of a first day of the week morning meeting. That came much later through Constantine and Romanism and all that working together. I'm not arguing either way on this. I'm asking you to be open and listen. And if you have a teaching that you feel is strong, you need to find out the basis for it and defend it yourself. He says, I'm going to be coming. He gives some personal plans, verses 5 to 12. We're going to be coming through Macedonia. And I'd like to spend maybe the winter with you and we can have fellowship and then you can, you know, take some offerings and send me on my way. He wasn't shy about saying that. You send me on my journey. That means you're going to pay the way. I do want to see you, but not now, verse 7. Look at that. I don't want to see you now. I've got some other things that the Lord has got me doing. And I'm not going to stop right now. I don't feel led to stay there with you. But I can stay a while with you later. I'm going to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost. He kept the Jewish feasts. Because there's been this great door open to me. And there are many adversaries. Isn't that the truth all the time? When God opens a door, through that door comes a lot of problems too. It makes us want to turn away and go someplace else. There's no profit doing that. If Timothy comes, see that he comes without fear and stays with you. This thing about fear, you'll find it in 1 and 2 Timothy. You'll find it here. The man was evidently young. He said, let no man despise your youth. He was a young man and they did despise him. He even says it right here, don't despise him. There's something about Timothy that we won't know until we get to be with the Lord, that people despise him. Maybe beyond just the youth. And Paul commands against that because this Timothy was like a son to him, as Titus was. These were men that he just knew had the right heart for God, that would do anything for the kingdom's sake. And he really loved Timothy. Timothy had just given his life to the kingdom. As for Apollos, I told him that he ought to come to you, because since I'm not coming right now, but he didn't want to come either. What is it about these two heroes? Maybe both of them are getting the impression, look, you're not going to worship us. We're not even going to come and visit you. Did you notice that in verse 12? He says he'll come when he has a convenient time. He's thinking about it. He's letting these, he's kind of cooling their fire. They've been worshipping Paul, Apollos, Peter. He's saying, look, we're not going to visit you right now. You need to calm down a little bit. Then some practical final exhortations in 13 and following. Stand fast in the faith. Be brave. Be strong. Everything that you do, do it with love. as far as the household of Stephanas. I'm so happy that they've devoted themselves to the ministry. I want you to submit to people like that. There are people. They don't have to be apostles, pastors, teachers. There's just godly people in your number that you need to listen to. You need to hear what they have to say and follow them. He mentions some other people who blessed him a lot. He wants them to be acknowledged for what they have done. He gives his greetings and farewell. But look what he says in verse 22. This is about as clear as it gets. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. That's Paul for you. That ought to be us too in a certain context. We don't have to go around saying things like this all the time. But not to be afraid to say it. If a person doesn't know Christ, he's lost forever. Let people know that. And then he asks the Lord to come. You know, in Galatians 1, 8, and 9, he talks about anybody preaching any other gospel is going to be accursed. Ephesians 6, 24, grace with those who do love the Lord and the curse with those who don't. Let's look at number 50 on the questions. Describe Paul's gospel. Jesus died, he was buried, and he rose again. 51, what heresy was in the Corinthian church that there is no resurrection? List the order of events when Christ comes. First Christ, then those who are Christ, then comes the end. than the kingdom delivered to the Father. 53. Explain the argument of chapter 15 verses 30 to 34. He says, I face death constantly, but why if there's no resurrection? 54. What earthly illustration demonstrates the resurrected body, sowing and reaping? 55. What were two main expenditures of the early church? Needy saints and minister's expense. Now put that in your church budget and see what happens. We're only going to give to needy people and ministers that can't preach any other way. I would say your budgets would change pretty quickly. 56. What sort of men should the church honor? Those who are devoted to ministry. 57. Comments about a curse on unbelievers? Well, Jesus said it too. He that believeth not shall be damned. The wrath of God abides on him. Paul's just following in the footsteps of his master. He's telling the truth. We made it. I'm sorry I go so fast, but I don't want these lessons to keep dragging on forever and ever. We've got to bring some closure to it eventually on a Bible survey. The next time, Lord willing, we go to Lesson 44. It's on the Internet. Get it. It's Acts 20. through 2116, and then it's 2 Corinthians, the same basic kind of a lesson we will do next time. And I'll be looking forward to talking with you then. You have a blessed and godly day. Amen.