Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: As we're continuing the introduction, let's remember that the book of Corinthians is a book of discipline. It's a discipline to the church so that we can enter not only into the holy of holies, but we can become more like Jesus and stand fast and stand in holiness and never compromise with anybody when it comes to my faith in Jesus Christ. I'm not going to compromise. I'm going to stand for what I believe according to the word of God. And then you know what God will do? God will honor your commitment. He will honor your full commitment to Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. As our introduction to First Corinthians continues, Raul will take a closer look at the Apostle Paul's example of wholehearted devotion to Christ. This study will remind us that genuine faith reaches far beyond what happens inside a church building. The Lord desires to shape every area of our lives as we learn to follow him with sincerity, humility, and obedience. Here's Raul Ries with part two of our introduction to First Corinthians and a reminder of the Apostle Paul's integrity.

Raul Ries: In Acts 18:3, it says because Paul was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for their occupation was tentmaking. It tells us in the scripture that he worked with his own hands making tents. He was so educated, he probably could have gotten a job in any university. But Paul the Apostle wanted to be among the people. He wanted to be an example among the people.

And yet, at the same time, he went to Jerusalem to be trained by rabbis. He went to Jerusalem and the rabbis, like Gamaliel, taught him the law of God. In Acts, it implies that he also had family. At one time, it says in chapter 23, verse 16, so when Paul's sister's son heard of their ambush... Paul was in jail and Paul's sister sent her son, which was his nephew, to warn Paul of the plot that they had against him. They were going to move him from one jail to another jail, and the Jews had made a vow to kill Paul.

So when Paul's sister's son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, "Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him." So his nephew came in. It says, then he took him and brought him to the commander and said, "Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you, and he has something to say to you."

Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside, and asked him privately, "What is it that you have to tell me?" And then his nephew said this: "The Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more fully about him. But do not yield to them, for more than 40 of them are lying in wait for him, men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink until they have killed Paul."

And now they are already waiting for the promise from you. So the commander let the young man depart and commanded him, "Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me." Notice how God is intervening through Paul's sister, her nephew, the commander, and Paul the Apostle. Why? Because God has a particular time and place where you and I are going to die. He knows exactly. Nobody can do anything to us unless God allows it and my time is not yet come.

If it's today, then today I'll die. Everybody has an appointed time to die and then the judgment. Hebrews tells us that. God knows exactly what you're going through, what you have, what you're going to have, where you're going to be in ten years. So as I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ, if God is for me, who can be against me? Nobody. God is on the throne. I am his servant. I am his son. You're his daughter. And if we love him and he loves us, then who can do anything to us? Nobody.

Then more little history: Paul came to Corinth about the fall of 50 AD, and he founded the church, remaining there for a year and a half, 18 months, in Corinth. In Paul's time, Corinth was one of the finest cities in Greece. It had existed for centuries before it was destroyed by Rome in 146 BC. It was refounded by Caesar in 46 BC. It quickly regained its ancient place as a center of industry and trade and the capital city of Achaia in Greece.

The population of the seaport city was some 250,000 people, native Greeks, and a large number of them were Jewish people. Others were Orientals with the Roman settlers there and government officials and businessmen in the city of Corinth. Yet when you go to the city of Corinth, it is amazing when you see it. I was blown away because you're sitting there in Greece. You're up where Mars Hill is where Paul the Apostle preached his sermon to the unknown God.

Then you get on a bus and you go around the peninsula and you come to the other side where Corinth is. When you get to Corinth, here are all the ruins of Corinth with this big hill, and there is the Bema seat where judgment, where Paul the Apostle stood at the Bema seat. That's why he uses the term "the Bema seat," remember? And then here you have the city of Corinth which was incredible during the day and at night it became a wild place with 1,000 prostitutes coming down to the city and seducing the men of the city.

So we have the history behind that. Paul spent 18 months in the city of Corinth from 50 to 52 AD. About this time he also founded a large congregation of believers there. Those that have come to Christ now, Paul the Apostle not only does he want to give them the word of God and he wants to share with them, but some five years later, Paul heard by letter from some of the messengers that came to him of the problems that were happening and tearing down the unity in this large city of Corinth among the believers, not the non-believers. And that the non-believers have come to a place of carnality.

Go for a moment to the book of First Corinthians. Let's go to chapter 5 for a second. I'll show you something that he does here in chapter 5, verse 1. He says it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even mentioned among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife. Notice the problem. Paul the Apostle is right up front. He says, "Look you guys, you don't even hear this among the heathen and yet it's happening in the church. What is the problem?"

Where a guy is taking advantage of his mother-in-law in the church. They're sitting in the congregation, they're hearing God's word, the pastor teaches, the congregation listens, and then after the study they fellowship together Sunday after Sunday and nobody is doing anything about it. Think of all the churches today that are just like that where there's great, great sin in the church and nobody does anything about it. People are not even ashamed of it.

What does Paul say? Well, he goes on. He says in verse 2: "And you are puffed up and have not rather repented or mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you." Notice what he's giving counsel. He says in verse 3 instead of being ashamed and having the guy kicked out of the church if he's not repentant, yet you're puffed up and you're not doing anything about it. You're just bragging about it.

Paul goes on to say this in verse 3: "For I indeed, as absent in the body, I'm not there, but present in the spirit, have already judged, as though I was very present to him who has done this deed." In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together with my spirit, with my power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice the counsel Paul gives: turning him over to Satan to destroy his flesh so that the spirit may be saved. Can you imagine if churches did today what Paul says? Then you would have holiness in the church, and God could do tremendous, tremendous work in his church. We're going to learn a lot in the book of Corinthians because he gives great counsel for the last days in the church today.

As we're continuing the introduction, let's remember that the book of Corinthians is a book of discipline. It's a discipline to the church so that we can enter not only into the holy of holies, but we can become more like Jesus and stand fast and stand in holiness and never compromise with anybody when it comes to my faith in Jesus Christ. I'm not going to compromise. I'm going to stand for what I believe according to the word of God. And then you know what God will do? God will honor your commitment. He will honor your full commitment to Jesus Christ.

But if you don't, then you'll become just like the Corinthians, a compromiser, a carnal person, and God cannot really ever move in your life the way he intended to move in your life. That's what Paul gives us the counsel to. Even though the Corinthian church had a large congregation of believers, remember I told you five years later Paul the Apostle heard about this person living in sin. He wrote the letter to them. When they got the letter, it was a letter of not only admonition but rebuke. It said, "Look, do I have to be there? I don't have to be there. In the spirit already, I already judged." Why? Because I judged according to the word of God. This is what God says. This is not what I say. It's the word of the Lord.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Whether you're studying God's word on your own or with family and friends, we're here to help you grow in your understanding of scripture. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for Bible studies, devotionals, and other resources. Raul's complete study of First Corinthians is also available on CD and flash drive. Now let's return to today's message.

Raul Ries: In Acts chapter 18, verse 1, we see that Paul the Apostle comes. It says after these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. He found a certain Jew by the name of Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them. So because he was of the same trade, a tentmaker, he stayed with them and worked. For by occupation, they were tentmakers.

He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jew and Greek. When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garment and said to them, "Your blood will be upon your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." He departed from there and entered the house of a certain man by the name of Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

Now, it's interesting that Paul the Apostle when he came to Corinth, the first thing that he does when he is rejected with the gospel of Jesus Christ, not only here but in chapter 20, his last sermon before he dies, speaking to the church of Ephesus to the elders of Ephesus, takes the scriptures in chapter 18 and 20 from the book of Ezekiel chapter 3, chapter 18, and chapter 33. Where God speaks to Ezekiel the prophet about being a watchman.

He says to Ezekiel, "Ezekiel, I want you to do this. I want you to tell the people that if they know somebody that doesn't know me, and if they don't take the responsibility to tell them about me and bring them to repentance and they reject me, I have one thing to say. Their blood will be upon their heads and you will be set free from their blood. But I tell you this: if you know the truth and you have the truth and you don't tell that person about me and he dies without me, I will hold you responsible for his blood."

Pretty heavy. I will hold you responsible for his blood. Here Paul brings it up in chapter 18 and chapter 20. What did he say? He said this: "I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." Why? But when they opposed him, he shook his garment and said to them, "Look, your blood will be upon your own heads. I am clean." Why? Because he told them the truth and they rejected the truth. Paul can wash his hands and say, "You know what, I can leave now. If you die and go to hell, it's not my fault. I told you." He takes it from Ezekiel chapter 3, chapter 18, and chapter 33. The importance of telling people the truth. God will hold you responsible to what you say.

And then he goes on. He says from now on I will go to the Gentiles. He departed from there and entered the house of a certain man by the name of Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. Can you imagine Paul came to this house, had supper, he gave them the gospel, and the whole family got saved.

And now, the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision and he said, "Paul, do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent. For I am with you, and no one will ever attack you or hurt you, for I have many people in the city of Corinth." And he continued there for a whole year and six months, 18 months, teaching the word of God among them. Notice again, then when Gallio was the proconsul of Achaia, with the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat saying, "This fellow is persuading men and worshiping God contrary to the law."

Once Paul was there they took him in, they arrested and they accused him. He says he's preaching against the law of God. In verse 14, and when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews—Gallio knew them—he said, "If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be a reason why I should bear with you. I would be on your team. I would be casting the first stone. But," he says, "if it is a question of words and names of your own law, look to it yourselves, for I do not want to be a judge of such matters."

And he drove them from the judgment seat. He saw that Paul was not guilty. Paul was not guilty. They were trying to entrap Paul, and he stood up to them. Then he says this: "And then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and they beat him before the judgment seat." There's the judgment seat, you see, in Corinth. Before the judgment seat, but Gallio took no notice of these things. Imagine that. Everything has been given to us in the word of God.

So when you go to Corinth and you stand there by the Bema seat, you remember the story. And then you remember that Paul the Apostle was there too and they had put him to judge him and to have him killed and stoned. But God stood with Paul the Apostle as he stands with each one of us individually. Then he went to Ephesus, Acts 18:18. So Paul still remained a good while, and then he took his leave with his brethren and he sailed from Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila, the tentmakers, remember, husband and wife, were with Paul.

And he had his hair cut off in Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow and he came to Ephesus and left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with Jews. I've been to Ephesus too. Let me tell you, it is one of the most amazing cities apart from Corinth too. It's incredible. You walk down in the city streets are full of marble. Incredible pillars, rooms, and there's a theater there that seats about 20,000 people when John the beloved had come to Ephesus and Paul the Apostle had been there too.

All the history in the seven churches there. We've been to all of them. And it's incredible when you read your Bible and you've been there. It becomes so realistic in your mind and your heart to know that here he's reporting about that. And yet when Paul heard that there were problems in the church, it led him to write a letter, a letter from Ephesus to who? To the Corinthians concerning the problem in chapter 5, in chapter 6, in chapter 7—single, divorced, married. They talk about all that when we get there.

And then the gifts of the Holy Spirit, abusing them and not really using them correctly. And then the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All these problems, all these matters Paul the Apostle would write to correct them and to fight for the truth. Interesting when you think about what Paul was doing. So we have so much to learn in this great letter that Paul is giving to us. I would say to you that from now when you go home this week, there's only 16 chapters. Every week try to read the book of First Corinthians so you can get used to it, get familiar with it.

So when we come here and we expound on the scriptures, you'll be able to see how God is ministered to you and how God will minister to you while you're here, and then the letter will become more real to your life. Like in Second Corinthians chapter 2, verse 1, Paul says, "But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow." I'm not going to come and bum you out when I come to you with all my problems and situations. I'm coming with the joy of the Lord. Paul said that.

And then he said in Second Corinthians 12:14, "Now for the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you; for I do not seek yours but you. For the children are not to lay up for the parents, but the parents are to lay up for their children." He even gives you instructions as a father, and if you have children, how to provide for them when you die and how to take care of your children if they really love you and love the Lord, so they don't misuse and spend their money. Pretty cool how Paul brings this out.

In Second Corinthians 13:1, he says, "This is the third time that I'm coming to you. By the mouth of two and three witnesses, every word shall be established." When somebody accuses you, two or three, not one. Two or three before they can find you guilty. And if you're not guilty, then that's cool. Three people. In the book of Matthew chapter 18, he talks about when somebody in the church is accused, let's say you know somebody in the church that is in sin.

So you come to me and you talk to me. Then I say, "Okay, why don't you go ahead and confront him yourself?" Then you confront him and he says, "Well, he doesn't want to listen." Then the Bible says take another person with you. So you take the second person. And then the third time, he says you bring him and you take him before the eldership of the church, and then you put him before the council, and then they make judgment on him. That's how to do that. And usually, it comes with excommunication from the church if they don't want to repent, just like Paul said.

So we have instructions on how to deal with problems in the church too. We're going to see that as we read through this great epistle that is given to us. There's so much in order to know the letter. As we move through the letter, you're going to blow your minds. You're going to be able to see and to relate that as you're reading, you're going to flashback on all the things that Paul has said and doing in your own lives. And then you'll relate to Galatians, you'll relate to Ephesians, you'll relate to Philemon, you'll relate to every one of the letters of Paul, even Hebrews, because you get to know his writing, the way he writes and the way he communicates to the body of Jesus Christ, especially to the church of Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Today's study reminds us that sitting in church on a Sunday morning is easy, but glorifying God in our daily life takes discipline and commitment. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you'd like an unedited copy of today's study, just call us at 800-634-9165 and ask for Raul's introduction to First Corinthians. We'll send it to you for a donation of five dollars or more.

To help you continue growing in your understanding of God's word, we'd like to offer you Raul's 11-part series Unity, Holiness, and Love. Available on CD and USB, these messages draw from First Corinthians to address practical aspects of Christian living. You'll learn about faithful stewardship, healthy relationships, spiritual gifts, and the importance of exercising Christian liberty with wisdom and love. This series offers biblical guidance for believers seeking to honor the Lord in every area of life.

To order Unity, Holiness, and Love, visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send Raul's 11-message study on CD for 23 dollars or on flash drive for 14. Again, the number is 800-634-9165. This resource is also available when you write to us at Somebody Loves You Radio, Post Office Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. Thank you for your partnership in sharing God's word. Your tax-deductible gifts help strengthen believers and build up the body of Christ all over the world. Next time, we'll continue with more in our study of First Corinthians. Together, we'll look at the remarkable transformation God brought about in the life of the Apostle Paul and we'll consider what it means for our own walk with Christ today.