We Can Do Nothing Against The Truth

1 Corinthians 13

I arrived at today’s message, by way of searching (sort of) for a New Year’s message and also by our Wed. night study in Isaiah 17......

To give a little background.....God is revealing to the kingdom of Israel (the northern kingdom of Israel, consisting of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel) through the prophet Isaiah that they will be brought desolate because they forgot the God of their salvation.

However, there will always be a spiritual remnant that comes out of any desolation, this is the theme of OT prophecies....

The promise of the Messiah and that there will always be a remnant.

There is one thing that is worthy of note and seems to be the case throughout the Scripture is that God takes a few or the weakest and uses those to deliver His truth.

Isaiah 17:6 “Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, Two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, Four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, Saith the Lord God of Israel.”

There are always going to be a few that will continue in the truth of God, ALWAYS!

I spoke about this Wed. night......we say a lot of things about church and what it needs to exist, all the body of Christ needs is the truth!

We say the children are the future of the church and that is true, but without the truth there is no future!

If God has promised there will always be a remnant, what does that mean for us right now?

We must believe in His truth and carry on the teaching of the truth, no matter the fight against it!

What is Truth? Pilate asked! It is the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, the Gospel!

If we continue in this Truth, God will have a remnant in us!

Whether it be 4 or 5 (not many) but the truth found in 4 or 5 is enough!

That led me to 2 Corinthians 13:1-10................Paul has visited the church @ Corinth twice and was about to come for a 3rd visit.

This church had began questioning Paul’s spiritual authority because it lacked power, they looked at this knobby kneed, bug eyed man and saw weakness.

They heard of his constant struggle with prison, attacks, etc.

He was not flashy with his words

This all was enough for them to accuse him of not having spiritual authority!

Paul dealt with this a lot but never more than from the Corinthians.......

Paul used this to warn them that he was coming with his apostolic authority, which is the truth of Jesus Christ!

Verse 4 exposes the key difference between Paul and the Corinthians: they do not perceive power in the same way. The Corinthians understand power as something exerted by assertive, domineering, forceful personalities who boisterously and tyrannically wield authority. The apostle sees divine power perfected in weakness. Barrett comments, “Since Paul, like all his fellow-Christians, lives in this age, on the side of death, it is to be expected that the main sign of Christian existence will be weakness—that is, the same kind of vulnerability that Christ himself chose to adopt.”485 The Corinthians need to see the whole picture and look at things the way Paul does: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (4:18). The crucifixion displayed an apparent helplessness that caused the spectators to taunt Jesus to show them some miraculous display of power or to pull off some miraculous escape that would finally convince them that he was the Son of God. A spectacular show of worldly power on the cross—the kind they wanted to see—would have proven only that Jesus was some kind of superman, but not the Messiah, the Son of God.

What looked like weakness to the Corinthians was the Power of God........Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

1 Corinthians 1:23-28 “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:”

So, what the Corinthians saw as weakness in Paul was the result of the Gospel being lived out by Paul and those with him.

To the earthly view it was weakness, but to the Spiritual view it was the Power of God!

In verse 5, Paul puts the ball in their court, to examine themselves to see whether they are in the faith of Jesus Christ or not.....especially of they were looking to fleshly strength to judge whether Paul was in the faith!

That is so important when looking at the text as to why it was written and not making up things.....

“You say I am weak and have no authority because of my weakness, I challenge you to examine yourself because you are counting on physical strength!”

I thought of something this week, we are always trying to justify ourselves.........we ask a bunch of silly questions.....

Can I keep doing this and still go to Heaven? I need to stop doing this or I want go to Heaven!

These questions are for the prideful, in other words, people that have faith in their own works are seeking somehow to justify themselves, in which they cannot do!

Let’s just understand to truly examine ourselves, we must look at all of our works, good or bad, as not worthy to stand before God, matter of fact they will not!

The only work that justifies is the Person and Work of Jesus Christ!

Surrendering to that truth is self-denial, all my works is bad, it is only the work of Jesus Christ that is good!

Therefore, I believe in Jesus Christ, I desire His Works, and I desire to follow Him!

This is what Paul is saying....Philippians 3:3 “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

This is exactly what Paul is asking the Corinthians to do to examine themselves, because it sounded like they were taking more confidence in the flesh than in the Truth of Jesus Christ!

They questioned his genuineness because of his weakness, and he tells them to examine themselves because of their view of what authority looks like!

Verse 8 Paul tells them that he can do nothing against the truth! They can’t oppose the truth!

You can try but the truth will prevail!

That brings me back to the original thought......It seems like truth is non existent amongst our leaders today and they oppose the truth of Jesus Christ,

It seems that Romans 1:25 “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” Is coming to life right before our eyes.....

However, no matter how foreign to the Truth of God and Christ the world becomes there will always be a remnant that believes in the truth and they will remain until Jesus returns and sets things right!

There might be desolation in our world because of changing the Truth of God into a lie but there will always be a few that still hold to the Truth of God through Jesus Christ!

No matter how bad it gets on earth, that never dictates that truth of Jesus Christ!

How things look, is does not dictate what is TRUE!

The only authority Paul had was the truth and that is what he would come with when he visited the Corinthians!

The truth is the basis for our examination of ourselves!

There are two great truths against which the world has been in perpetual revolt. (1) The moral truth of God’s government. This means that there is a living and a righteous God; that He will reward righteousness and punish evil. ....... (2) The spiritual truth of God’s government by Jesus Christ. Christ stands before men as the embodied holiness of God, and His law of life is the law by which human holiness is attained. Against that Divine Presence the world has been in perpetual revolt. The past sign of that revolt is Calvary; its present sign is the selfishness and un-Christliness of human life. But long since, on the steep stairs of sacrifice, Christ has ascended into universal supremacy. The Pharisees had hated Him living, and they feared Him dead. And so they came to Pilate, who said, “Ye have a watch”—set it; seal the tomb; “make it as sure as ye can.” How sure was that? Was it prophecy or irony which animated Pilate’s speech? The revolt against Him was futile then, and it is futile now. He being “lifted up,” is drawing all men unto Him. There are those who resist that infinite attraction. Some of you have done it. But again the voice of Paul speaks, and eighteen centuries have only added victorious confirmation to his words, “We can do nothing against the truth.”

And when we see through all the faded past of human history, Christ’s love inspiring love, and Christ’s light bestowing light, and Christ’s life imparting life, we know that we are dealing with an unchangeable force, and can forecast the spiritual future of the world with unerring accuracy.

Let our hearts rejoice, then: Christ’s kingdom cannot be shaken.

I love Romans 8:35-39........It might look weak to some, but to those who believe in the Love of God through Jesus Christ, it is the True and Only Power......One day that will be revealed and all those who scoffed at Jesus and the Truth will see the Love of God revealed in those that believe!