First Corinthians chapter 1, verses 4 through 8; that's where we're at. That's what we'll begin looking at today. Starting in verse 4. It says, "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."

As I began looking at this I got kind of, I don't know, I reckon excited about it, realizing that as you read through 1 and 2 Corinthians you're talking about two letters to one church. And this church was, I mean, talking about having its problems, it had its problems. But, you know, there's something about it; even amongst all of that I realized that Paul starts off here in verse 4 in this little greeting, he says, "I thank my God always on your behalf."

In other words, even with that church being what it was, he was going to thank God for that. And you know what I like about that is the fact that Paul realized a harvest is a harvest even though you get a lot of weeds along with it. You know that? That Paul was witnessing the working of God in that church and he was rejoicing in that, isn't that good?

Now let's deal with this a little bit. And he says, "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ." Now let's notice several things that we see in this one, little, old verse here that's going to be a blessing to you, all right?

Now I want you to know something. I think one of the greatest things we're going to find out about the apostle Paul is this --- his ability to love people where they are and where they're at in their Christian life. You know, that's a very, very important thing. You can't minister to people you don't love, you know that? You can criticize the fire out of them, I guarantee you that's what you can do. You can chew them up and chew them out and spit them out but I guarantee you, you can't minister to somebody you don't love.

And as I look into the Word of God, I see him thanking God for these people just like they are. And you know you talk about a blessing, do you realize that when we get to the point where we can look at others and say, "Well, I mentioned this to the Sunday School class out there. I might not be what I ought to be, I might not be what I could be, I might not be what I should be, but thank God I'm not what I was,"--and you know as we begin to look at one another, you're human and I'm human, we're all human. And you know what? If we want to, we don't have to look very hard to find something bad about somebody. You know that? We can find something almost instantly that we can criticize in somebody else's life, isn't that right?

But amongst all of that I want you to see here now is that Paul is thanking God for these people. And I think one of the greatest things that you and I can ever do is to thank God for the Christian. Thank God for other churches, thank God for--and when I say other churches I'm talking about Baptist churches now, I'm going to clarify that. I don't want you to stop that quick. Now listen to me, just by way of introduction, I want you to know that he begins to thank God for these. He is looking past their sin, the trouble, the problem, and he's looking at the very heart of what is taking place there in them. You know what that is? That's the grace of God working in them.

Now let's go on. Here in verse 4 he said, "I thank my God always on your behalf." Now you see, there is something interesting about this verse for he says, "for the grace of God which is given you by Christ Jesus." Now one of the old commentators has this--he keeps making this statement. He says this is one of Paul's aorist verses. And by the aorist, he's talking about that tense in the Greek language that means "something has been completed." And as I look at this, what we're finding here in this, he says, "for the grace of God which is given you by Christ Jesus." You see, he's talking about their salvation being completed here by the grace of God which is given to you. You're saved by grace through faith, that not of yourself; it is the gift of God.

Now I want you to know that's one of Paul's aorist tenses. It is something that is completed. Salvation is completed. In a supreme moment in the lives of these people, he said, "This has been completed, the grace of God that was bestowed, given, to you." And my friends, grace is a gift of God. Salvation is a gift of God. We are saved by grace through faith, that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. And so as I look at this I realize that he starts off and he looks at them and he's saying this, "I'm thanking God for you because there is something that has happened in you and it was God saving you, it was the grace of God working in your life."

And now look what he says--you see, grace was given, not earned. It said, "the grace of God which is given you." Now this verse is a fantastic verse. We might look at it and read it just very simply and say, "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ," but, you see, this verse has the entire plan of salvation in it. This verse, as we look at it, it talks about the grace of God and then that is salvation. And then it says that grace of God that was what? That was given to you. Now, you see, it was not earned. That grace of God wasn't earned; it was given. And it was given. Look at the vehicle by which it was given. It said by Jesus Christ. And so, my friends, as I begin to look at this verse I see that Paul looks at this group of people and this church of people, and as he looks upon them he begins to say to them, "Oh, I know something that God through His Son Jesus Christ granted salvation to you and has given salvation to you, and I thank Him for that."

You know, I was thinking about that verse--I come to the first part that says, "I thank my God always." You know what struck me about the verse was the word always. Always, that means that in Paul's heart and mind these people were on Paul's heart and mind. Every time he went to prayer he prayed for them.

I remember talking to a fellow and he told me this, he said, "I've got my prayer list." And he had his book up, you know, his prayer book that he uses to go through. He said, "But you know," he said, "I get bored praying through the prayer list." He said, "I get bored praying through that and boredom sets in." But, you know, there's something about the apostle Paul that did not get bored in his soul when he went to pray. I mean, the apostle Paul didn't look at it as a time that was boring of bringing these same people back up before the Lord. With him, my friends, it was a thing that made the difference between sin and salvation, between sin and success. It made the very difference between the relationship that he had with them and they had with God. So, you see, he wasn't going to get bored with it.

I think maybe we might get bored with it. But I want to tell you a truth and that's this: A church that does not pray is not doing anything spiritual for God; because without Him we can do nothing. And do you realize it's His work and the most important thing we can do is to pray and call on God?

Now look at verse 5. It said, "That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge." So now he begins to direct this prayer. That word enrich means "to make rich." "To make rich," "to be full with something."

Now observe three things here in this verse. Now watch what happens, he's going to start working right towards you. Do you know that? By the time we get to verse 8, he's going to be right down where we live. I like this. He starts off saying, "Thank you," and kind and general. And then he moves over a little bit further. And now he's going to get about a seat away from you. And by the time we get to the end he's going to be sitting right next to you, all right?

Now watch what happens here. Let's look at this verse. It said, "That in every thing ye are enriched." Now I want you to notice something, being made rich by Him. It's not me that makes me rich; it's Him that is making me rich. You see that?

Now ladies and gentlemen, I want you to know that there is a type of richness that can only come through Jesus Christ. There is a type of richness that can come to the words and the soul and the heart and mind of a person that can only come through God. And that richness of utterance, that speech, and that richness of knowledge can only come through salvation. Now it says that in everything ye are enriched by Him, "In all utterance, and in all knowledge." You see, all of a sudden now words that were filled, conversations that were filled with filthiness and trash and vileness, conversations that had no eternal value at all, conversations that were meaningless, conversations that did nothing at all for the hearers thereof; all of a sudden these conversations, these words had value. These words had value.

Now listen, in Matthew it says that God keeps track of every word, every word that we say. Let me ask you a question: Are those words that you say, words that admonish and encourage? Are they words of value? Are they words that can mean something to the hearer? Listen, as I look at this you see, it said "being made rich by Him." Well, we are being made rich in two ways. In our words first of all. Your words change.

You know when I was in the military I never will forget we had this one old sergeant and he was from Hungary. I never will forget him. This fellow was for sure an expert on a fifty-caliber machine gun. And one day the general came over there and they put on a demonstration. This old fellow sat down and they blindfolded him. They sat him down at a fifty-caliber machine gun and in just a matter of moments he totally disassembled that thing and then put it back together in two minutes. He pulled the lever on it and fired it one time. Now this kind couldn't read nor write, couldn't speak good English, but I never will forget the old general turned around and said, "Now gentlemen, that fellow is a professional at what he does. This guy has something that we can learn."

And you know after that, any time that little, old Hungarian fellow began to talk, everybody just shut up and listened. I mean, we were sitting on the rifle range out there firing and he walked over to this guy that was sitting on his fifty-caliber. He said, "Stop." And the kid stops. He said, "You're fixing to jam. You're fixing to jam." And he could tell by just listening to that thing what it was fixing to do.

And you know as I looked at this, you know what happened? You see, that man's words became valuable, very, very valuable to us. So we listened. And you know what took place here? In verse 4 we find these people being saved. In verse 5 we find that Christ all of a sudden changed their words and turned their words and conversations into something that had no value to a conversation and words that had deep and great value to them. Then he said this, "That in every thing you are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge." You see, the knowledge all of a sudden changed. But it was the knowledge of Him, the knowledge of Him.

Ladies and gentlemen, you see, as their knowledge changed--we can look at that and say, "My goodness, what took place in their lives?" That knowledge of Him changed and so their knowledge now all of a sudden became extremely valuable because it was knowledge of Jesus Christ. But how did that knowledge change? Well, right over in 2 Corinthians 4: 3 and 4, it tells us this, and I quote it to you often--and you know I get to thinking about what we see but in 2 Corinthians 4:3 and 4, it says, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom the good of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

You see, all of a sudden what happened and the reason the conversation changed is because their knowledge of Jesus Christ changed. And you know what happens to some people that get saved? Listen, everybody is willing to worship Baby Jesus, but let me tell you something; not everybody wants to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that? There is a big difference there.

Everybody is willing to look at the little baby Jesus but boy, when they've got to deal with Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior, that's another story all the way around. But yet, notice, ladies and gentlemen, the thing that makes the difference in somebody's life is how they view Christ, their knowledge changes. And as I look in this verse I realize they are saved in verse 4. And then in verse 5 I see that because of that salvation their words are going to change because their view of Jesus Christ now is different.

Well, but now you know it is just not saved in conversation. Look in verse 6. It says, "Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you." Now see the word testimony there? That's the Greek word, that root word is the word for "martyr." And it says the testimony of Christ. In other words, Christ is showing in you. In other words, you've made a profession and that profession is being manifested in your life. And it says, see the word confirmed? That means "made sure." In other words, no false salvation. The testimony of Christ was manifest by their lives. Anybody can say, "I believe in God" or "I'm saved" and so on. But I want you to know something. My friends, if you are not saved, I guarantee you cannot live the Christian life.

And some people say, "Well, you know, I'm struggling with this Christian life." Yes, you are. A lot of times it's because you're lost. Listen, there are going to be some spiritual battles that come along, that's for sure. But I want you to know when the Spirit of God dwells with you there is going to be a change in your life; your "want to" is going to change.

As I look at this, it said, "Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you." And as I look at that I find that they were saved in verse 4. Their minds and words were changed in verse 5. The way they lived now was changed in verse 6. You see it?

Now let's go to verse 7. "So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." You know what he did? Now this is interesting. Watch this. They come being in no gift. In other words, everything that was needed to make the church at Corinth function was there. They were all given a diversity of gifts. Those spiritual gifts, some of you have the gift of music, some others have the gift of caring and ministering, some teaching. And you know what he says? So that ye come behind in no gift, God put all of those gifts in that church to make it work.

And I want to tell you something. The question I ask is this: All the gifts that were needed were in that church and guess what? All the gifts that this church needs are in this church. The question I have is this? You see, if you use the spiritual gift that God has given you, then you lay treasures up in heaven. You know, you can't take it with you, can you?

My wife and I heard something interesting Friday night. This fellow came from Arkansas and was speaking at this meeting where we were at. And when Sam Walton died he was worth over five billion dollars when he died. But you know what Sam Walton got when he died? One box. That's all Sam Walton got. He had five billion dollars when he died but you know what he got when he died? One box, that's it. That's all.

Now look at the rest of verse 7, very important. Do you know why this is put here? It said, "Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." You see, what we're going to witness here that is going to talk place is this: He says, "Hey, I thank God for you. Because you are saved God bestowed His grace upon you in verse 4. I thank God for you because your words and your attitude toward Christ is changed. I thank God for you as we move into verse 6 because not only are you saved and your words have changed but your life has changed also." Now he says down in verse 7, he says, "You know what you've got in this life? You've got some gifts. Use them. Because one of these days Jesus is coming again. Jesus is coming again."

And do you know as I look at this I realize that he is taking these people from their spiritual birth to their death? And he is saying this to them, "Lay your treasures up in heaven. Lay treasures up in heaven. God has given you a gift. Use it for God."

Look in verse 8. It said, "Who shall also confirm you unto the end." That's Jesus Christ confirming you to the end. "That ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ladies and gentlemen, there's a whole lot in that verse. First of all, I want to show you what He is going to do for you. The Bible says you are sealed until the day of redemption, eternal security. Then He says this, "Unto the end."

Listen to me, ladies and gentlemen. Listen to me. This fellow that was speaking Friday night had made a commitment to work for the Gideons. While we were sitting there eating I asked him this question. Guess what happened to him? They voted him in as the secretary of his camp. They said he didn't show up for six months. They finally called him and said, "Now listen, one of these Gideons has died, we would like for you to show up for this." He said he would.

So, at any rate, he showed up for that. The first time in six months. The casket was up here and they were standing reverently to people that would come in. And you know what happened to him? He had a life-changing experience right there. He said they walked by like this and he started to walk out the door here but as he looked down, he looked down at that dead man laying there with a little Gideon Bible in his hand in that box. And he said that just impacted him. He realized there is an end to things. He told us some other stuff but he realized that there was an end.

And what is it going to be like when it ends for you? What is it going to be like when it ends for you? I want you to notice in this verse, "Who shall also confirm you unto the end." There is going to be an end. There is going to be an end. If the Lord tarries, you'll die. If you're lost, you're going to die. And I want you to know something, there is going to be an end to your life. And your soul will spend eternity in one place or the other, heaven or hell. For the saved, you're sealed until the day of redemption. But let me tell you something saved person, there is going to an end. And when the end comes there is going to be accountability.

What have you done with the gifts that God has given you? What have you done with the time that God has given you? What did you do with the opportunities that God has given you? You see, there is going to be a day when the days are no more. There is going to be an end for me, for you. You let it tarry long enough and for sure the people in the past that have heard the preaching at Little Obion Baptist Church when it was over on that hill over there, they are dead and gone, you know that? They have passed it on to generation to generation. But let me tell you something, there is going to be an end. Let me ask you a question: Are you ready for the end?

But that's not all I see. In the day of our Lord Jesus Christ there is going to be a day when Jesus is going to come. We're going to have to answer to Him. There is going to be a day when we will give an account to Him. There is going to be a day when we all go to heaven or hell. And that day could be today. That day could be today. Why tarry ye? Why tarry ye?

Let me close with this illustration, ladies and gentlemen. We can go over there and walk through the graveyard. Now listen to me real close. We can go over there and walk through the graveyard and you know what you're going to see? You'll see on some of those tombstones over there, it might say somebody's name. It might say Mullins, for instance. And it'll have a date and then a dash and then another date. But on some of those tombstones it'll just have the name, the date, the dash, and no date yet. Right? Do you know where we're all living? Just think, you might live a hundred years but when it is all said and done it is all put into a little dash and that's it. Just a little dash.

I want to tell all of us something here today. Do you know where we're all living at? We're all living in the little dash between the two dates. You see, between all of us right here right now the name has already been put there. The date on the left side has already been written there. The dash has already been stamped there. We are just waiting for the other date to be put there. So that means this: We're just living in the dash and that's all. We're just living in the dash and that's all. What is going to happen when you get to the end of the dash and they put the other date in there? Just think, a whole life time all it does is take up that little dash between those two dates.

I want you to know something. In verse 4 the question of salvation comes forth. In verses 5 and 6 the question of a changed life comes forth. In verse 7 and 8 the question of are you ready for the coming of Christ. Are you ready? If you were to die right now, do you know for sure you'd go to be with the Lord? You might be here and saved but let me ask you this question: Are you surrendered to Jesus Christ? You might be a Christian but could you lay your head down on your dying pillow today with a clear conscience between you and God, that you have done everything that He has wanted you to do? I'm not talking about doing the work of God, I'm talking about working for God. Could you do that today?

I want to tell you something, ladies and gentlemen, if you cannot do that, maybe you need to start at an altar of prayer here and surrender your life to Christ and let Him take it from there and die with a clear conscience between you and God. Because surely Jesus is coming and there is an end. What then?