In the sermon 'Paul's Thankfulness' by David Green, the focus is on 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, where Paul expresses gratitude for the grace given to the Corinthians by Jesus Christ. Despite being surrounded by pagan influences, the Corinthian church was bonded with Paul through their shared faith in the God of the Bible. The sermon emphasizes the timeless relevance of Paul's thankfulness and how it applies to modern believers. It highlights the enrichment believers receive through Christ, particularly in speech and knowledge, and stresses that true worth lies in one's relationship with Christ, not worldly possessions. Spiritual gifts, though not indicative of personal maturity, are given for the edification of the church. The sermon reassures listeners of God's faithfulness to keep believers blameless until the end. Paul was thankful for the Corinthian church despite its issues, underscoring the unity and fellowship found in Christ.

1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 4 through 9 says, I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. That in everything you are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge. Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, and may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. My message today is on the subject of Paul's thankfulness.

Paul's thankfulness. We are entering into a season of Thanksgiving, so it's good to consider Paul's thankfulness here. And in this section of this chapter in this portion of the epistle, Paul is showing his thankfulness for various blessings in regard to the church at Corinth. This is proof positive that he had a great affection for that particular congregation, that church there at Corinth. A great interest, if you will in their welfare, their well-being.

So as he starts this out There's some things that we can glean to and learn from him in this as we try to do what we try to do very often, that is we put one foot if you will in the first century and the other foot in our time. But always with eternity in mind. Realizing that God's people exist, God's people, God's churches, God's men exist for a specific time and a specific place. And this was true for the Church of Corinth. This was true for Paul.

And this is true for me. This is true for you. This is true for the Church of Corinth. This is true for Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. It's no mistake that we are where we are.

One of these days though, because of God's grace, we'll all be together in the same place around the throne. And so what we read here is timeless. It's applicable for all of us. Indeed if if there's another 2, 000 years of church history, what's written here is true today. It'll be true then, too.

And so, let us consider what God has spoken to them and to us in his word. Verse four says, I thank my God. I thank my God. This is a big deal because the Corinthian community was full of pagan influence. The Roman culture had many gods.

This was a fact. It's a fact of history. We can read about it in the history books. We find evidence of it in the New Testament writings. These Christians were surrounded by people who had multiple gods and multiple deities, pagan religion, but not Paul.

Not Paul. In fact, he knew only one God, the God of the Bible, the creator of the world, but he doesn't write of him in an impersonal way. He says, I thank my God. You see, his God was personal. His God, Paul's God, was the God of the Corinthian churches.

The Corinthian church, I'll get it out right here in a minute. His God was their God. The church at Corinth worshiped the same God, and Paul and them had this bond. This bond in Christ. This bond in the scriptures.

You and I, we can take a cue from this some 2000 years later. As I mentioned before, and I've said it time and time again, and you know it, You live in the same world that I do. We live in a pagan culture as well, but we must be different. We must, we have to be different. We are different.

If you're saved today, you are different than the world around you. And one of those major differences is that we do not follow the gods of this world. We don't have anything to do with the gods of this world. They have their deities, they have their gods. Sometimes there's confusion.

Back to Austin, there's confusion insofar as that they call their god, God. Some of them even call their God Jesus. And you find people who said, well, yeah, I believe in Jesus. But when you talk to them and you learn something of them, they only believe in a Jesus that's just big enough that they can fit in their pocket and pull him out whenever they need him. When they have some problem or when something's going wrong in their life, they pull him out, they ask him for favors, and then when things are going good, they put him right back in their pocket.

They maybe even have a Bible, but it sits neglected through the week, and then they pull it out on Sunday. They're not following the same God that Paul was following, you see. Sometimes people will talk about believing God or loving God. That is good as should be, but maybe it's not good because what God are they talking about? We worship the God of the Bible, the creator of the universe, the Redeemer of men.

This is the God that we worship. That's why we have gathered here today. In the scriptures he identified himself to Moses as Yahweh in the Old Testament. Nobody is saved by believing simply in God as an abstract. The fact is, Even the devils believe and tremble, according to James.

But Jesus Christ is our Savior. And when Paul said, here, he said, I thank my God, It meant something. Paul had been redeemed. Paul had repented of his sins. Paul had believed and trusted.

There had been a change in Paul's life because of God, because of Christ, because of his relationship with God. And he says there, I thank my God always on your behalf. That right there tells you something. Paul had an active prayer life. Paul was in prayer.

He was not just asking God for favors and things, He was thanking God always for them. For the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. Boy, that'll preach. That'll preach for a long, long time. It was once said that grace, you want to know what grace is?

Well, it's unmerited favor, yes. Yes, it's favor that we don't deserve. But you take grace, each one of those letters. And I was never an English major or whatever, but I think it's called an acronym or something. You take the first letter of each...

The first... You take each of those letters and there's a word, right? So, down. God's riches at Christ's expense and you'll see G-R-A-C-E. Grace is free for us but oh it was costly it cost.

Jesus paid the price by becoming the price. He gave his life there on the cross. He says, I thank my God always on your behalf. I'm always before God thanking him for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. This is what Paul is thankful for with the church at Corinth.

It's in Christ through their connection with Him, not alone and independent of Him, that God bestows His favor. And so, this is where they were at, and this is where you and I are at. Regardless of where you are today, if you're saved, any favor that we have is through Jesus Christ. Without Christ, there can be no salvation. It's sad there are religions out there who preach and teach salvation without Jesus, but that's impossible.

You can't have the grace of God. You can't have salvation. You can't have heaven without Jesus. And Paul is thankful for what they are, what they have in Christ. That in everything, verse 5, you are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge.

Barnes Note says the meaning of this expression when he says there that in everything you're enriched by him means that you abound in these things. They are conferred abundantly upon you. By the use of this word, Barnes says, the apostle intends doubtless to denote the fact that these blessings had been conferred on them abundantly. And also that this was a valuable endowment, so as to be properly called a treasure. The mercies of God are not only conferred abundantly on his people, but their bestowment of inestimable value.

Who can put a price on these things? Their enrichment comes by virtue of their connection with Christ. It isn't Your value today as a child of God, your value today as a person is not what you know. It's not how much money you have in the bank. It's not the brand of clothes that you have on.

It isn't about the shoes that you have on your feet. It isn't about the car that you drive, your position at work. Your worth isn't dependent upon the color of your skin. It's not dependent on how big your house is or how good your figure looks. No.

Your value rests on who you are in Christ. That's where it's at. Let me tell you, Your riches will fail, your clothes will become tattered, your shoes will become worn, your car will break down. The money in your bank, it won't last forever. It will either be spent up or ate up by inflation, taxes, and thieves, and all of that sort of thing.

Whatever. I mean, life will happen. All of those things. But your value in Christ. That will never be destroyed, never be corrupted.

Never be taken away, never be stolen. And if you lose everything you've got in this world, If everything were to be taken from you even at this very moment, your social status, your money, your house, your friends, whatever it is that you hold so dear and think matters so much. You have nothing to stand on except you've got a place in Christ. Go back and read Job and realize how was he able to get through all that? Because he knew what mattered.

Your value ultimately matters where you're at in Christ. And when we're talking to people, don't be telling them that, well, Jesus will make your life so much better as if it's an addition to the money in the bank, the American dream, and on and on we go. Christ is what they need, period. You see, it's not Jesus plus a fancy car. Jesus plus good friends.

Jesus plus fancy parties. No, no. It's Jesus. That's what the world needs. Paul, when he writes there, he says, in everything you are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge.

And he gives these two things. Our values in Christ and the church according to have been enriched by him in all utterance and knowledge. Utterance has to do with word or speech. Sometimes we don't even, we take this for granted, you know. Well if I had a lot of money, I could be a witness for the Lord.

If I had a good car, I could really get out and tell people about Jesus, because then I could travel around. Or if I had a nice airplane, I could fly to some foreign countries and I could you know go to this this place or that place and Hold up a second. You've got a mouth, don't you? I've got a mouth. We have ways to communicate, all of us, and it don't cost us a dime.

You don't need anything else. To carry the gospel is an awesome responsibility, but it's a huge blessing. Now, Paul put it this way in Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians chapter 3. Verse 8. Verse 8 and 9. He says, unto me, whom less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. Now understand something, it's not a crime, it's not a sin to be rich.

I don't know anything about it but I just know it's not sin to be rich. Abraham was rich. Job was rich before he lost it all. You know, and we see the testimony that God gave to Satan about him there in Job chapter 1. There are examples of rich men in the Bible.

It's not a sin to be rich, but understand something else what I'm about to say is this. Don't go through life saying, well, I came from a poor family and we just didn't have much money and oh woe is me, I couldn't do much with my life because we didn't have much. Paul said, I was the least of all the saints. His grace was given that I should preach among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world have been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ. There are men in this world who have lots of riches, but they don't know a thing about Jesus.

They die. What do they take with them when they die? Nothing of this world. They go on to an eternal hell. Paul says, Paul says, I've been given this grace that I should preach among the Gentiles.

You realize that we've been given something fantastic that if he wanted to, he could have given it to somebody else. He could have given it to the birds and told them to sing it. He could have stretched it in the sky, the message of the cross, made the stars to show the message of salvation. He could have written it in the rocks, but he didn't do any of that. When you're rich or you're poor, you've got a mouth.

We take it for granted. In fact, some of us use our mouths for stuff we shouldn't even be using it for. When we ought to be proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Grace has been given so that we can do that. Back there into our text in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, Paul is thanking them that in everything you are enriched by Him in all utterance, in all ways of speaking and in all knowledge.

So may we speak to the glory of God, but also in knowledge. Now some believe that this has to do with the gift of prophecy. There's depending on what commentator you read after what preacher you listen to. Matthew Poole believed this signified the ability God had given them to comprehend in their understanding the mysteries of the gospel even the great and deep things of God I believe that I believe he was on to something John Gillan in his commentary also I believe he was on to something because he pointed out that they weren't only richly qualified to preach the gospel, but they had extraordinary gifts of the spirit so as to speak with diverse tongues and as the spirit gave them utterance and there's evidence of that here. And while the gifts of tongues they've ceased, we'll get into some of that later as we get into this epistle, but we've looked at that before.

But the fact is that God does provide for believers knowledge so that they're able to speak for him. Notice if you will in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 15, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6, In verse 6, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This is important to consider. Colossians chapter 1.

Colossians chapter 1 verses 9 and 10. For this cause we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. They might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." And so, we find that God provides for believers knowledge that they need to be able to speak for him. Now this does not mean that there's no place for studying. You know, don't have a Bible that you never open and say, well, God's going to provide for me understanding the day I need to open it.

That's the wrong idea. This does not mean that there's no place for Bible commentaries, lexicons, or concordances. But here's the fact. The man who is saved, equipped with just his Bible and the Holy Spirit is better off than a lost man, though he may have a Bible, all the tools and helps, even a full library of concordances concordances and commentaries and all sorts of things. Wow.

Well, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Look here what it says in verses 14 through 16. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, he may instruct him, for we have the mind of Christ." This is saying the natural man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. Their foolishness to him, he can't know them because they're spiritually discerned or spiritually examined. You know, the fact is, this is the reason why you can take the Word of God, it can be as plain as the nose on your face, the gospel even, present it to someone who's lost and they won't they won't believe it. They won't take it. Take something as plain as Genesis.

More life for life. They won't take it. They won't believe it. And on and on we go. The virgin birth.

It's there, but they won't believe it. And so, Paul, as he wrote to the church of Corinth, He was thankful. He was thankful for them. He was thankful for the grace of God which is given to them by Jesus Christ. He was thankful that in everything they were enriched by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge.

Even, verse 6 says, as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, Paul had in mind their salvation. I believe when he wrote that, when the gospel was received and evidence was seen as these people became obedient to the truths of God's Word. Verse 7, so that ye came behind in no gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This church, these people here, they were not lacking in any gift. This was a gifted church.

While utterance and knowledge is primarily for the evangelism of the world, spiritual gifts are seen given for the edification of the church. We'll get more into that in chapters 12 through 14. But as we journey through this book and as we think about gifts, spiritual gifts, it's going to be important to realize that gifts are given to the believer without any regard to maturity, without any regard even to spirituality. The Corinthian church was an immature church, a sinful church even, with many problems and yet they had many gifts. And so that is something to consider truly.

This was of the grace of God. These gifts were not given so that they could get in and say, well, I've worked really hard for this and here's where I'm at. No, no, this was truly all of the grace of God. And so in verse 8. Verse 7, on into verse 8, he says, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. He will take his people out of here, including his churches. His people will endure to the end. The author of this blessing is Jesus.

Now the reason I read verse 7 along with verse 8 is because verse 8 starts with who. Who shall also confirm you unto the end. That who is connected with verse 7. That who is the Lord Jesus Christ. The author of this blessing is Jesus.

He is the who connected there. To confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless. As I look at that word blameless, comparing it with other, looking in the concordance and comparing it with other translations. Some translations translated as beyond reproach. Both are good translations.

Blameless or beyond reproach. One thing that I gleaned in that was something from the LSB translators and this is what they wrote. Christ will legally confirm his people. This is in their translation notes. They said, Christ will legally confirm his people until the time when he is revealed in the end, thus ensuring they will find themselves uncondemned in the day of judgment.

Because of Christ, no adversary will be able to land a charge of guilt on God's people. This is the state that the church at Corinth found themselves, and this is where you and I find ourselves as well. Over in Hebrews chapter 7, Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25, Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth, to make intercession for them. Was the Church of Corinth blameless? Were they living a life that was beyond reproach?

Certainly not, and we're going to get to some of that. However, in Christ Jesus, that's the way they stand. Your standing and my standing, as far as it goes with Christ, That's where we are. Because we stand in His righteousness. And Paul was thankful for that.

Paul realized this. Did they need correcting? Absolutely. In this life they did. And that's why he wrote there as an apostle to that church at Coriam.

They were in a mess. They were in a big mess. But he thanked God for them. For their gifts. Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day our Lord Jesus Christ." You see, he saw, he was looking at them at this moment the way that God looks at us.

He was looking beyond their faults and their failures. He was looking at them in Christ and all how we ought to do the same. One of these days, Jesus will rapture us all out of here. One of these days we will be leaving out of here. Whether it happens that Jesus comes back in our lifetime or not, we don't know.

Paul Washer got it right. I've tried to quote this about, I don't know, maybe three or four times in some other sermons and probably misquoted it. I finally found the actual quote. He said inside of 25, 50, 75 years from now, every one of you will see Jesus. Either he's coming here or you're going there.

It really makes no difference. You will see him. You will stand before him. And we all, that's the end quote there, but we all need to remember that and consider it. That Jesus is coming and even if he doesn't come in our lifetime, we will stand before him because we're all going to go to see you.

Washer goes on to say, if your name isn't in the Lamb's Book of Life, you'll be cast into hell. Oh what a joy it is to know that those who are in Christ will stand before Him blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Stand before Him at that day. Just realize this, friends. Just like you and I couldn't pick the day that we made our first breath, we won't be able to pick the day when we take our last.

We always consider our relationship with Jesus to make our calling and election sure. He says there in verse 9, and I love this verse. In fact, I preached on this at the Bible conference in Jordan at Jordan Baptist Church where Brother Sled is pastor back in September but he says God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. God is faithful. God is faithful.

Praise the Lord. Their standing, the church at Corinth's standing, as individuals and as a church. Pole standing, your standing, my standing, isn't dependent on our faithfulness. We fail, don't we? Matter of fact, there is no way that our salvation could have been based on anything that we could have done in order to merit God's favor.

And there's no way that we could have kept ourselves saved. If that were possible, it wouldn't have lasted. In fact, I dare say if you're like me, you probably would have lost your salvation this morning. But he says, God is faithful by whom you were called, unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. God is faithful.

I love Albert Barnes put it. He said that God is true and constant and will adhere to his promises. He will not deceive. He will not promise and then fail to perform. He will not commence anything which he will not perfect and finish.

The object of Paul in introducing the idea of faithfulness of God here is to show the reason for believing that the Christians at Corinth would be kept unto everlasting life. The evidence that they will persevere depends on the fidelity of God. The argument of the apostle is that they had been called by him into the fellowship of his son. His faithfulness of character would render it certain that they would be kept to eternal life. Over in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6 he says, being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will also perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." This, my friends, this church should have caused the church of Corinth to rejoice.

They knew Their church was in a mess. The household of Chloe had sent Paul a letter. They knew that this letter probably wasn't going to be a fun one to go through. But there is rejoicing to know that God is faithful by whom you're called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul truly was thankful for the saints in Corinth.

Why? Why? That's a good question, isn't it? If we were to take the Church of Corinth and move it, if we could, 2, 000 years, cross the sea and put it into our neighborhood. It's a church we wouldn't fellowship with.

I dare say it. We wouldn't have anything to do with them. We'd say that church is a mess. Stay away from those guys. I don't know what's going on there, but it's a mess.

Most people of our time probably would have cast them off as a lost cause. And indeed, many of Paul's day might have done the same thing. Some in our day would have said, well, this church, they've surely done lost their candlestick. But what was Paul's attraction to them? Why did he spend his time trying to help them rather than spending his time opposing them?

The reason is because of the oneness that they had in Christ. And we see that here in these verses. So much more could be said. I would invite you to go and listen to the sermon I preached at the Bible conference in September at Jordan Baptist Church. I actually recorded it and posted it on our sermon audio page when I came back, but the subject was the fellowship with Christ.

This church, these people, They struggled through a lot of the same things that we see in our day. Paul was thankful for them. And there were things that they could rejoice in, even as we can in our day. May God add the blessing to the preaching of His Word, and I thank you for your attention.