July 2026
Sermon Transcript
We are here in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. There has been a lot of great content in the first couple of chapters. Now it kind of gets into more specific things.
Verse 1: "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ." Right at the beginning of verse 1, he refers to them as saved people. He says and I, brethren. So we are not questioning the salvation of the church of Corinth. This is very significant because there are a lot of problems in the church of Corinth. There is major sin — one person is sleeping with his father's wife, which we are going to find out about later on in the chapter. There are divisions in the church. There is fighting. They are doing the Lord's Supper wrong. So many issues with this church. But he does not question their salvation. Because even though there are issues in the church, it is not like the church of Galatia which was bringing in false doctrine about salvation. There is no indication of him questioning the salvation of these people even though there are a lot of problems. They are saved people — and I, brethren.
Now obviously in a large church you are going to have some unsaved people present, I get that. But the vast majority of the people at this church are just saved people. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. He is making a comparison between being spiritual and being carnal. And he says being carnal is like a babe in Christ. A babe in Christ indicating a newly saved person is the way they are acting. So by definition in the Bible, a carnal Christian is someone who is acting like a newly saved person. You have got spiritual versus carnal — both of these are references to saved people. Being saved does not automatically make you spiritual according to the word of God. You can be saved and acting carnally as a newborn babe in Christ.
Think of the example God is giving here. When you have got a newly born child into this world, that child is completely dependent upon their parents, specifically their mum. And as that child gets a little bit older, they just want everything. They want the toy, they want the attention, they want everything. Those newly born children need to learn that life is not just about them. But newborn babies and young children tend to look at life as if it is all about them. They need to learn to become mature — as the Bible says, when you become a man you put away childish things. And the same thing often happens with newly saved people. A newly saved person needs to be spoonfed the word of God — they do not feed themselves. And of course you expect that with a newly saved person, but as you have been saved for a while it is time to grow up spiritually. What Paul is saying is you have been saved far too long to be acting like a baby Christian.
Verse 2: "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able." What does a newborn baby eat? They eat and drink milk. They cannot eat meat — they do not have teeth. They cannot cut the chicken or the steak. And even if you cut it for them, their body just cannot consume it. It is not right for them. Spiritually speaking, what is the Bible saying? A newly saved person needs sermons about getting sin out of their lives. They need to learn what the commandments are. They need to start reading the Bible for themselves and they can grow spiritually. They do not necessarily need a complicated sermon about the end times as a newly saved person. Now the thing about church is you are going to have people at different levels — people that have been saved for a long time and are experienced soul winners, and people that are newly saved or new to some of these doctrines. So sermons have to be a mix because you are talking to different groups of people. Some sermons might just be reminders to those who have been saved for a while, but you have to realise there are newer people that need those things. But of course you also want some sermons that are the deeper things of God — not just the milk, but also the meat of the word.
The church of Corinth, Paul is saying — I have got to go back to the basics. You have got a lot of problems and issues. You are not able to bear the meat of the word. You need the simple things.
Now I want to say this on a side point. I remember being saved for a couple of years and at a Baptist church that was not real clear on doctrine. I was talking to someone about how once you are saved, you are always saved, and how important that doctrine is. And the person at church told me, hey man, I agree with you brother, but that is the meat of the word — we do not want to hit people with too much and we should just start at the milk of the word and then get to the meat. No. Eternal security is the gospel. If you do not understand eternal security, then you are not saved. You must believe there are no works involved in being saved or staying saved. That is not the meat of the word — that is the very basics.
Can a Saved Person Be Carnal?
Verse 3: "For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" We are going to have a three-point sermon looking at envying, strife, and divisions. But before we get to that, I want to prove to you that it is possible to be a carnal Christian. The reason I am bringing this up is there are a lot of people, specifically Calvinists, that will say it is impossible to be carnal as a Christian, and if you are carnal it is proof that you are not saved.
But in 1 Corinthians 3, he clearly says brethren and he clearly says carnal. If there is any question whether brethren was spiritual brethren or ethnic brethren, it says at the end of verse 1 — babes in Christ, newly saved people acting like newly saved people. He says you are carnal. You are acting like a newly saved person. You are not acting spiritual.
Go to Romans 7.
In Tagalog and a lot of other languages you have the word carne which just means carnal or in the flesh. Being carnal means you are walking in the flesh and not the spirit. When you get saved I am going to prove to you that you still have your flesh and your spirit. Whereas with Calvinists, they say if you are walking in the flesh it is because you are not saved — that once you get saved you are the new man, old things are passed away, you are only walking in the new man. That is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches it is very possible to walk in the flesh as a saved person.
Romans 7:14: "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." Does it say I was carnal — past tense — before I was saved? No. He says I am carnal. Here is Paul, a saved person, using the present tense. Not I was carnal. I am carnal. A saved person saying I am acting in the flesh. Verse 15: "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." The things that he hates are the things he is doing.
And I can say as a saved person — not even just as a pastor, but as a saved person — I hate sin. I hate wrongdoing. I hate drunkenness, lying, stealing, all manner of sins. I hate wrongdoing. And yet, even as a pastor who preaches on these things, I am guilty of a lot of the things I preach against. I hate sin, I hate wrongdoing, I want to live godly, I want to be close to God, I want to walk with God, I want to make changes, I want to be living a godly life. And yet I still do things that are wrong. It is one of the worst feelings to go to bed at night with a guilty conscience — feeling bad about what you did, feeling guilty, asking yourself why do I keep doing this when I know it is wrong? You feel like a hypocrite sometimes because you say something is wrong and then you go out and commit the very sins you preach against. You know they are wrong and yet you fall into those same sins.
Now I will say this — you are never a hypocrite when you go out soul-winning. Here is the reason why. A hypocrite is someone who says one thing and does another. And all of us are hypocrites from time to time. But not about salvation. Because we teach and believe salvation is by grace through faith. If I were to say salvation is by works and then go out and evangelise and tell people you have got to live a good life, I would be a hypocrite — because I know I am not doing that and I am still guilty of sinning. But what I teach people when soul-winning is salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So even if I am living in sin, if I go out and tell people all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God, I am not a hypocrite because I am telling people to believe. And I do believe.
I will tell you who the hypocrites are. It is the Calvinists. It is the people that teach repent of your sins for salvation. They are telling people you have got to turn from your sins, and yet they have not turned from their sins. They are still living in sin, still doing wrong. They focus on things like drunkenness and smoking, but they still lie. They are still prideful, still covetous, still envious from time to time. They still struggle with those things. They are the hypocrites because they are telling people to turn from their sins and they have not turned from theirs. But you are not a hypocrite by telling people to believe on Christ because that is what you believe. Salvation is by grace through faith. It is not of works. Nobody is boasting in their salvation because you did nothing to earn it. So you are not a hypocrite by going out and telling people salvation is by grace through faith.
Look — Paul says he is guilty at times of being a hypocrite and doing the things he preaches against. But did that stop him from being a soul winner? Paul the Apostle is a soul-winning machine even when he was doing wrong. Why? Because he is telling people to believe — not telling people to live a good life.
Verses 18–25: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do... For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am!" Does it say oh wretched man that I was — before I was saved? No. Oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
I love verse 22 where he says I delight in the law of God after the inward man. What the Bible describes is a battle as saved people between the inward man and the flesh, the new man and the old man. It kind of reminds you of those old cartoons where you have got the devil with a pitchfork on one shoulder and an angel on the other shoulder, each trying to get you to do wrong or right. Because every single day there is this battle. We know what we are supposed to do 99% of the time — it is just hard to do it. It is not hard to figure out what you are supposed to do in life. It is just hard to do what is right sometimes. And there is this battle. Paul says I wish I did not fight this battle, but I do. And I can say as a pastor and as a Christian who has a love for God in the inward man — I wish I could hit a button right now and no longer desire anything wrong. But that is just not the way it works. When you get saved, you have still got that battle between the spirit and the flesh that you are going to fight until the day you die.
Go to Romans 8.
Romans 8:19–21: "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." The Bible says we shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. But as people that are still alive, as saved people, we still have that battle — the bondage of corruption, the desires of the flesh, what the old man wants. And every single day we have got to decide — I am going to walk in the new man today. I am going to do what is right. I am going to love God. I am going to do what the spirit wants, not what the flesh wants.
I remember hearing about an old IFB pastor who would take a cold shower right when he woke up every morning. The reason was he said, I just want to tell the old man today who is boss. Just put on a cold shower and do the hard thing — a way to motivate himself. All right, I am going to walk in the new man. I am not saying I do that because I do not like cold showers, especially at full cold temperature. But that kind of mindset is what you have got to take — I will show who is boss, I will walk in the new man, I will not let the flesh reign and control me today. You have that battle right when you wake up. Read the Bible or spend time on social media? I am going to show the old man who is boss — I am going to spend time reading God's word first and put him first in my life.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
It is just super clear in Romans 7. He speaks in the present tense that he does struggle with this. Not that he used to — he says I am carnal, oh wretched man that I am. And yet when you listen to Calvinists, they will talk about how before you are saved you are just this miserable wretch and carnal person, but then you get saved and all of a sudden you just want to go to church and read the Bible. Here is the reality — getting saved does not guarantee that you are going to start wanting to go to church and read the Bible. There is a part of you in the inward man that wants to do right as a saved person — that is true. But most people are still walking in the flesh and not letting the new man rule. So they still desire what is wrong because they are walking in the flesh.
Now one of the verses people get really confused about is 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." The way people often interpret this is that if you are saved you are a new creature, therefore you no longer have any desire for what is wrong, and all things are become new, therefore you are no longer walking in the old man at all. The problem with that interpretation is that if all things are become new means you make this major change in your life, well — almost everybody would agree that we still sin after salvation. So if that is what it is referring to, why are you not perfect? Because it does not say old things are passed away, there is going to be some change. It says all things are become new. If that refers to just making changes in your life, why are you not perfect? Because that is not what it is referring to.
What it is saying is that as a saved person you now have the new man, you have the spiritual man. And a good way to understand this is to just keep reading instead of isolating the verse. Verse 18: "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." You have got the new man with new responsibilities and new goals and requirements. What is a great example of that? The ministry of reconciliation — getting people saved. As an unsaved person, are you thinking I need to get people saved? No. But as a saved person, one thing that is brand new for you is winning people to the Lord. That is the first thing Paul mentions in verse 18. This is not for unsaved people because unsaved people do not win anyone to the Lord. But as saved people — hey, you know what? Now that you are saved, ministry of reconciliation.
I remember when I first got saved, I thought to myself — I need to help teach other people this. Now I did not know what that meant at the time. I would not have known about going door-to-door soul-winning or going to parks to preach the gospel or going to malls. But I was just like, I have got to teach people what I have just learned about salvation. And I am sure many of you thought the same thing when you first got saved. You might not have been doing it immediately, but you realised inside — I have got to find a way to help people understand what I now understand. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. You have got the new man. And here is one of your new responsibilities — the ministry of reconciliation.
Go to Galatians chapter 5.
What I am preaching to you right now, a Calvinist would say is heresy. Many so-called Christians would say this is heresy — to say that you can be saved and still walk in the old man. But you still sin. If it is impossible to walk in the old man, then why did Paul say I am carnal? Why does 1 Corinthians 3 talk about the carnal Christian? Why is it in Galatians chapter 5 we see this battle between the spirit and the flesh?
Galatians 5:16–18: "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." The Bible talks about this battle between the flesh and the spirit and is speaking to saved people. If in reality an unsaved person walks in the flesh and then gets saved and automatically walks in the spirit, why does the Bible even bring up this battle between the flesh and the spirit if it does not exist after salvation?
You have got these repentance of sins preachers who say, when I got saved I got all the way saved — I never wanted to drink or smoke ever again. It is like, well, you are preaching heresy because the Bible does not say that if you get saved you make these massive changes automatically.
Now I want a proper balance. As a saved person, you do have the inward man that desires what is right. And I do believe the average saved person is living a better life than the average unsaved person. And I know that after I got saved I started to feel guilty for things I did not before I was saved. But you still have the choice to walk in the new man or the old man. And there are people that choose to walk in the old man where you see no real change in their life — still watching the same movies, listening to the same music, still smoking, still drinking, still fornicating, still committing the same sins. Why? Because they are walking in the old man. And that is very possible as a saved person.
Galatians 5:19–25: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." What he is doing is trying to get them to walk in the new man and not the old man. If you walk in the flesh you are going to be filled with all the same sins you used to do. But if you walk in the spirit you are going to be filled with love and joy and peace and longsuffering.
It ought to be the case that if you have been saved for a while you are a different person because you are walking in the new man. Often when people get saved and start coming to church and serving God, they notice a lot of their old friends do not want to be around them anymore. The reason they do not want to be around you even though you have changed for the better is that you have changed. You are a different person. You are not the same person who used to drink and party and live in the works of the flesh. You are walking in the new man. You are a different person and they do not like the new you. When you got saved and started to make changes, your friends did not change. You are the one that changed. And the reality is they do not like the new you. This is why it is important to have a great church — so you can have people to fellowship with and be around people that love God. A lot of your old friends will not want anything to do with you because you have changed. But the Bible speaks about this battle between the flesh and the spirit. It is very possible for a saved person to walk in the flesh, which is being carnal, as the Bible says.
Now let me just read you a quote from Paul Washer, one of the most famous Calvinist preachers there is. Here is what he says about the idea of a carnal Christian. 1 Corinthians 3 very clearly said you can be carnal and a saved person. Romans 7 very clearly has Paul saying I am carnal as a saved person — not I was carnal, I am carnal. But here is what Paul Washer says: the doctrine of the carnal Christian has destroyed more lives and sent more people to hell than you can imagine. Do Christians struggle with sin? Yes. Can a Christian fall into sin? Absolutely. Can a Christian live in a continuous state of carnality all the days of his life, not bearing fruit, and truly be Christian? Absolutely not — or every promise in the Old Testament regarding the New Testament covenant of preservation has failed and everything God has said about discipline in Hebrews is a lie. A tree is known by its fruit.
Many things I want to mention here. First of all, there are many cases of people living as carnal believers throughout their entire lives. Lot was living a carnal life and he was a just man — the Bible says so. Demas forsook Paul. He was a believer. There are plenty of cases of this. And when someone says I know people who used to serve God that do not anymore and that proves they were never saved — that is ridiculous. That is preaching works salvation. That is heresy.
He says every promise regarding the New Testament covenant of preservation has failed. I am actually curious if they misquoted him on this, because the covenant of preservation is different than perseverance. Calvinists teach the perseverance of the saints. The Bible teaches the preservation of the saints — that God keeps us saved — but that does not guarantee you are going to persevere in good works and serving God until the day you die. Those are very different things. Yes, we are preserved in Christ. The promise of preservation is there — I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. I can live in sin and God's preservation promise is still there. But you do not see perseverance to the end automatically.
He says everything God said about discipline in Hebrews is a lie. Why would that be a lie? Because when you live in sin you are going to be punished and judged. Yes, you can be a carnal Christian and live in sin and you will be judged for it and punished, but it is still possible to live in sin. And then he says a tree is known by its fruit. The false prophet is known by their fruit — not whether or not you are saved. And Paul Washer is known by his fruit as a false prophet and a damnable heretic because it is possible to be a carnal Christian and live in sin.
Point 1: Envy
Verse 3: "For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying." There is a difference between envy and jealousy that we do not really distinguish much in modern language, but the Bible does. The Bible says God is a jealous God. Jealousy is when something belongs to you and you desire it — it belongs to you and you want it. If your wife is out there flirting with other men, you should be mad. You should be a jealous husband because she belongs to you. That is righteous jealousy. But if you desire somebody else's wife — that is envy, because you are desiring something that does not belong to you. There is nothing wrong with jealousy when it comes to something that is yours. But envy is desiring something that does not belong to you. And envy is wrong.
One way I see this manifest is when people are envious of others because of their position — specifically in a spiritual sense. You see pastors getting envious at other pastors because they do not have as big an influence, or their church members are very thankful for some other pastor and they get mad about it. You see this with Pastor Anderson — he has a big influence on people and has gotten a lot of people saved through his ministry. And pastors get envious. Why could they not have gotten saved by me? Instead of being thankful for the church members that love God regardless of where they came from, they get envious. We have members from our churches in the Philippines who got saved via online preaching and came to our church via online preaching, and I say praise God. I am happy for everyone at our church that loves God regardless of how they came. I am not going to be envious because I did not have the influence to get them saved — I am just thankful they are with us.
Go to Acts chapter 7.
But you could also envy somebody because they have a better job than you, or someone inside the church is doing better financially, or has a more prominent position. Inside of a church you have people from different backgrounds, different financial situations, different types of jobs. And you could easily get envious and say man, I wish that was me. Instead of being thankful for your brother in Christ. Or maybe you have a lot of problems in your marriage and you get envious of another couple — man, if my wife could only be like that woman, or if my husband could only be like that husband. Well, first of all, when people are in public they generally put their best front forward. They act good in public. When you are married to someone you are married through the stresses of life — paying bills, dealing with problems. When you are dating you are just going to fun places. When you are married it is different. So do not get the mindset that your marriage is a mess and everyone else's is perfect. You would have problems if you were married to somebody else too because there are problems in every marriage, every situation.
Do not get envious of other people's positions in life because it might not be as good as you think. People sometimes envy rich people. But you do not know what their life is like. Somebody could be really rich and have very bad health. Maybe having the health is better than having the money. Everybody has their good things and their bad things in life. Just be happy with what God has given you. And especially do not be envious of what other people at your church have. Be thankful for other people. If somebody at church gets a job promotion, be thankful for them. If someone has saved up and bought a house while you do not have one, be happy for them. But if you do not have an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness for what God has given you, maybe God will not give you something because you have not showed appreciation for what he has already given you.
Acts 7:9: "And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him." Were all of Joseph's brothers unsaved unbelievers because they struggled with envy and were carnal? Of course not. The majority of them were probably believers. And yet they struggled with envy. Why? Because we as saved people can struggle with envy. And I think if we are honest with ourselves, all of us struggle with envy sometimes.
Go to Psalm 73.
Even when you are pretty right with God, there can still be a small thing inside of you where when someone else has success and you do not have as much, it can kind of bother you. You know, I will be visiting Melbourne in a week and a half to preach, and I have two big desires. One of them is to see a kangaroo — it might not seem like much to you Aussies, but I want to see one in person. I think the kangaroo is one of the most magnificent animals God has made. The other one, which is less fleshly, is I want to get somebody saved. And it is exciting to get somebody saved in another country. I was in Poland a few months ago and was able to see a few people saved. I have gotten somebody saved in North America. I went to Guyana on a missions trip and got people saved in South America. I live in Asia and have gotten people saved here. If I get somebody saved in Australia or New Zealand, that leaves me with Africa and Antarctica — which is pretty cool. So I am excited to try to get somebody saved in Australia.
But here is the thing. If we go out soul-winning in Australia and a lot of people get saved and I personally do not get anybody saved, I should be thankful and say praise God that we had a great soul-winning day. Would it not be better to see 10 people saved and I get none, versus 2 people saved and I get one of those two? It is obviously better to get 10 people saved. So even if I am not the one that actually preached the gospel, if somebody else gets somebody saved — praise God. We preach at schools in the Philippines and some classrooms are very receptive. Others are not. I got a report recently of a school in Manila where some of the classrooms had half the students who were LGBT — they were loud, obnoxious, and rude, and the team only got a few people saved. Those are not fun classrooms to preach at. And sometimes you come out of your classroom thinking it was a nightmare, you are thankful you got even a few saved, and then you talk to somebody else and they say man, the classroom was respectful and I got 13 people saved. And inside of you, you are thinking why could I not have had the nice classroom? The proper attitude is to be thankful that not everybody had to go through a nightmare like you did. And even if you do not have as great success, praise God for the people who got saved. I am just happy that people are getting saved, even if I am not the one getting the most salvations.
Psalm 73:1–3: "Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." Never be envious of wicked people who are living in sin. Sometimes you could look at people living in sin and be envious — they have money and they seem like they have everything that life has to offer while you are living godly and feel like you are missing out. You are not missing out. Living in sin is not going to make your life better. It is going to give you a guilty conscience. Sin is never worth it. They might act like they are happy, but they are not. Living in sin does not make you happy. If you have a conscience inside of you, if you are not a reprobate, living in sin will cause you to have a guilty conscience and be miserable. Even as an unsaved person living in sin it is going to make you miserable. And if you do not have a conscience, if your conscience has been seared with a hot iron and you are a child of the devil, you are the most miserable people in the world. There is nothing you are missing out on by living a godly life. We are living the best lives we possibly could by serving God and being right with him.
Go to James 3.
And as you turn there, the Bible says wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy? Envy will destroy your life. If you are not thankful for what God has given you and you are always desiring what other people have, your life is going to be miserable.
James 3:13–16: "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." The Bible says envying and strife are linked together. Remember in 1 Corinthians 3 it mentions envying and strife together. Why? Because the envious person is going to have a lot of strife in their life. If you are thankful and happy for people when they have success, you are just not going to have a lot of strife and fighting in your life.
I love the phrase at the end of verse 14 — lie not against the truth. It is one of my favourite phrases in the Bible. What the Bible is saying is that if inside of your heart you have envying and strife, deep down on the inside you know it is true — you know that you are filled full of envy. Do not lie about it. Our heart will lie to us. It will be deceitful and deceive us to get what it wants. Do not lie against the truth. If you know that inside your heart you are filled full of sin and pride and envy and covetousness and bitterness, admit it and fix it. Because what is on the inside is going to bubble to the outside and it will destroy your life. You know deep down on the inside you have got that issue, and it will destroy your life if you do not fix it.
Go back to 1 Corinthians 3.
The evidence of envying will be there even if you try to deny it and pretend it is not. And if you do not fix it, it is going to destroy your life. Verse 3 — for you are yet carnal. How does Paul know there is envying? Because people are probably making comments like I am a better preacher than him, or just arguing with one another. And since there is strife, it is proof there is envy going on at the church. Envying and strife.
Point 2: Strife
Go to Proverbs 17.
Proverbs 17:14: "The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with." If you have ever poured out water on the ground, it just starts to spread very rapidly. The beginning of strife is small when it starts, but as you keep pouring out water it just gets bigger and bigger. Or think of a typhoon — when it first takes place people do not realise how big the danger is because the water seems small at first. You feel like you can outrun it. But it combines and gets bigger and faster and faster and pretty soon it is everywhere and it takes you out. The water spreads very fast. When there is a flood, at first it seems minor but it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and then boom, it is everywhere.
And the Bible is saying that is what strife is like. It starts off small, not that big of a deal, but it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. What is the answer? Do not even begin to have strife in your life. Try to get along with people because it is going to get worse and worse. If you could keep it at a small level it is not the end of the world, but the problem is it just gets bigger and bigger until it destroys your life.
Go to Proverbs 20.
Proverbs 20:3: "It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling." To cease means to stop. It is a good thing, it is honourable, when you stop having strife. Now as a pastor, because we put up videos online, people attack us and it is what it is. I cannot fully cease from all strife. But in my personal life — when I am at the grocery store, at a fast food restaurant, driving around — I am not getting into fights with everybody. People do a lot of things to make me mad while driving, but I do not have a major problem with road rage. And it is not a good thing to have because it gets worse and worse. The better thing is to just let it go. It is not worth it. I will let you win. I just want to forget about it and go about my life. I do not want the strife. I do not want the problems.
Proverbs 22:10: "Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease." And Proverbs 29:22: "An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression." The Bible is saying you do not want to be involved in strife. You do not want to be involved in fights. You just want to get along with people. And as the Bible says, the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. This is especially applicable inside of a local church. Inside of a church, if it is going to be successful, there must be unity. There must not be envying and strife and divisions. The Bible uses the terminology of being a church body, and a body must be connected together as one.
Point 3: Divisions
Verse 3: "For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions." There must be an attitude of unity inside the local church. We must be united together as one.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
Now some people would take the mindset that in order to have unity, you basically forget about doctrine and just accept everybody regardless of what they are doing in their life. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Because here is the thing — doctrine divides. When I say once you are saved you are always saved, a lot of people would never come to our church because of that, because they do not believe in eternal security. Doctrine divides. But doctrine also unites, because those of us that do believe in eternal security are very united in that belief. We realise we are in the minority and we realise how important it is.
At a church like ours it is not just eternal security. There are very specific doctrines that very much unite us together — being King James only, being pre-wrath and post-trib where we are raptured after the tribulation but before God pours out his wrath, being anti-Zionist, being against Calvinism, being against repentance of sins. We preach these things and they very much unite us. And what takes place is the smaller topics that are not as essential — it is not that big of a deal if we have a different opinion on them. When it comes to the two witnesses during the end times, I believe it is Moses and Elijah, but you might say Elijah and Enoch, or someone else. That is an interesting thing to talk about, but if you do not agree it is not that big of a deal. Or James chapter 2 — I have my opinion of what it is saying and I have heard a lot of great pastors have different opinions. That is okay as long as you are not teaching that if you are really saved you are going to have the works. I am okay with people at our church having different opinions on some of those verses, as long as you are not preaching heresy. We must be united on the core topics.
And at our church there is a lot of unity because we make a big deal about the core topics and we are very united on those. At a lot of other churches they are not that united because there are a lot of different beliefs inside the church. Many of you, both in Pampanga and I have heard stories from Melbourne, were at churches where there were a lot of different doctrines — almost as if there were multiple churches within one church. You have the small group of soul winners, which were you, and then everybody else was mad at the soul winners. We do not have that issue at our churches. We believe in salvation by grace through faith and you are not sitting in front of someone who believes repentance of sins for salvation. Why? Because the doctrine that we preach very much divides and separates people from being part of our church. And what it does with those of us that are here is unite us. We are together. We know what is really important in life.
1 Corinthians 12:12–14: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many." And God has set the members, every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him. The Bible says we are one body made up of many members. With our physical bodies, the key is that the body is connected together as one. It would do no good to have part of your body here and part of your body somewhere else. If you break a bone and it is still kind of connected but not fully connected, it does not do you any good — you need it fully connected. And as a church we must be united together as one. United in our beliefs, united in hard preaching, united in our goal to get people saved all throughout Melbourne, all throughout Pampanga, all throughout Australia and the Philippines.
Verse 25: "That there should be no schism in the body." One of the most famous historical events was the Great Schism — the separation of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Both Catholic and Orthodox are false churches, but it is a very important historical event, called the great schism because they were connected together as one and then there was a schism — a division, a separation. What is Paul saying here in 1 Corinthians 12? Inside of a local church — inside of Soulwinning Baptist Melbourne — we cannot have a schism or division. To the best of your ability, if you get into an argument or a fight or you are mad with somebody else at church, you want to fix that. It will happen at churches. We get mad at each other. Sometimes you are upset about certain things. But we must strive to be united together as one, because divisions are showing carnality — walking in the flesh. Because as believers, in most cases we should be able to turn the other cheek and allow ourselves to be defrauded.
Now if it is a major thing, like somebody has stolen money from you, that might have to come before the church and come to me as the pastor to settle the issue. But if somebody says something rude to you, get over it. It is not that big of a deal. All of us walk in the flesh sometimes and do things and say wrong things. I am guilty of that sometimes — I have a bad attitude sometimes at church. If I offend you or say something kind of rude, just get over it. We should say we are sorry when we do wrong, but maybe sometimes we do not even realise we are having a bad attitude. Just get over it. It is okay if people do wrong sometimes. It is not the end of the world. Let us just try to get along. Why? Because the more we are united together, the more we can do great things for God.
Now I want to give one example that is very applicable and was something we saw with our church when we first started in Manila. We had people from day one who loved God at our church — people that listened to online preaching, new IFB people who knew their doctrine, knew about soul-winning, knew what they stood for. There was a huge connection of people from day one and praise God for it. But there was also kind of an attitude that if people were new to the church they had to prove themselves to be worthy before they got opportunities.
I remember that people came to us who were brand new at soul-winning, and there were people at church telling them you have to be a silent partner right now because you are not ready. I was not told this was taking place until someone actually told me about it. I had two cases where people mentioned it. And when I found out, I said that is ridiculous. How do you expect someone to be a soul winner if they have no experience? They have to learn through trial and error. All of us when we first start preaching the gospel do a pretty bad job — we just do not have the experience. How do you learn anything? Trial and error. And the people who were new at soul-winning were not preaching heresy — they were just learning how to explain things. And the thing is, the two people who actually told me about this are now two of our most zealous soul winners at church, two of our best soul winners, but they were new when they started.
There was also a case of someone at our church who shared with someone else their desire to preach sermons one day. They said God had laid it on their heart to preach sermons sometimes. And I am thinking, hey, praise God. That is a great desire — for men to say even if I am not a pastor, I want to get to the point where I can stand in and preach for the pastor and help out if necessary. That takes boldness and confidence. And then somebody at church told them, slow down — you are not at the point to start thinking about preaching sermons one day. What a stupid attitude to have. That person actually does preach for us in Manila sometimes now and does a great job, but they were told to slow down and quit thinking about being a preacher because they had not been saved long enough. When I was newly saved I felt a desire to be a pastor. The desire comes first and then you work toward attaining it. But the desire is a good thing.
Look, we are a new IFB church and that is what we believe. But if we reach new people and they do not know about all these doctrines — they do not know what IFB means, they do not know the difference between Baptist and Pentecostal — I think to myself, praise God, we have got new people that are learning and growing. If our churches can reach newly converted Catholics who know nothing about the Bible, that is a good thing. Praise God for that.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:3: "For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" This is what we expect the world to be like. But as you have been saved for a while, it is time to grow up and be spiritual. For while one saith I am of Paul, and another I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? You know, we are one church. Soulwinning Baptist Melbourne is one church that needs to be united together. One body — which is why we focus on doctrine, why we say what we believe, so we can be united. We are one body. We are not divided. We must be united together as one.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. I ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives. Thank you for the wonderful book you have given us that we can learn through the mistakes of the church of Corinth. I ask you to help all of our churches, including the new church in Melbourne, to be united and to strive together for the gospel — to be united, not to have envy or strife or divisions, but to get along and grow as a church. God, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.