Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 800 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: Praise the Lord! I don't know...I woke up this morning without any real clear sense of direction for the service, but I had a rest and I believe that was from the Lord. I don't know...my mind has gone back to things that are related to what we said Wednesday night, but also an awful lot of the songs and comments that were made this morning are just right down the line of what the Lord wants to bring us to...is to make us more like Him.

And, I don't know, for those of you who weren't here Wednesday night, we used the admonition of Paul at the end of his life to Timothy. I'm not just gonna just go back all over that, but he said, "...God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." (NIV). And, what a wonderful truth it is that He's given us these things. They're not things we have to go out and find somewhere. We just need to realize what we do have in Christ and begin to live it and believe it. And, the thoughts that I've had this morning really are along the same lines, but let's start with a different scripture in 1st Corinthians, chapter 1. And just see if the Lord can get past all of my weaknesses and limitations and in spite of that get something...get His thoughts across.

Paul...well I'll go ahead and read it from verse 1, 'cause it's not very far in. "Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus...." That's set apart to be His, that is. "...And called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ--their Lord and ours...." So, that's written to us, as well, isn't it? Praise God!

"...Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Now this is the part that kind of jumped out at me when I read it the other day. He says, "I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way--in all your speaking and in all your knowledge--because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."

Praise God, that's a wonderful note to finish that. It doesn't say, "we are," it says, "He is." So we see that Paul is writing to people that had been set apart to serve Jesus Christ and there is, of course, implied in that, a divine miracle. This is not something that we engineer, this is something that God does.

And it really gets to the heart of what Christianity is really all about, because you see, a lot of people have made religion out of things that are supposedly Christian. They've taken parts of the Bible and it's wound up being little more than a religious way of life, a set of beliefs, not really that much different in its essence from any other religion that's out there. But I believe God wants His people to have a clearer apprehension of what real salvation is about.

And, of course, he begins by thanking God because of the grace given you in Jesus Christ. And he goes on to tell you that you've got everything you need. That's the glorious truth of that.

Now in the first place, of course, it is grace, isn't it? Everything that we have in Christ Jesus comes to us by grace. And that simply means that in spite of the fact that we don't deserve it, in spite of the fact that there is nothing we could do to in any way earn what God has given to us, He has chosen to give it to us because of His own purpose, His own character. And so what we have in Christ is altogether based upon grace.

And I feel like it's very easy without saying so, for us to sort of imagine the Christian life as God getting us in the door by grace. Praise God, I'm in the door! Now I'm saved and now I've gotten out...there's all this stuff that's supposed to happen, all these wonderful changes that's supposed to take place, and somehow--somehow I've got to attain to all of these things that are out there...and, of course, what the devil begins to do is to inject a different principle and no longer is it grace, suddenly we feel like we've got to somehow do something. Now I've got in the door, now I've got to earn everything.

And, I'm here to tell you, it's not that way. But I guarantee there's some of that in the thinking of every Christian. It's just something that we naturally gravitate to. It's human nature to want to deserve something. It is very humbling to say, I am an undeserving sinner. If I have any favor from God whatsoever, I am going to have to simply confess what I am, abandon what I am, abandon all trust and hope in what I am, and put all of my trust completely in Jesus Christ! If the cross and what He did for me on the cross is not enough, then I have no hope, because there is no other way. It's Christ and the cross and what God has 'given' to me, or it's nothing.

And so Paul is rejoicing here because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus! Now that's the thing. Everything that we have is...what he's saying here...everything we have is in Christ. And it's all...it's been given. He uses that word 'given.' You know if you give something to somebody, you're not saying, okay pay for it now. It's a gift and it's based upon grace.

But as I say, I fear that many times the things that we lack in our spiritual lives--and we certainly lack many things.... We're not anywhere near like Christ as we will be one day when He's finished with us. And so we...if we even have that desire that He's put within us, there's a sense, oh my God, I need something that I don't have. I have got to somehow become this image of Christ that you want me to be.

And I think I fear, because I know how it works in my own mind, I fear that we, again...we think of things that are out there that I somehow have to obtain, that I don't have, but they're there and I've just got to go get 'em somehow. But you know, what's He's saying here is, I've given you everything in Jesus Christ. And so, what it would be like, if I asked Carl to give me his Bible and he gave me his Bible, it wouldn't make any sense for me to say, Carl, please give me the Book of Genesis.

( laughter ).

Carl, please, I need the Book of Genesis! Carl, please give me...oh pretty please, Carl.

( laughter ).

Help me here. Oh I need that. Carl, give it to me. You know, you could go on and on and on, making that more and more ridiculous. But is it any more ridiculous than what we tend to do? We have been given...those who have been born again by the Spirit of God...have been given a gift and it's everything that we stand in need of, and it doesn't make sense to say, oh God, I see this thing in Your Word. Oh God, please give me this...as though we don't have it.

This goes to the heart and the fundamental understanding of what it means to be born again. You know, on the one hand, you've got a lot of religious people who see Christian life and the Christian faith as somehow embracing doctrines, and ideas and lifestyles, and then somehow trying to produce whatever this Christian character is and, you know, some people...well they think they've achieved it in some measure. They've got a certain way they think you're supposed to live, and they live that way, and they're very proud of their religion, they're very much like the Pharisees in the New Testament.

They had taken the Law of Moses, but they had interpreted it in very convenient ways, and they had just basically come down to a set of rules that they had worked out. And so some of them were very zealous to keep the rules! And of course, Jesus rightly pointed out that here you are keeping all the rules, but your heart's wicked! You're just like a tomb. On the outside, it looks beautiful. You polish it up, you put flowers there. It just looks wonderful. But what's on the inside? You see, it's dead men's bones. And that's not the kind of...that's not Christianity, that's not the faith of Christ.

I'll tell you...and for those of you who haven't come to this place, my prayer is that God will open your heart. Carl referred...or somebody referred, I think it was Carl...that God has to open the heart. God has to open the mind. And that's exactly right. And my prayer and our prayer needs to be for everyone that has not had their heart and mind opened, that God will do it. God will show you that you are a sinner, because my telling you isn't going to accomplish that. God has to take His Word and somehow minister that to your heart so you suddenly...my God....

You know, you don't even have to be sitting in a service. There doesn't have to be any great emotion around you. You could be by yourself someplace and suddenly you know in the depths of your soul, my God, I'm a lost sinner! I need something I don't have. And Jesus has promised...God has promised through Jesus to forgive my sins and to give me a brand new heart and a brand new life. That's the essence of Christianity. See, if that hasn't happened in your life, then what I'm saying here this morning is meaningless, because you're still dead in your sins.

But the thing is, if God has brought you to that place, then you need to understand--we need to understand what it is that God has given to us. Praise God! It says, "For in him..." verse 5 "...you have been enriched in every way--in all your speaking and in all your knowledge..." Why? "...Because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you."

There you've got the essence of ministry. You've got Paul sent and burdened with the Word of God, not just religious ideas, not Paul's opinions, not just stuff he learned in bible school or seminary, but this was revelation. You remember how Paul testified to the Galatians. He said, the Gospel that I preached I didn't get from men. I got it from God. God revealed it to me. God showed me that the only way to righteousness was to simply abandon my own and receive Him. And if I have Him, I've got what I need.

And so he went there to the city of Corinth and he began to testify and he ministered first in the synagogues and then...some of those in the synagogues believed him, and others didn't. Eventually he left there and went to the Gentiles and God began to raise up a great church, and he was there, I think, a year and a half something like that, establishing this church.

And...but what he's saying is, I came with a testimony. My testimony was about Jesus and who He is and what He can do. But that testimony did not simply fall on deaf ears, it was confirmed. Now that talks about...not just what Paul did, but what God did, because that's how God brings people into His Kingdom. He takes the words of the one He sends, but then He takes it and ministers it to the heart and it becomes alive and real, and there is a divine miracle that takes place in the heart of one who opens to that Word and says, yes I surrender. Yes, I repent. Yes, I'm willing to turn from my sins. Come and do for me what I cannot do.

That's what had happened to these believers and it was on that ground that he could say what he did. You lack nothing because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. And he says, "Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed." Now reading it that way, you would think, oh, he's talking about tongues and prophesying and healing and all those kinds of things. This is nothing...I mean this is everything that encompasses the Christian life and the Christian faith. It would include some of those things, but this is everything we need to be Christians.

( congregational amens ).

It doesn't come because I stand up here, or somebody stands up here and just tells you a bunch of rules and you start following those rules. That's not it at all. This is the revelation of a brand new life that God has put within us. Praise God!

You know, I was thinking about so many other Scriptures I guess that we've heard over the years. Let me back up here and just remind you who it is that he's writing to here, because, it think in a way, in a back-handed way, it should be encouragement to us because...think about who he was writing to. The Corinthians! If there's one church that reminds...that should remind you of probably the best of what we have today, it would be the Corinthian church.

But look at all the problems they had. I mean, they had a guy who was so overtaken in immorality, he took up with his stepmother evidently and was living openly with her and they weren't doing anything about it, I mean, just a total rejection of the ways of Christ, living before the heathen a terrible testimony.

They were actually having disputes one with another. Now that's human nature that we [have] disagreements and we have things to work through, but instead of bringing these things to the church in a humble spirit wanting to do the will of God, they were going to the courts! And you had a brother sitting over here suing a brother over here before unbelievers.

You had some of these people coming to what they called communion, the Lord's Supper. And to them, it became just sort of a pot-luck supper. They didn't understand what it was all about. So, the rich guy would come in with all his sumptuous food and he'd sit there and eat it, and the poor fellow sitting over here didn't even have a sandwich. And not only that, some of the folks were getting a little too much of the sauce.

( laughter ).

They were getting drunk. I mean, you had a pretty carnal church that was pretty close to what the heathen life they'd come out of. They just didn't...they weren't very much like Jesus, were they? "Oh, I want to be more like Him." Well they weren't much. And yet, Paul is writing to them and saying, you've got everything. Now, how can that be?

You know...we used the Scripture recently about Paul, he said, "...I count not myself to have apprehended...." or taken hold of everything, but I reach forth! (KJV). Now how do you reconcile those two ideas? Did Paul lack something that he had to get that was out there, or did he have everything? You think about Colossians...the scripture that Brother Thomas surely used many times. In fact, the first time I ever heard Brother Thomas preach in person, he used this Scripture...never forget the service. And it's in Colossians chapter 2.

And I know you've heard it so many times. "See to it..." verse 8, "...that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." (NIV). Well, there's a lot of ideas floating around. There's a lot of ways that the enemy would subvert our effectiveness as Christians because of ideas that didn't come from God. They came from men.

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form..." I mean, you've got everything there is in God that's in Christ. "...And you have been given fullness in Christ...." You're "complete in Him," the King James says. Fullness is something to which you cannot add. Something that's full is full. So he's saying you have been given everything...how? In Christ. You've got Christ, you've got everything God has for you. Praise God!

Now that's gonna raise some questions in our minds, because if we don't have stuff, how do we...you know we have it, but we don't have it. We'll get to that. But the fact is we need to understand that God has already given us things for which we tend to ask, as though we don't have them. It would make no more sense than to...it makes no more sense to do that than it would be if Carl had given me his Bible for me to beg him for the Book of Genesis, or the Book of John, or anything else that's in that book. It's in there! He's already given it to me. What I need to do is realize what I have and begin to enter into it. You see the difference?

As long as you live in the misapprehension that there's something you need in Christ to be an effective Christian, and oh, if only God would give it to me, the devil is gonna trip you up with trying to deserve it, trying to earn it, when everything God has given to us, He's already given us in His Son. He's given us everything. Praise God!

And He's given it to us on the basis of grace. All salvation is "...By grace...through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (KJV). It's not just getting in the door, it's getting in the door and all the way to heaven. Every bit of it we receive because He gives it to us in spite of the fact that we don't deserve it. Thank God!

( congregational amens ).

And you know, again, let's use the example of the Bible. I was talking about begging Carl for the Book of Genesis. Well you know it's like...the gift of God to us is like maybe getting a Bible or something like that...it's a very crude illustration. But you imagine that in the pages of that Book there's all kinds of money, all kinds of great wealth and great treasure, and so we see...all we see on the outside is that Book, but we don't realize what all is in there. And that's everything that we need has been given to us in Christ Jesus.

You look at what Paul goes on to say there in 1st Corinthians, chapter 1. He looks and verse 26, he says, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him." (NIV).

Well that just reduces us all to the same level, doesn't it? God doesn't call anybody based what they are naturally. If He's looking for a preacher, He doesn't go to the Dale Carnegie school and get their top graduate. He doesn't look for the high and the mighty to say...well, I need a leader. Let's go to somebody that's just graduated from Harvard Business College...Business School or something, anything you could care to name that would be a natural advantage. He can take the lowest of the low and make them something in the Kingdom of God, because it's a supernatural work of the grace of God. So if you feel like you're nobody this morning, well praise God! You're exactly what the Lord's looking for if you'll just put your hope in Him.

( congregational amens ).

We don't have to bring Him anything and say, oh, I've got so much to offer you, Lord. I can give my own strength. I've got some will power I've learned how to use and I've just...I can help You out. We don't...we can't help Him out! It's salvation. What we need done in our lives is something that only He can do...only His power. Everything we try to do that's done in our own energy and our own strength, it just gets in the way. Praise God!

You know I was thinking about some very simple illustrations. And I guess just human...the natural human birth and growing up is one. You know, you look at somebody today who's a star athlete. I guess we're coming into football season, so you look at the great running back or the quarterback. How did he get to be that? I mean, I understand that he was taught and learned some things. But did he get something from outside that wasn't in him to begin with?

When that little...when that guy was a little baby in his mother's arms, all of that ability--all of that native ability that later on comes out on the football field, was there. Everything he ever will become was in there to start with. And all it took was time and development and growth and all those things. It was every bit available at the moment that he was born.

And I believe it's that way with us. Now think about an acorn. I guess acorns come from oak trees, don't they? But if you've got a live acorn, basically you're holding an oak tree. That thing doesn't have to go into the ground and come up and then go looking for the stuff it needs to become an oak tree. Every bit of it's in there. Everything that is needed for that little nut there to grow into an acorn...not only that, of course, it could produce other acorns and it can grow...you're holding a forest!

( laughter ).

There's a whole forest. That's amazing! But that's the principle by which God works in us. If you don't have Christ, all you're trying...you're just trying to be a Christian. But if you've got Christ, you've got everything you need to be a Christian.

( congregational amens ).

And we don't have to go out and deserve and earn...now we'll certainly...the works will follow if we really understand what God is after, what He's wanting to produce in us, there will be works that will follow. We will want to be like Him. We'll want to grow up to be like Him! But the works are not...you know, people want to put the works up here. And somehow we've got to...oh God, if I could just measure up, then you'll give me this thing that I need that I seem to lack in my life. That's not the way it is. It's Christ's life is already in there.

The reason we struggle, the reason we strive is because it's us trying to do it, instead of saying, Lord, Your life is in me. Open my eyes to see what You have already given me and to begin by faith to live that life instead of mine. You see the difference? Anybody here struggle with these things...and your thinking gets a little bit off? Well, I'm one of you. This is one of these things where we all struggle with this simple truth.

How the devil loves to garbage up our minds and cause us to think in ways that are simply not scriptural, because Paul says you've got it all. "Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift..." You don't lack anything. You may be one of these Corinthian believers and you're just in terrible shape. There's a lot that has to change in your life, but you've got what you need.

( patting Bible ).

Praise God! Praise God! You have what you need! If you're in Christ, the thing you're struggling with, the answer is Christ living in us. So many of the songs that were sung this morning were exactly down the line. The Christian life is not learning how to be a Christian, so much as it is...learning to be a Christian in the sense that we've got to somehow do it. It's allowing...it's learning what Christ is like and allowing Him to be Himself...getting out of His way, learning how to yield and do things His way, and wait on Him and trust Him and believe Him for the things that He's already put in there. They're gonna grow. There's another life in there that's gonna grow up to be just like Him.

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