Christ and Him crucified is the foundation of the church and we must be very, very careful to build upon that foundation and no other. It is sadly possible for a Christian to work very diligently, perhaps even effecting huge "results," when at the Day of the Lord it all goes up in smoke.
Many people are wondering today if we are in the last days? The Bible says that we are - that this era between the resurrection of Christ and the Return of Christ is the Last Days. But there are also signs that indicate Christ's return in approaching closer.
Paul continues to admonish the Corinthians for their arrogance which had produced quarreling and factions in the church.
The unsaved man, the man Paul calls the "natural man," has no ability to understand spiritual things. Devoid of the Spirit of Christ, the natural man can only conclude that God's Word is foolishness. By the Spirit alone, through the new birth, is a person enabled to understand the things of God.
We are living in evil days, and just like Elijah we can be prone to despair and discouragement, thinking that we alone are left. But God always preserves His remnant, the true body of Christ.
Many who start out making a profession of Christ do not finish the race and become apostates. We must take care to honestly examine ourselves and be certain we are genuinely born again, not growing careless.
Consistently from Genesis to Revelation the Lord tells us that there are just two categories of human beings, and that it is the Word of the Cross, Christ Himself, that is the source of this Great Divide.
We must all be diligent to do the work which the Lord has given us to do while we have opportunity, and not lazily waste away the daytime He gives us to work in. Further, each of us must be certain that we have done the fundamental "work" of believing in Christ lest the night come upon us when the light of the gospel is removed.
This is a sermon by JC Ryle read by Pastor Crippen. It is an excellent message and a very important one.
This is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector, both of whom went to the temple to pray. Only one left there justified, the other remained dead in his sins.
