Let us turn over to First Corinthians chapter sixteen. This is our nineties message on this study. First Corinthians chapter sixteen. Let us read the verse That's where we moved last week, I think, verse nineteen, verse twenty. Paul the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with a holy kiss, the salutation of me, Paul, with my own hands. If any man loved not, the Lord Jesus Christ let him be anathema, not anathema. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. A lovely conclusion. So there's a verse that struck me during the week. I want to speak a little on. Verse fourteen. Let all your things be done with love or charity. I was thinking about that expression. Paul had been engaged in... gaged in a lot of correcting. His words were somewhat keen at that time, cutting, chastening. He was criticizing them for their division, the troubles among them. He says, put away from yourselves that wicked person with such a one known ought to eat, deliver them over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. And he goes on. And I thought, how could Paul Do that in love. Let all your things be done with love. And then I began to think of, there are two principles running throughout your Bible, and I feel sometimes that because God people don't see the difference they get confused. One is grace, and the other is government. It's not all grace and no government. All government and no grace. No, it's grace. and government. In other words, God wants to govern those who have experienced his grave. He doesn't save a person and then turn them loose. He manifested grace to Israel. He didn't choose Israel because Israel was a wonderful people, a great people. No, he said you were the fewest of all people. And they certainly weren't the best. They seemed to be the worst, as subsequent history tells. God says, I love you because I loved you. I loved your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so it was really God's grace that brought them up out of Egypt into the wilderness on the way to the promised land. But God certainly sought to govern them. And in every dispensation, God is interested in government. He wants things done right. He's a God of order. He believes in government. And so it is today. In the church, God wants his people governed. We find here about the church that's in their house. And there are four occasions where a church was in the house. Now, evidently they were very small in numbers they could have been a dozen could have been fifteen or twenty could have been seven or eight nevertheless the same law abides there is to be government in that assembly in that church so god is a god of order and of government when you go back to the beginning in genesis you have remarkable evidence there and illustration. You see man guilty. He sinned against God and he's guilty before God. But God steps in and what does he do? He gets animals and he kills those animals, he shed their blood and he clothes Adam and Eve. Here is God in grace. That's pure grace. And he washes away or cleanses away Adam and he gilts. He clothes them with coats of skin. He provides life and righteousness for them as sinners. There they are in coats of skin. And God did it all. It was purely God's grace. When God did that, he didn't have to do it. He could have wiped Adam and Eve from the face of the earth and said, I'm going to start all over again. No, he didn't. He manifested his grace. This is unqualified, unconditional grace, the perfect grace of God that did this. But now, says God, I am going to establish my governance. And he put an angel there at the gate with a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of light. Oh, but why should God do that? Why should he introduce such a fearful thing as a flaming sword after manifesting, displaying his sovereign race to man? And after that, you know what happened. There was the curse, sorrow, thorn, sweat, and death. Oh, but... Why didn't God, after He manifested such grace in closing Adam and Eve, why did He say that we're going to start all over again? I'm going to prevent the curse from coming up on the earth. I'm going to prevent the tears, the sweat, the thorns, the fishes, and death. No. God in government. There's an unchanging law in nature, and in the Bible, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Here is God in government. The coats of skin, they display grace, but the flaming sword, this is unflinching government. The guilt of Adam's conscience was removed. That's true. But not the sweat of his brow. He still had to earn his bread by the sweat of his broth. Yes, Adam was pardoned and clothed, but it was the thorns and the thistles that he had to go in amongst, and worked with thorns and thistles for the rest of his life. Grace did not rob of its charm, but at the same time were not the shorn government of its dignity. Here you have the truth. God in grace and God in government. And that runs to this day. It's not all grace that God saves us. I can do what we like. We can sin and nothing will happen. No. Far be it. We enjoy our grace in the midst of a golden creation and a sick and dying body. Every Christian is aware of this. God in grace saved me. But I'm still going to suffer for sins I committed before I was saved as to my body. Many a man, before he was saved, wicked, ungodly, drunkard, he broke all the laws of nature. When God saved him, he didn't give him a new body. For the rest of his life he may live like an angel, the rest of his life, every moment in fellowship with God, for the rest of his life. He's still reaping the harvest of what he did to his body before God's favor. Here is grace, God's favor. Here is government, nature taking its course. And that's the way God has balanced up his dealings with men. It's that way today. Man may sow in his unconverted days and reap the sad harvest afterwards. Boy, I can use an illustration of father sends his own son to the field. He says, son, I want you to go out. And I want you to sow wheat in that field. But to the ignobey ignorance or dullness or neglect, the Son shows some noxious weed. The Father hears about it, the mistake, and he freely and fully forgives his Son for that mistake. But what comes up, thorns, the noxious weed? Even though the Father has forgiven the Son, There is the harvest. The harvest of weed doesn't anyway change the father's pardon. The father has pardon, and that pardon doesn't change the crop. The unnotious weed comes up, and there is the harvest. The father's grace did not alter the crop, nor did the crop alter the father's grace. Whatsoever a man saw it, that shall he also reap. If you sow to the flesh as a Christian, you're going to reap corruption. If you sow to the Spirit, you're going to reap spiritual blessings. Here you have grace and government that runs throughout your Bible. You see it illustrated time and time again God's dealings with his children. You have the case of Moses. I think it's over in Numbers, twenty-six or twenty-one. Moses speak unadvisedly with his lips. He did something that displeased God. He called God people a bunch of rebels, and he smote the rough fight. God says, Moses, because of this, you'll not go into the land of Taylor. That's God in government. For God in great led Moses up to the top of Mount Vista. Moses, I'm going to let you see the land. And God gave Moses a wonderful bird's eye view of the whole land. And it was such a beautiful sight. Moses fled with God to let him go over into the land. No, says God, you'll not go over into the land. I'll bury you here. God in great Let him see it. God in government kept him from going in. Because of Moses' mistake in speaking unadvisedly with his lips. One could go on and speak of other instances of grace and government. Take the case of David. I don't know a story that's more pathetic than the story of David. And yet there's no story more familiar. I don't suppose God's people have learned more lessons and lessons of David. I'm just going to read these verses to you. Over in Second Samuel, twelve and verses nine. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord? To do evil in his sight. Thou hast killed Uriah. the Hittite with the sword, and has taken his wife to be thy wife, and has laid him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and has taken the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own hunts, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of his son. For thou didst it secretly, David, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the son. In other words, before the world. David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. How swift God is to forgive. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. Now notice the next verse. How be it, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, The child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. Here it is, David. I have forgiven you for that. And the remarkable thing about the Bible, Chronicles is written after Kings. And you never read about that incident in the Chronicles. God dealt with it in Kings. He forgave David. for that sin. But what about the harvest? The awful harvest that follows. God vindicated himself by judging, disciplining, and chastening David in the sight of all men. God will not allow the devil to accuse him of being lenient with his children when they sin. Sin has got to be punished. in one way or another. As to my salvation, that's circular. But as to training, discipline, dishonor brought on the name of Christ, there is a price to be paid. The reason for this God wants it to be a deterrent to his children. And that little expression so often you spare the rod, spoil the child. God's not going to spoil his family, his children. He's going to use the law. He doesn't want a lot of spoiled children. God is a firm father. He saves us by grace. He loves us. But at the same time, he can use the law. And we don't like it. When you think of David's case, it's sad. David was accordingly because of this, after God had forgiven him, he was disgraced by one son, in verses thirteen, fourteen. He was banished by another son, Absalom. He was rebelled again by a third son, he was cursed by a subject, Shimei. He was betrayed by his friend, deserted by his people. His child was stricken with death, and the sword never departed from David's house. And his whole subsequent history was a succession of salt and calamities. Some people think that when God said, David, the Lord hath forgiven thee, thou shalt not lie. Oh, the slate is wiped clean. It'll be smooth sailing from now on. Everything's gone. No. Whatsoever a man so that shall he also reap. Many a man has brought a blemish, and a woman brought a blemish on their life, a scar that remains. Yes, the wound may heal, but scars remain. Many are Christianers on the shelf because they sin. God loves them. They're still his child. But God has got to vindicate his character. For the Bible says judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin with us, where and how will the world and the ungodly appear? and in dealing dispensational, judgment will continue, will begin at the house of God when you open the book of Revelation. Where does God begin before he pours out his wrath upon the world? With the churches in chapters two and three, the Son of God walking in the midst of the churches with a golden girdle, his lover's strain, His feet heavy with brass, his eyes a flame of fire, dealing with his people, dealing with the churches. Judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first begins with us, where and how will the ungodly appeal? After the judgment of the church ends, the judgments of the world. This is God in government. God is a holy God. He can't wink at you. God doesn't turn the other way. That's why God is so faithful. If Manor had written the story of David, say a relative, a close friend of David had written, he likely would have eliminated that sad, sad story. God says, no, I'll tell the truth. Even though my people are involved, I'll tell this side to the story. It's all got to come out that my people may learn that I'll deal with them as my children. I heard a man say one time, I know he's a preacher, some of you know him, just a few of you. He said the reason he didn't like to carry out discipline. in the church is because it would stumble young Christians. My reply was, God more concerned about his honor and his church than you are. God told the whole story about David, was God thinking, if I tell this intimate, it'll stumble Christian. It'll warn them. It'll have a salutary effect upon them. And when Ananias Sapphira, in the Acts lied, said, How swift God was to judge. Here are the warning signals. We are not our own. We've been bought for the price. Therefore glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are his. Let all things be done in love. Paul, do you mean to tell me you did all that correcting in love? Yes. First love to my God, then love to these Corinthians. I wanted them to see the air of their way. I did it out of love. And a real father, he whips his child. Because he loves the child. If whipping... is going to prevent trouble, further trouble. Then whipping is the best thing. And it may hurt, but nevertheless, whom the Lord loves, He chasteneth, and He scourgeeth every son whom He receives. If you're without chastisement or discipline, then are ye bastards, and not sons, if you're not a true Christian. For what son? whom the Father chastened not. Here you have God's grace and God in government. Therefore he wants us to carry out his word. Now the words who's going to carry out these things that we've been talking about of it's not those who take part in the leadership of an assembly. Some remarkable verses here. He tells us over in second Thessalonians three say, Now we commend you, brethren, in the name of all Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which ye receive from us. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. That takes a lot of strength of character doesn't it a brother as the bible says mark them which cause divisions among you avoid them have no company with them why that they might be ashamed ashamed when a person's really repentance he's ashamed of what he's done If he's not ashamed, he hasn't repented. And if a person has done it, I'm sure David was ashamed. David truly repented. And David was ashamed. Poor David, I thought of this text in first, second Samuel, fifteen, thirty. And David went up by the assent of the Mount of Olives and wept as he went up. and had his head covered, and he went barefoot, that all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they were not weeping as they went. Here's to repentance. That's it. David was ashamed. And when a person has done something wrong, to moderate scorn assembly, he's to be made ashamed. And I don't know anything. When I went to school and did something, the teacher says, you go over and stand in that corner with your face to the wall. You're made ashamed of what you did. And when a person has sinned against God, has sinned against his people, heathen, you made ashamed of what he was through repentance, hideously. And we're to withhold our company, our fellowship, Till that is the case. This is God in government. Otherwise, you'll have chaos, disorder, confusion. That's all I want to say on this subject of grace and government. God the wonderful God. He's a gracious God. At the same time, he's a God that's firm, a God who believes in government. Now we get into closing verses of this wonderfully official. He says, salute. Another lovely word in verse twenty one. The salutations of verse twenty. Paul the brethren greet you, greeting one another with an holy fist. The salutations of me, Paul, with my own hand. And he had mentioned in verse nineteen, the churches of Asia salute you. My how broad is God, is Paul's greeting. All the churches greet you. Salute you. All the brethren greet you. Greeting one another with an holy kiss. What are we going to do about this one? greet you one another with a holy kiss. I think if you look at it in the light of those days, men greeted men. Today you see on TV the Russians, Arabs, that part of the world. They generally, men embrace men. They put their cheek on one side and then the other from time to trick it. That's the way they did in those days. Men kiss men. Women, kiss women. I know in our present day world, they want to go further than that. But God knows when he can foster his people and when he can't. And so I think the Bible is very plain. Kiss each other with a holy kiss. Let the men greet the men and the women greet the women. That was the custom. I remember one time in Augusta, there was a youth conference on, and this subject came up about five hundred young people, and one of the young people wrote this text in, wanted an answer. How are we to greet one another with a holy kiss? Well, I can understand a bunch of teenagers, a couple of hundred young folks, and half of them young men, another half young women. My, this would be a heyday, wouldn't it? Let us greet one another with a holy kiss. And possibly that was behind the mind of that man or woman who wrote him that question, that question. What does it mean about greeting with another with a holy kiss? Well, I said, I'll give you an incident. I was in Burlington many years ago having a campaign. And this night, a lovely young lady of about twenty-three, Very effective. She got saved. Very bright case. One of the ushers there, I think some of you would know if I mentioned his name. But, of course, this is in Birmingham, not in Albany. So this brother went up and he smacked this young lady right on the lips with a good kiss. And old brother Smith, who died about a year ago, a godly... Old man. Jesus, Arthur, do you think that was right? Arthur said, well, that was a holy kiss. That may have been, but what's the next one? But you know, after the meeting, I said to Brother Smith, and I said, Brother Smith, there were a couple of elderly ladies got saved that night. I don't want to say they didn't get their holy kiss. Yeah, you see how the flesh can sneak in. Teach ye one another with a holy kiss. I believe in those days it was men with men, women with women. I believe today the best way I can see to give our greeting is with an enthusiastic handshake. That's how we can meet and greet and talk. In other words, to keep things on a higher level. I believe that's what Paul has in mind here. I know there are times when there is affection, there is emotion. I don't know how many times in my life my neck's been hugged by someone getting saved. And I look upon it in the sight of God as perfectly legitimate. Some who've been saved, I'm old enough to be their grandmother, grandfather, rather. And that's the way they're expressing. I go north this time, lots of young folks, been saved years ago. That's the way they express themselves. And I believe you can keep it on that plate. If I thought otherwise, I could use a stiff arm. But in other words, let's be sensible and let's face up to this thing and try and keep the flesh at bay, because it's a very subtle thing, a very subtle thing. Now what does he say here in verse twenty one? The salutation in me, Paul, with mine own hand, under the... signed the rest of this, it was up to this point, it was written by another, and Saul evidently gave his signature, and he used his own hand. I believe there's some truth to what is said that Paul's eyesight was injured by his conversion under Damascus Road, and that he wrote in large letters. How large the letter, how large letters I've written unto you, Peter. possibly his signature was very large. And he wants to add his signature to all this that had been written, as he had dictated it, to the author. You'll notice what he says here. If any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, not anathema. Anathema means cursive. Marin means law. Athar means come. Cursed when he comes. If any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be. Curse when the Lord comes. That strong language is why Paul can drop some solemn things in. If you don't love the Lord Jesus Christ, and any man who doesn't love the Lord Jesus Christ, the only way you can love him is to know him. And if you don't, even an angel, he speaks of in Galatians one. If an angel preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be a curse. And so there's an awful and nothing, an awful curse. in store for the one who loved not our Lord Jesus Christ. God smoked the earth with a curse when sin entered. The Old Testament, the last word of the Old Testament is curse. And the New Testament opens with the one who bore the curse. And everyone who accepts Christ, he's delivered. Christ was the cursed one. Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. But when I accept Christ as my Savior, that curse that was rightly mine is no longer mine. It's been lifted. The curse has lifted. Now I'm saved on the way to heaven. But any who receive not Christ, they love him not. Let them be anathema at his coming. Cursed. at his coming. Then he says in verse twenty three, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. And that's how I'm going to close the book of Corinthians. And that will be my parting salutation. We leave in the morning for Canada. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. Our Father in heaven, we ask thy blessing upon thy word. May it be sanctified to our goods. We thank thee for what he learned as we've gone through this book of First Corinthians. O Father, Our hearts have been searched, exposed, laid there, at the potential of the flesh. But we thank thee for thy good word. We thank thee thou dost love us with an unchanging, undying love. We thank thee for thy grace. Let us not take advantage of that grace. We know thou art a faithful father. Thou will use the Lord. And Father, we pray that we will remember this, that we may sow to the Spirit. This will be the fruit of the Spirit. Deliver us from sowing to the flesh, for being lenient to it. Grandfather, we may deal with it, to crucify the flesh, to the affections and lust. Blessed, then, thy word, we pray that we command each other to thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.