Take your copies of the scripture, please, and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. We'll be reading the end of chapter 13 through the first half, approximately, of chapter 14. A little more. 1 Corinthians 13, 8 through chapter 14, verse 25. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away. As for tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three. But the greatest of these is love. Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands him. Yet he utters mysteries in the spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more, to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. Now brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves. If with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you'll be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning. But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the Church. Therefore one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. I will praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you're saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person's not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in the church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue. Brethren, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the law it is written, by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, and even then they'll not listen to me, says the Lord. Thus, tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers. While prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers, but for believers. If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you're out of your minds? But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he's convicted by all, he's called to account by all, and the secrets of his heart are disclosed. And so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. And I've entitled the message this morning, Building Up the Church in the Knowledge of God. And this will be more than one part as we work through some dense reasoning here by the Apostle Paul. Now to bring us up to speed, you'll recall that last Sunday we completed a study of Paul's command to the Church to make love for the brethren the urgent ambition of every member of the body of Christ. As we looked at the way Paul described love, we noted that the Apostle emphasizes the active character of love. Emotion and passion are far less relevant in Christian love than our real engagement with practical good toward our brethren. This command to love is a vital piece of Paul's corrective teaching to Corinth to help this church reunite and mature as a local expression of the fellowship of believers that Jesus Christ has purchased with his own blood. It's spiritual maturity which is on Paul's mind as we complete chapter 13 and we move into chapter 14. In chapter 13, Paul has emphasized active love in the church as a necessary element to church unity. Pursue love and you'll produce a harmonious fellowship in the body. This is Paul's reasoning. Now as we move into chapter 14, the ambition that Paul teaches the church to pursue shifts from practical love to the knowledge of God. Now Paul wants us to zealously pursue the knowledge of God, but not simply for the pure acquisition of knowledge, but rather for the sake of building up the Church. Another ingredient, you might say, in Paul's recipe to repair the broken fellowship of the Church at Corinth is now on the table for us to examine. The gifts of the Spirit are valuable. They're vital. But from a certain perspective, from the perspective of growing the body of Christ in the church, that's how they're important. From the perspective of growing the church in the knowledge of God. Love will be the only acceptable manner in which believers operate in the church to convey the knowledge of God to their brethren. And that knowledge is to be pursued with zealous labor to acquire it, in order that the acquired knowledge of God may be utilized by all the brethren to build up the church. Now again, we're looking at what Paul has already taught us about engaging ourselves for the common good of the body. This is just another piece of this picture. The gifts were to be used to that end. And knowledge of God is to be acquired and disseminated in the church to that end. Now think back on Paul's comments a few chapters back when he told Corinth that he worked in the church like a wise master builder. This is an echo of that earlier thought. knowledge of God, the revelation of God, of God's will and work, of Christ and the gospel of salvation. This was the material with which Paul built the church. At the end of chapter 13, flowing into chapter 14, we're looking at Paul's requirement that the church use the same material. the knowledge of God, and that she used the same material to stabilize and enlarge and beautify the Church of Jesus Christ. All right. We need to discuss an if-then argument. There's an if-then argument there. Paul begins to teach this ambition to pursue the knowledge of God, to use it for the edification of the Church, by presenting us with a rhetorical process of an if-then argument, I'm calling it. Argument first appears at the end of chapter 13. Let me read verses 8 through 13 to you one more time. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away. As for tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when the perfect comes, or the complete comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three. But the greatest of these is love. Now, structurally, the first thing that I want you to notice is the two bookend statements about love. Verse 8 says, love never ends. The statement is a summary of everything that we looked at last week that Paul was teaching us about love. verses 9 through 12, then proceed to discuss this idea of maturity. And then we end at the final bookend statement about love in verse 13. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love. So what is going on here? Well, as I've already mentioned, Paul is beginning to present an if-then argument as the foundation for the beginning of chapter 14, really the whole chapter. Love is being presented to us with an unending character. Love will proceed and continue forever. That's Paul's main point. And love is connected to the gifts of the Spirit with that idea, because according to Paul, the gifts will end. That's what we learn in verses 9 through 12. Love will proceed, but the gifts will end. The implication is to utilize the gifts in the body with love toward the brethren, because that love will go on even when the gifts end. So, make love the driving purpose, not merely the expression of the gifts. Make love the purpose. This is Paul's general argument in these verses. But there's a significant emphasis in these verses that we can't miss. Paul is talking about succession. He's talking about an eschatological future for the church. In this future that Paul describes for us, the gifts of tongues and prophecy and the specific spiritual gift of knowledge will pass away. That is, they will cease to operate in the experience of the church. Presently, we have experienced a foretaste of that ceasing with the ending of the extraordinary gifts and the revelatory gifts in particular. The complete revelation of the knowledge of God necessary for God's people at this time, that has been completed in the 66 books of the Canon of Scripture. But there's a greater future ceasing that the church will also eventually experience. Now Paul relates this ceasing of the revelatory gifts, he relates it to the natural process of maturity that a person goes through as they grow up. A child bathes like a child until the child grows up. In a similar way, the prophetic revelation and knowledge disseminated via tongues needed to proceed in the church of Corinth. for that time, until the maturing point of complete revelation. Ultimately, that complete maturing point for us as believers, it doesn't arrive until we are in the presence of Jesus Christ in heavenly places. Then, Paul argues, it's not a matter of revelation or someone declaring to you the knowledge of God, but rather, we'll have arrived at a point where we experience what's described in Jeremiah 31. In Jeremiah 31, 33 through 34, we read this, For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I'll put my law within them. I'll write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, This is the ultimate end point of every believer, every one of us. We know God as fully, we will know God, let's say it that way, we will know God as fully as it is possible for a finite creature to know the Infinite Creator. You're going to end in that point. I don't know what that is. I couldn't begin to describe to you what it is. But you're on that path now. That is spiritual maturity. The eschatological destination of every mature believer. That's what we're journeying toward. At that point, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13, 12, we'll no longer know God in terms of seeing him as it were in a mirror. Fuzzy, dimly, hard to see. Remember what mirrors were like 2,000 years ago. They were on a piece of brass that was polished very often, or bronze. Sometimes a reflective surface placed behind glass could be used, or some shiny metal. But it was very often not this nice, smooth surface that we enjoy today. It was warped. It didn't look quite clear, quite right. In the future, we no longer will know Christ Jesus in part, this poor reflection. But then, we'll know Him fully. Now, Paul emphasizes how fully we'll know the Lord Jesus and know His revelation of the Father to us. We'll know these things just as well as Christ has known us, as He's known us all this time that we've been separated from Him. Wow. Now obviously we're speaking of the human nature of our Lord and not the divine, because how can the creature comprehend the infinite? Now, what this all means, all that we've tried to describe here, and how that knowledge all comes to pass, how that's fulfilled in us, I just don't know. No one knows. It's not Paul's purpose, almost certainly it's not even possible for the apostle to relate this to us in our present condition. Right now the mirror is dim, it's too warped, as we look into it to catch a glimpse of these future things. But now, what about this if-then argument? How does that tie into all this? Now having discussed this future state of maturity in the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ, we discover that Paul wants the Corinthian brethren to understand something about the present purpose and operation of the church. That's our destination, but I want you to understand something about the present operation and purpose of the church from this perspective. If the future state of the church is maturity, this nearly indescribable state of fullness of the knowledge of God enjoyed in the presence of Christ, if that is the future destination If that is the ambition, well, let me say it this way. If this future destination that we've described, this future maturity of knowledge, if that's the destination of every believer, then right now, the ambition of every believer in the church ought to be to grow into that maturity. That's the if-then argument. The ambition of growing up into that amazing goal of full maturity in the knowledge of God, that means engaging ourselves in a zealous pursuit of the knowledge of God. It means that we pursue that knowledge also in fellowship in this community. So there's a corporate element to it. That's Paul's argument. That's the if-then. This day, Paul is saying, make it your ambition to not only receive the knowledge of God, but to disseminate the knowledge of God for the edification of the church, because ultimately, that's what we'll have in perfection in eternity. And now we've reached the development of Paul's command, which we find in chapter 14, a command to pursue the knowledge of God for the edification of the Church. Chapter 14 essentially answers this question for us. If I'm destined to eternally exist with my brethren in a future glorious state of fullness of the knowledge of God, what ought I to do now in the church before I arrive at that destination? That's our question, and Paul answers it for us. Your purpose now, here's the answer, your purpose now is to build up the church and be built up in the knowledge of God. Your purpose now is to know the revealed will and work of God as declared in his word and to do whatever you can do to disseminate that same knowledge in order to build up Christ's church. Now we see this emphasis, this answer to our question in verse three. Paul says, on the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their what? Upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. In verse four, Paul says, the one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. There's our phrase again. Verse five, the one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets so that the church may be built up. There's our phrase again. And verse 12, we see it again. So with yourselves, since you are eager for the manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. It seems to me Very clear that Paul's emphasis, his declaration of purpose is plain. We are to pursue the building up of the church. That's what we're inheriting in future heavenly glory. A complete, perfected, mature body of Jesus Christ. So it's very logical that Paul tells us to make it our ambition to accomplish that now. Do that building now. Now, as we consider the idea of building up the church, the way Paul's talking about it here, it's really that same metaphor that he's already talked about with us in the past. As we think about that, a few questions about this ambitious project should naturally come to mind. Here's the first obvious question. What's the building material? What do I gather and work with and articulate in order to build the church? In the story of the three little pigs, we learn very early as children that the material you choose to build your house with matters. Surely, if that is the case, like the big bad wolf, the early church is going to feel the breath of Satan blow upon her at times. Surely the early church felt that with the Jews rising up against her and persecuting her. Surely the early church felt the breath of the big bad wolf when Rome rose up and persecuted her. Sticks, straw, or bricks? How are we to know that we're building with bricks? That's one question. Here's the second question. What are we using for tools? What are the right and proper tools to use in the building up of the church? Nothing mars work like rusty, dull, and improperly selected tools. What tools, we're asking, does Paul present to us to engage in the work of building up the church? Third question, what are we building? What's the final design that should emerge from the blueprints and the efforts of the builders? We're commanded to ambitiously pursue the edification of the church. So what's the edifice? Seems like a pretty important question, right? How will we know if the pattern emerging from our efforts in this place is according to the plan of Christ, issued through his apostle? These are good questions, are they not? All right. So let's develop this concept of edification, this idea of building up from our text. Let's examine what we're being taught about the building of the church. First of all, in terms of the materials we are to utilize to edify the church, in chapter 14, verses 1 through 4, we discover Paul's identification of our building material. What does he say? Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him unless he utters, but he utters mysteries in the spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their up-building, and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now, we could quite easily begin with love as the material, that is, practical good works toward the brethren, but that's actually part of the building process. The material is what informs the brethren as to the nature of love. The material is what reveals to the Church what those practical good works are, which she's to engage herself in for the good of the Church. So love is not really the material. Instead, Paul's emphasis is on revelation. He's arguing for the excellency of the gift of prophecy right here, is he not? Why? because that gift in particular builds up the church. How? Through exposing God's people to the knowledge of God. Prophetic utterance fulfilled this vital role in the early church in the absence of the completed As of yet, uninscripturated canon. It wasn't there yet. The writings of the apostles and the gospels were being produced in the church, and the contents of those writings were appearing in the church as inspired prophetic utterances. They were declarations of Jesus Christ to his church through his apostles. They were, thus says the Lord. Imagine, try to imagine that. Not having, coming to church and not having a completed canon. That's something we take for granted, isn't it? Imagine not having the New Testament, not having the completed writings of Paul. Additionally, prophetic utterances not preserved for us today, intended for those local churches, proceeded through the gifted in the congregation of this time. Why? For the purpose of revealing the nature and the work and the will of God for His church right then and there. In Paul's mind, this was absolutely vital to the edification of the church. Now, speaking in tongues was also helpful for building up the church, so long, Paul argues, so long as someone interpreted so that the message might proceed with knowledge and understanding. If you're not going to speak in a known tongue, Paul's early argument is, then really the only person you're speaking to is God, because he's the only one that's going to understand you. It has to be interpreted. Note verses 5 through 12. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, which is kind of like a, of course, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets so that the church may be built up. Now brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp don't give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that's not intelligible, how will anyone know what's being said? For you will be speaking into the air, etc. Now first of all, again, notice where Paul's emphasis lies in these verses. He says, now brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you? unless I bring you some revelation, or knowledge, or prophecy, or teaching. So again, the material of building up the church is revelation of the knowledge of God. It's teaching that knowledge to the body. And it has to be interpreted in order to be understood. The vital threads with which we weave the tapestry of the church is the revelation of God. Now, before we move on to talk about the tools we use to build up the church body, let's just pause a moment and consider the implications of what we've learned about this primary material of church building, church edification. Let me give you an application. Paul's emphasis on the revelation of God is highly instructive for us. First, as the body of Christ united, as we come together, it tells us that we had better keep first things first in terms of the purpose and the activity of the church. Our material of building, apparently, the building material of choice, is revelation of the knowledge of God and not many of the other things we find so commonly utilized in the nominal Christian Church of Western culture today. The church, if she's to be built up scripturally, must be built up scripturally. Is that such a shock to us? Well, apparently it was at Corinth. The Word of God is our medium, not in terms of artistic creation, but in terms of declaration and revelation and promotion of truth that stands complete, ready, available. The knowledge of God builds up his church. not plays and concerts and dramas. The revelation of God proceeding from his word strengthens the vital structures of the church. It makes her an elegant edifice, not marketing schemes, not popular methods of publicity. Material charity is not the building material we commit ourselves to work in. We're not the Salvation Army or Habitat for Humanity. We're not like Islam, building our church through conquest and violence and strife. Our building material is the knowledge of the Most High and the revelation of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. That's our material. Let's be careful as we work in the body of Christ, the Church, as a united fellowship of brethren, let's be careful that we maintain that vital ambition of building up the Church and the knowledge of God. As Peter reminds us in 2 Peter 3.18, we are to, quote, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, unquote. Let's be careful to examine the projects of our church as they appear before us from time to time. Let's ask ourselves, does this promote the revelation of Jesus Christ? Does this project expand our knowledge of God? Does this church plan and activity build us up in that knowledge? Is it conducive to that? Is that what we're promoting? Now, that also means, brethren, that we're going to have to commit ourselves individually to work with the material of church edification. The revelation of the knowledge of God proceeding from His Word, it's not going to happen by osmosis. Individually, you, brethren, have to ambitiously pursue the knowledge of God. You need to commit yourselves to being a student of the revelation of God in His Word. And as Paul has reminded us, that comes with a process of maturity. You have been saved to be matured into one who knows the Lord far better than you do now. That's all of us, but that's you. The good news is that you will get there. Your future knowledge of the Lord will far outstrip your present understanding of His grace and glory. Your future understanding of the scriptures will outshine your present understanding as the brightness of noon outshines the dead of night. So get busy now, that's all I'm saying. Engage yourself in the study of God's word. That's his revelation which he uses and which he's given you to build the church. It's a sad thing when a church scratches its head over immaturity in the body. She wonders what to do with Corinth-like schism in her body, mourning over common sin in her body, never realizing that if she had immersed herself in the Word of God with diligence, much of that would fade away. If we will not shine the light of the Holy Scriptures upon our own hearts and lives, it shouldn't surprise us if the issues of life that proceed from that heart are unholy. Brethren, if you really want to see the Church built up and strong and glorious, it will require that you bend the knee to the Scriptures frequently. It will require that you spend less time like Martha, busy in other things, in practical things, and more time like Mary, kneeling at the Master's feet. I say practical things, I mean material things. When you so commit yourself to that kind of disciplined study, you're engaging yourself in the main activity that God uses to strengthen and beautify and grow his church. You strengthen and beautify and grow yourself. And automatically, as that happens, the whole body is vivified as you are. To borrow from Paul's analogy of the human body, remember when we looked at that? To borrow from that analogy, the healthy limb helps the whole body in health. That's what we're saying. The healthy function of the lungs breathes life into the body. The proper function of the digestive organs brings energy and nutrition to the body. The healthy function of the brain and the nervous system causes the whole body to operate safely and efficiently. The well-trained and healthy eyes see the hazard in the road. This is why I push you as I do from time to time. It's in order to encourage you, to engage you in that business of reading challenging Christian books, especially those of the Puritans and the Reformers. Those works are so very deeply steeped in the knowledge of the Word of God and the revelation of the Lord, which is vital to your edification and the edification of the church as a whole. In addition to your personal engagement as a diligent student of the knowledge of God and His Word, you must also be committed to engage yourself as a student of the teaching and the preaching of the knowledge of God as it proceeds in this church. Paul told us how vital prophetic utterance is, how necessary the teaching of the knowledge of God is to the church constitution. So continue to always be committed to be here when the declaration of the Word of God and the teaching of the knowledge of God goes forth. The church constitution breaks down violently and utterly when her members fail to remain faithful to engage in hearing the preaching and teaching of the word. We know that. This church knows that better than any church I've ever been in because of what we experienced some years back. We don't live on material food. We maintain life through the Word of God coming to us. It's a feast spread for us, and we have to sit down regularly and eat. Brethren, it's so very vital for our spiritual, even our physical health, to receive the knowledge of the Word of God gathered as God's people to hear Him. Your soul will not survive without coming to eat every Sabbath, just as your body won't survive if you cease to eat material food. And when you do complete, you can always expect to be filled if you're willing to be filled with the Word of God, and if the one serving is willing to wait upon you with the Word of God alone. If we want the church to be built up, we have to engage ourselves in what builds her, the scriptural revelation of the character and will and purpose and work of God. Now, finally, let me just say one last thing about building of the Church, utilizing this material of the knowledge of God. When Paul first worked to build the Church at Corinth, from the beginning, in 1 Corinthians 2.2, he reminds those brethren that it was a very specific knowledge, a very specific knowledge of God, which he determined to proclaim. He says, quote, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Brethren, this is the most significant part of the knowledge of God to which we must commit ourselves if the church is to be built. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Notice that it is not Jesus Christ who gets me. It's not Jesus Christ who satisfies me. Jesus Christ who makes me feel good. Paul says that he founded the church on the knowledge of Jesus Christ crucified. Brethren, blood and violence. That's what it takes for men, women, and children to be reconciled to God and have sin pardoned and hidden. It takes a lamb slaughtered on an altar. It takes a holy being full of goodness and love and mercy and truth, willingly pouring out his life's blood to offer recompense for the guilty. It takes the unholy and evil creature lifting up his hand to strike the very Son of God. It takes the wisdom and the holiness and the goodness of God to take even that creature's unholy offense and violence against the Son and transformatively decree that violence to accomplish atonement for those who were by nature ready and willing to be the next person in line to strike Him. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is our foundational declaration of the revelation of God. This is the revelation of the good news. This is our call. We call all men everywhere to repent. Turn to this sacrifice, we say. The blood poured out here is infinitely sufficient to stand as satisfaction for your guilt and the penalty written against you in the court of God. Blood was spilled for you so that yours might not be spilled. Christ has paid the debt of his people in full. He was beaten for us. He was killed for us. He was buried for us. He has been raised for us. Brethren, this truth is what we call men to believe and so believing receive salvation through faith. This message is the message of the revelation of God on which the church is built. There's no other foundation. And you have a place, you yourselves, brethren, each one of you have a place in the proclamation of this knowledge, in founding the church on this knowledge. You don't need to be a pastor or an elder or an evangelist. You just have to care about people and love them enough to be prepared to have an answer for the hope that's in you. When God gives you that opportunity to care enough about someone to point them to Jesus, then the only thing you need to remember is this, brethren, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Don't overcomplicate it. Don't do that. Paul didn't. All you need to explain is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You don't need to be a theologian or a biblical scholar of the highest order. You just need to love the Lord Jesus and understand why He died and love another dying human being enough to tell them the truth. That's how the church is built. That's what Paul's telling us. All right. Let's move forward. Really, our application has carried us right to the second answer to our question. That was rather the second question. What are the tools that we use to build up the Church? In a nutshell, the tool is speaking. At its most foundational level, the tool is speaking. It's teaching and proclaiming the Word of God. Brethren, how could the Church possibly operate during COVID when we were gagged? and sitting at home. How does the church operate under those circumstances? Well, Paul would argue it can't. It literally can't. Teaching and proclaiming the Word of God, verbally declaring out loud, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The primary tool in building up of the church is the human tongue. Notice what Paul tells us in verse three. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. What a beautiful statement. There it is. If you want to build up the church using the knowledge of God as revealed in his word, then the way to do it, the tool, is with encouragement and consolation. The word of God must be taught and preached. not to tear down the church, but to build it up. We use it to tear down strongholds of Satan so that those fortresses of argument and lies can be forced to give up their captives to the consolation of the gospel. We build up those rescued from the chains of giant despair, reminding them of the key of promise in their pocket that unlocks their chains. We speak the revelation of the knowledge of God and his word so that men and women and children are made glad and have hope. That's what consolation is. Hope in the future for a final day of glorious resurrection. Yes, that's true, but also hope for the present. present boldness and encouragement to face another day as a sojourner, breaking chains in our lives and helping our brethren break chains. The knowledge of God is weaponized. against Satan by studying it, by meditating on it, by declaring it to one another. We bring the knowledge of God like a bright light into a dark room, dispelling the gloom in our hearts and our minds, the gloom of our brethren. Brethren, let's admit it. It can be gloomy at times. Sin can make us miserable. The apparent fierceness of Satan going about in this world like a prowling, roaring lion can make us fearful. It can disgust us at times. So by God's grace, we come to be fed from the word of God and we gather and we remember the lion of the tribe of Judah is greater. And we embolden one another with that encouragement. Do you want to know how to build up the church using the knowledge of God? then apply the Word of God verbally. Do that boldly, and do it to embolden your brethren in the church. Remind them of their God. Remind them how He reveals Himself in His Word. Repeat His promises back to them. Declare His commands to them. Demand of them, if necessary, that they hear Him. That'll build up the church of Jesus Christ. Use the word of God to embolden your brethren. And the more you know of that word, the more you love it, the greater will be the skill and the variety of emboldening good that you engage in for them and console them. You want to build up the church. You want to use the right tools. Console God's people with the knowledge of his word. Console your brethren. Use the knowledge of the word of God to give them their hearts back. The world can be a miserable place at times. Jesus looked on that bleak stone face of the tomb of Lazarus and at the weeping family and friends around him, and he wept. Brethren, this world is broken. It's been ruined by the fall and by sin. And sin continues to work its evil in the world and in our lives and even in our own hearts. So at times we're going to need to console each other. And my platitudes and my weak hand patting won't help you. You need the rock. You need rock, solid certainty, and sufficiency. You need the inerrancy of the Word of God. And we need to declare it to one another for our consolation. We need to remind one another to turn our eyes heavenward and look for that upward call of Jesus Christ. We need to be reminded of the glorious truths and the doctrines of the Reformation, which have become ours by heritage and the grace of God. We need to remind ourselves that the doctrines of a sovereign God, which we celebrate and love, they're actually useful. Imagine. When our hearts are broken over a lost loved one, we can find consolation in the effectual call of God and hope in the knowledge of God's sovereign power to overcome human will. Because it can, and it does, and it has. When we're despondent over sin and we wonder, is there any hope for my soul after all? We can find consolation in the knowledge that when God chooses to save and determines before time to redeem a soul, there is no possible losing of that soul. And when we are anxious over the future and all of its imagined losses, we can find consolation in the certainty that God will preserve me to the day of salvation, and He's promised in His Word that He'll lose none of those whom He has chosen to save. They will press on and persevere and finally appear with Him in glory. I can find all manner of real and true consolation in these fine biblical doctrines. But brethren, I'm going to need you to remind me at times. We need to remind each other at times, don't we? So let's covenant together to do that in the fellowship of Jesus Christ. The tongue is a wonderful thing when it's put to a redeemed purpose. The Church is built up by it. Now, we're rapidly running out of time. I haven't even really touched on the third question. What are we building up the Church to be? What's the edifice? We'll postpone answering that question until next week. Instead, I want to close with an exhortation. It's not really my exhortation to you, it's Paul's. Therefore, it's Jesus Christ's exhortation to you. After all that Paul has said, all that he's told us about building up the Church and how that's done with the knowledge of God and with teaching and preaching by speaking emboldening and consoling words. After all that discourse leading up to verse 12, in verse 12 Paul says this, So with yourselves, since you're eager for the manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the Church. Do you want to see the Spirit of God at work in His church? Wouldn't that be glorious to see this church influential, bringing in the lost, to see the Spirit of God working powerfully in the people of God, molding them visibly into the character of Jesus Christ, maturing them in the knowledge of God, and in vast quantities? Wouldn't we love to see that? Isn't that what we want and pray for? Well, Paul says that the condition for that to occur work. He says strive to excel in building up the church. Everything that we've just talked about that builds up the church, in order to have it, we have to strive for it. Not just strive to have some of it accomplished by me, but Paul says strive to excel. In other words, work to build up the church with zeal and urgency and intensive labor. That's the goal. And apparently, in the absence of that kind of striving, striving to excel, we ought not expect the church to receive abundantly powerful operations of the Spirit of God. You see, the ultimate tool in building up the Church is not my pursuit of the knowledge of God, or my dissemination of the revelation of God, or evangelical eloquence, or even desiring and attempting to encourage and embolden you, my brethren. That's good. That's necessary. It's commanded. It's effectual. But it's only effectual as the Holy Spirit sanctifies and blesses those means and works in them with power. which, according to Paul, he will do when his people strive to excel in building up the Church. So that's my final word for us today. There's room for more maturity, isn't there? There's room for more growth as we expectantly live in the reality that we have been called and elected and saved to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. God help us to mature. God help us to strive to excel in building up the church. What a goal. You're going to be there. You will one day see the church in this glorious state of the knowledge of God, knowing Christ and knowing God with the kind of knowledge and understanding that Christ himself possessed when he walked the earth. There are times, brethren, when I look at the Word of God and I hear what Christ says, usually in response to some snarky person, and I go, what wisdom. What knowledge of God! I'm amazed at what I hear. Brethren, you're going to enjoy that in the future. Not only witnessing it, it will be part of your very nature. You will have that kind of knowledge and wisdom built into you. We have to engage in that work in the Church now. This is Paul's command to you, which is the command of Christ. Let's pray.