Anathema

1st Corinthians 16 and we'll read verse number 22. If any, man is in italics, if any love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be anathema, maranatha. Interesting isn't it? Two words that are not from the English language, let him be anathema, maranatha.

Now you see that word anathema, we're going to read it again in Galatians chapter 1. My text is here in 1st Corinthians 16 just verse 22 but I want to link in here Galatians chapter 1 and we'll read verse number 6 from verse 6. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him, notice, from him that called you. They're removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. The word another is the different word from what we looked at yesterday, this is another of a different kind of gospel, all right? Verse 7, which is not another of the same kind, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that we have preached or evangelized unto you, let him be anathema. That's the word, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach, evangelize any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be anathema, accursed.

For do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Now that will suffice for our reading, we trust with the Lord's blessing upon it. So 1st Corinthians ends with this rather unusual verse, we might say, if any love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha.

Now that word anathema, which means devoted to condemnation or cursed by God, it's found six times in our New Testament. We've read three of those occasions. It is a word that is transliterated from the Greek into English, into our English Bible, hence it's found here in verse 22.

Not translated, transliterated. The word itself is just on the text. Then the last word there in the verse, the word maranatha, which means our Lord comes, I understand that is transliterated from the Aramaic language into the Greek language, into the original text, and then translated, transliterated again into the English language, into our text here before us just now.

So we have the word maranatha, an Aramaic word. Anathema is a negative word. Maranatha then is a positive word.

Anathema, let's take that up. It's a word that is pronouncing a curse, really, upon those who have failed a test of reality. A curse upon those who have failed a test of carnality.

And in view of that, maranatha, our Lord cometh. Reminding us again just in that one word that there is a day of account coming, and there is a day of test, where that which is pertaining and professing to be for God is actually put to the test. Now what is the test then? What is the test of reality that's here? Well, I'm going to take it up in two ways, bringing in Galatians as well.

The first test is this, what are our interests? What are our interests? And then secondly, what is our message? What is our message? Because if we fail the test, there is a pronouncement of anathema upon it. Now it's interesting that the epistle will close with the reference to the coming of Lord Jesus. That's how the epistle opens.

You remember in chapter 1, 1st Corinthians 1 and verses 7 and 8, Paul speaks to those dear believers, and he says that they come behind in no gift. They're waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word coming there is the apocalypse word.

It's the coming out of heaven of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory that's coming when he appears. Who also shall confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ? So that day then, in the context, is the actual coming out of heaven, Revelation chapter 19, when the Lord Jesus will be vindicated, when he's going to be vindicated as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, when he is seen in his glory. The one that was rejected down here is going to be vindicated and seen in his glory in that day and associated with him.

Believers who have gone through the scene of his rejection now are going to appear with him also in glory then. And to that end, Paul is desiring that God would confirm them unto the end, make them firm and reliable so that they would have that confidence before him at his coming and in view of that coming day of review. There follows then these words in chapter 1, God is faithful.

God is faithful. By whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord. So I take it now again in the context that God is faithful especially in this point of confirming you unto the end so that there is nothing lacking from God's side when it comes to believers being like Christ.

God is faithful. God will minister every resource to that believer who has a desire in his heart to be like Christ. And you and I today can be as holy in our lives as we want to be.

God is faithful. There's no shortage on God's side. And you and I can be confirmed, can be as reliable as a Christian can be when we yield ourselves to him.

So the question then is this, what is our love for him? Do you see that that being the test as we come to the end of the epistle? If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. The interesting thing about that is this, at least when I looked at it, I was surprised. The first time I looked at that verse it was interesting to notice that the word for love there is the filial word.

You would think it would be agape, but it's not. It's the filial word. Now there's much has been made about the difference between filial and agape and so on, and there's a range of use for both words in our New Testament, both God word and also man word.

Hard and fast meanings have been attached to both, and sometimes that has imposed upon texts kind of awkward interpretations. But you're the person who is the subject of the love, and that heartfelt affection would also have their interests upon their heart. And that is true to life, isn't it? Whenever you love someone in the human realm, well, you have their interests at heart.

You want the very best for them. You have their interests upon your heart. So now just think of that in this verse.

If a person is not even fond of the Lord Jesus, has no real affection for him, has no interest in what pleases him, says the Word of God, let him be accursed. Let him be anathema, devoted to condemnation from God. And I would take it if a person died that way, they'd be lost forever, condemned forever.

So that's searching, isn't it? What are our interests? We heard the verse quoted yesterday from 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse number 5. I believe his brother Brandon quoted it. Examine yourselves. Whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves.

Know ye not, know ye your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates, rejected, and in our verse, accursed. So that is searching, and it's supposed to be searching. So let's just ask the question to ourselves now this morning.

Is the Lord Jesus and his interests warm upon our hearts? Is it? That's the test of reality. If it's just a kind of a theory, the knowledge of the Lord Jesus and the theory of how a Christian should live needs to be some examination done. What is our hearts affections towards Christ? So the epistle ends with that.

I want to just link in with that same word, the text we read from Galatians chapter 1. Paul is concerned in the book of Galatians about this very fact that the Galatians had moved away from God himself, in that they have embraced another kind of a message, another kind of a gospel. And Paul is very concerned about that, and he skips over the normal kind of greetings and thanksgivings for the Galatians, and he just launches right into the subject at hand. And he says, it's so urgent, he says that we, though we are an angel from heaven, if we preach any other gospel unto you than we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than ye have received, let him be accursed. So the influence upon the Galatian churches was evidently coming from other men, not from Paul. And Paul was determined before the Lord that he would not bow to any pressure from men.

Wouldn't do it. And he would not adjust his gospel to try to please men. So the verse says, do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Now the context in Galatians is the Judaizers were at work and they were trying to mix in law-keeping with grace, and that still abounds in Christianity today. The umbrella term of Christianity, there are established churches and so on that would have robes and incense and all that kind of thing that comes from a past economy and bring it into the New Testament and try to make it Christian. And we can see that and recognize that, but here's something that maybe we don't, we're not so willing to recognize.

There is a danger that in our gospel preaching, we could actually also become less than accurate. Now what do you mean to somebody? Well, for many years now, I have been aware that there is, there are those in assembly fellowship and they would have us to skip lightly over the idea of mentioning and emphasizing the seriousness of sin and the consequences of sin being hell and the lake of fire. Emphasize the love of God.

Emphasize the the good side, as it were, of the gospel and minimize the negative. There is that tendency now out there. We need to recognize it.

And that idea of skipping lightly over sin and the seriousness of it and telling sinners, perhaps, that their greatest need before God is that they should get saved. All right, better explain that. Unintentionally, what we can do is actually redefine the need of the sinner as merely being unsaved, implying that all he needs is a saved experience.

That's his real need, a lack of a saved experience. When in reality, the sinner's real need before God are his sins. His sins.

You say to me, well, did not Paul preach, or Peter rather, preach in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12, we must be saved? He did indeed, and I preached it too. We must be saved. But did you notice the context in which he's speaking to men who heard him in chapter 3, where he called upon them to repent ye therefore, and be converted.

Why? That your sins may be blotted out. And it goes on at the end of that chapter, the very last verse, to tell how that God sent his Son into the world. What for? To turn away every one of you from his iniquities.

And in that context, we must be rescued. We must be saved. So until there is that genuine repentance of sin, I take this concept of getting saved as a sort of a nebulous thing out there.

And sadly, there are those who have gone in simply for the saved experience, who have but a nebulous saved experience. And it would seem, with little conviction about the matter of sin, little abhorrence of sin, and seemingly little interest in what would be the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you can think that over, because the devil is a master at working with subtleties, and he will take advantage of every subtlety.

And if we leave a little loophole, he will blow it wide open. So we need to be accurate, brethren, when it comes to the preaching of a gospel. Here's another area where sometimes inaccuracies unintentionally can creep in.

A statement, a bare statement made something like this, that God wants a relationship with you. Imagine, the God of the universe wants a relationship with you, and who wouldn't want that? Well, you say, doesn't Paul say in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, be ye reconciled to God? He does. And you've preached it and I've preached it.

But did you notice again the context? In 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, make sure, brethren, that we tell them about their trespasses, verse 19. Make sure that we tell them about the terror of the Lord, verse 19. Make sure we tell them about one, and it was required that he be made sin for us, who knew no sin.

And we've tried to explore something of that this morning, and we're just dabbling on the very shallows of a tremendous ocean. The seriousness of sin before God. Yes, God wants to be reconciled to sinners, but in the context their sins need to be dealt with.

Because you could have, let's call him Percy, I don't think anybody's called Percy here. If your name is Percy, I'm sorry. But here's Percy, for example, and he's a popular sort of a guy, he's pretty decent, and he hears that God wants a relationship with me.

Well, who wouldn't want to have a relationship with me? You see, and I can take that on board and then be ready for heaven. But Percy, what about your sins? What about your trespasses? What about the terror of the Lord? Puts a different shade on it, doesn't it? So let's be careful. Let's not preach another gospel, but remain true to the Word of God and accurate in our preaching.

Maranatha. This is a positive word. Our Lord comes.

Our Lord cometh. And the interesting thing is that that note is actually struck in Corinthians in just about every chapter. And I noted that as I was reading through 1st Corinthians one time, and I wondered as I got to chapter 16, I'm reading down through, and boy, there's 21 verses, not one mention of the Lord's coming, and then I came to that one word, our Lord cometh, right at the end.

And there are three chapters where there's no mention of the Lord's coming. That would be chapter 12, chapter 13, chapter 14. Why not? Why not? Well, look at those chapters.

What's he dealing with there in those chapters? The sign gifts. The sign gifts. And there's no mention of the Lord's coming.

Why not? Because before the Lord comes, they're already away in the past. They're already eclipsed in the past. They do not continue until the coming of the Lord.

But in the meantime, all those problems that were existing in Corinth, they are all linked in some little way, or a bigger way. They're all linked to that future coming. That's remarkable, because that would even affect assembly testimony to this day.

Were there divisions among them? Were there disputes among them? Paul will mention the Lord's coming. Was there immorality? Again, there's mention of the Lord's coming. Going to law.

Eating meats offered to idols. Disorder at the Lord's Supper. We do it until he comes.

The misuse of gifts passed away. No mention there. And then the teaching in chapter 15 of resurrection.

And in every single case, there is a mention made of the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because our lives now, same point we're making yesterday, our lives now need to be lived in view of what is future. That the Lord is coming, and at any moment he could arrive in rapture to take us away.

Our little testimony on earth would be over and done, and we would have to face the things done in the body. There's no redoing it. There's no do-over.

It's the things done in the body. And so he ends up, the Epistle closes it out with this lovely word, Maranatha. Our Lord cometh.

Indeed, at the end of chapter 15, where he's on the subject of the Lord's coming, I'll close with this. You notice how that chapter ends? Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, there's a full reward ahead.

Let us remain faithful. God has all the resources that we need to remain faithful and to confirm us on to the end. So may the Lord bless his word to our hearts.

Let's pray.