For our Scripture reading, turn
with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Paul makes much to these people,
these Greeks who were steeped in philosophy, still known for
their philosophy and sciences and all of these things. And
he's emphasizing to them the importance of the preaching of
the gospel. Not because God couldn't do it
any other way. He said to his disciples, God
could raise up children unto Abraham out of these rocks. God
can do anything, but this is how it pleased God. That's what
he tells us in chapter one. Please God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them. And then he goes on in chapter
two and talks about the nature of preaching. He talks about
it's a spiritual work. It's, it's, I have not seen or
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
that God has prepared for them that love him. But God has revealed
them unto us by Spirit. It's a spiritual act. It's something
that happens within a man. And until you've experienced
it, you don't really know what it is. It's just words. Just
words. And then in chapter 3, he goes
on and sets it in a better light for us. So, let's read through
this chapter. And my text is going to be verse
21. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 1,
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but
as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with
milk, and not with meat. For hitherto you were not able
to bear it, neither yet now are you able. For you're yet carnal. For whereas there is among you
envying, and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk
as men? For while one saith, I am of
Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is
Apollos? but ministers by whom you believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man. I planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one. And every man
shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For
we're laborers together with God. You're God's husbandry.
You're God's building. According to the grace of God
which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I've laid the
foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take
heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid. Jesus Christ. Now if any man
build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood,
hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest for the
day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which
he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's
work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall
be saved, yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man
defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple
of God is holy, which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seem to
be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be
wise. For the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God. For it is written, he taketh
the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise that they are vain. Therefore, let no man
glory in men. For all things are yours, whether
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
or things present, or things to come, all are yours. And ye are Christ, and Christ
is God. I've spent my young life growing up in legalism and self-righteousness, in a church that honored and
exalted men and not God. And everything about salvation
was so simple. There was nothing mysterious
about it. They had a little mourner's bench
down front, and their tradition was for anyone who thought they
were seeking God to come down, kneel down at that mourner's
bench, and then the elders would come and pray with them and so
on, and do what they called praying through. I still don't know what
that means. I guess you just pray till you're
through. But I do remember a man asking
me one time, is everything all right? And I said, no, it's not.
No, it's not. They didn't know God. Most religious
people do not know God. And that's what Paul's talking
about all through the Corinthians. He's here not only as an apostle,
but he's here as a missionary or an evangelist. And he's preaching
to these people, and they're steeped in tradition. When he
preached on Mars Hill, he said, I toured your city, and I looked
at all your devotions, and he said, I perceive that you're
all too superstitious. That word is religious. You're
steeped in religion, and you don't know God. Well, this wonderful chapter
begins with a very clear declaration of the office, purpose, and author
of gospel preachers. Salvation is a miraculous work. It's not about you doing anything. It's about what God has done
and what he's willing to do and yet does for chosen sinners. That's what it's all about. It's
not about you. You're not deserving of anything
and I'm talking to myself. I'm not deserving of anything
from God. Somebody said, well, God's only
obligated to call man one time. He ain't obligated to call you
at all. Not at all. Millions in this world have never
received any kind of a call, not even a general call. Grow
up in the jungles, dancing around a totem pole. They don't know
God. They're not called. When we talk
about salvation, we're talking about a glorious, miraculous
work. God working. God doing something
that you can't do for yourself. Something that I can't do for
you. No man can do. And this wonderful chapter begins
with a very clear declaration of the office, purpose, and author
of gospel preachers. In verse 5, the apostle asks
this question, who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? But ministers
by whom you believed even as the Lord gave to every man. Do you believe that? This is the Word of God. I'm
asking you, do you believe that? Do you believe that God has set
apart a man and sent him out and arranged his whole life around
a minister? Called him, equipped him, qualified
him, sent him out, confirmed his ministry, done all of these
things for a particular people. I don't know who they are, but
he'll show you in time. He'll show you in time. Even as the Lord gave to every
man. Paul was an unusual man. He's not your norm. Nothing about
him normal. His conversion, my soul, the
Lord unhorsed him and threw him in the mud. Blinded him. He was an unusual
man. His conversion, his calling,
his preparation was most unusual. Caught up to the third heaven.
You know anybody been caught up to the third heaven? taught
by Jesus Christ himself. This is an unusual man. He's
not your run-of-the-mill preacher. But men and women began to put
a great weight upon the fact that they were converted under
his ministry. I am Apollos. Apollos was a great orator, probably
a deep, clear voice, well-seasoned vocabulary, a communicator with
men, one who's speaking could hold your interest for hours
on end. And again, men and women began
to glory in the fact that they were converted under his ministry. I am of Apollos. Where did God
fit into that? Preachers are not chosen of men,
they're chosen of God. We've got young men, I like to
think they'd like to preach. He said if you desire the office
of a bishop, you desire a good thing, it's okay to desire it,
but only God can select a man and make that man able to preach. We can all talk. We can all talk. And so we give
these young men opportunity from time to time. That doesn't qualify
them as a preacher. God puts his preachers into the
ministry, not men. And God confirms their ministry
with the conversion of chosen sinners. He confirms their ministry
with an effectual hearing and the support of his hearers. I
know churches that have called men and then in a few months
walked out the door. Really? You call this man, he's
a man of God, and you sit him there and you listen to him for
a little bit, and then you say, well, he ain't a God. He confirms their ministry with
an effectual hearing and the support of his hearers. Some
don't go out the door. Some say, no, we ain't leaving.
This is God's man and I'm not leaving. Not leaving. That's how God confirms His ministers. Then in verse 9, Paul likens
the ministry to a great farm. I've noticed over here in the
bottoms, going toward Genoa, out there in the bottoms, either
a big company or a rich individual or somebody bought all that ground,
thousands of acres. And boy, they've done millions
of dollars worth of work and they're getting set up to farm.
It's a great farm. It's not somebody's hobby farm. It's something big. And he likens
the ministry to a great farm and also to a building of a great
house. And as a minister, Paul said,
I plant it. I'm a servant. I'm a servant
of the master's farm. And he gave me some seed and
I went out and planted. Where did you plant it? Where
he sent me. Where he sent me. I planted. And then he said,
Apollos watered. He watered. But God gave the
increase. You can plant water all day if
God don't give the increase. It just lays there. I've been
a gardener for many years and I bought bad seed and put it
in the ground. It just laid there. I kept looking there. Every now
and then I'd go out and dig a little bit and see if I could see something.
Ain't nothing in there. God gave the increase. And then he says this, he that
planteth and he that watereth are one. We work for the same
master. It's his farm, we work for him.
So, is watering less important than planting? Not really. Not really. We both have one master, we both
have one purpose, one goal, and one hope. And the great husbandman
has servants in his house that plant the precious seed of Christ.
They plant that seed in the ground that their master has already
made ready. When our Lord gave the parable
of the sower. He throw that seed and the wind
blew some over here. It landed out there in the road.
It wouldn't grow out there. Some of it fell on stony ground,
some of it fell here, some of it fell... The only seed that
grew was what fell in the ground that was prepared. And that's
what he's talking about. They plant that seed in the ground
that their master has made ready, and having planted that precious
seed, another servant waters it. He takes the water of the
Word and he sprinkles it over the precious seedlings, The miracle
of this whole thing is God that giveth the increase. It's the
work, all the rest of it is useless apart from that, isn't it? God that gives the increase,
plan all you will, where you will, and upon whom you will.
You'll soon see that the seed's taken away, choked by the cares
of this world. storms choking out the seed.
And God directs His servant to such ground as He prepares. How does He do that? Through
the Holy Spirit of God, that's how. And He supplies the precious
water they so badly need to grow. And both are needful. No seed
planted, no crop to harvest. No seed watered, no seed reaching
maturity and producing its fruit. It has to be watered. But God
gives the increase. So what's the conclusion of all
this? Verse 7. So then neither is he that planteth
anything. So when you say, I'm of Paul. Paul said, I'm nothing. What's that do to your swelled
head? I'm nothing. Go tell everybody that. I've
converted under nobody. Nothing. He's just nothing. Neither
is he that planteth anything, neither is he that watereth,
but God that giveth the increase. And the real glory and miracle
of it is that God has purposed it, empowers it, and brings it
to pass. And so it is with the house.
Verse 9, you're God's husbandry, you're God's builder. And he
said in verse 10, according to the grace of God which is given
unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and
other builds thereon, but let every man take heed how he builds.
Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Jesus
Christ. But be careful how you build
on that. You don't go spend $50,000 on
a foundation and then get some hay, wood, and stubble and build
a shack. What we build is built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone. And as it rises up, you begin
to see that it's going to be a holy temple in the Lord, a
spiritual house. We build it together for an habitation
of God through the Spirit. That's God's husbandry and God's
building. And some are going to build with
precious stones and gold and very valuable things, others
are just going to build with whatever they can get their hands
on, whatever's handiest. But their work is going to be
made manifest because the day is going to declare it. That
day of trial, that day of temptation, that day of persecution, the
fire is going to try. I'm saved. See me in about 10
years. The day will decline. It'll decline. The fire shall try every man's
work of what sort it is. Now, in the light of these things,
there's a danger. And that's what I want to talk
to you about this morning. There's a danger. There's a danger
to the pastor, there's a danger to his hearers. There's a danger
to God's ministers and their hearers, and the danger is pride
and arrogance. The danger is attributing this God-given wisdom to yourself. I came up with this. Did you? So then, verse 21, let no man
glory in men. Now, if a man's being called
of God and confirmed of God and he's sent, And you love Him and
you hear Him, then esteem Him very highly for His works sake.
Do that. He's worthy of double honor.
That's what the Scripture says. But don't start attributing the
things of God to Him. He's just a servant. He's just
a servant. Let no man glory in men. And
then listen to this, for all things are yours. And that's
the title of my message this morning, all things. I want you
to see this in the light of all things. Whether Paul, he said all things
are yours. What does that mean? Whether
Paul or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
or things present or things to come, all are yours. And ye are Christ's, and Christ
is God's. I don't wish to make the ministry
an unimportant thing. God has made it a necessary thing,
and we're to esteem his chosen servants highly for the work's
sake. But their work is only a little
thing in the scheme of all things. That's what Paul's trying to
say. What is my ministry this morning
compared with creation? Huh? What's that compared to creation?
What's that compared to God's providence, the ordering of all
things from the beginning to the end? It's just a little thing in the
scheme of all things. And that's what Paul's trying
to tell them, all things. You're glorying in a man. In order to illustrate what Paul's
teaching here, let me ask as best I can and answer four questions. What did Adam lose in the garden? When he fell, what did he lose?
All things. He lost everything. He lost his communion with God. He lost his wisdom. This wise
man that could name everything down to a minute bug He's in here weaving a fig leaf
apron to cover his nakedness before God. Hiding from God behind
a tree. He lost his wisdom. He lost his
purpose of being. He was created for the glory
of God. He lost his value and worth. He lost eternal life. And from the standpoint of the
creature, He was just a man in a condemned world without God. He lost everything. He's good
for nothing but to be burned, and from the highest to the lowest,
from the top to the bottom. Now listen to me. Adam and Eve
were chosen of God. They were predestinated under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. And though the fall of man, it's
through that fall that God's going to manifest his glory. So that even the fall of man
worked for his good and God's glory. Even his fall. God manifested his glory in the
person and work of his Son, Jesus Christ, in the salvation of sinners.
What rendered man helpless and hopeless was necessary to his
salvation. And even the fall of Adam was
his inheritance and ended with a dying lamb and a covering for
his nakedness. He lost all things, but what
he lost was still his through the eternal purpose of God in
Christ. That's what I'm saying. Secondly, what does it take to
save a sinner? All things. All things. Ephesians 1.11, in whom, that
is, in Christ, the steward of all things, we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. What does he work that we might
obtain this inheritance? All things. Everything. You can't make it
bigger than it is. All things. My bloodline. My parents, my location, my life,
my friends, my education, my job, my citizenship. Everything
in my life was ordered and arranged of God to bring me to salvation
in Christ. I wouldn't change a thing. I'll
think. I hate what I did. I hate what
I was. I hate what I am right now. But
I'm not what I was. And I'm not what I'm going to
be. But I am what I am by the grace of God. David said, Thou, listen to this,
Thou hast beset me behind and before. Think about that. Before I knew
Him, He hath beset me before, ordered my life, watched over
me, kept me from death, I don't know how many times. kept me
from harm, kept me from disease. Who knows what He saved me from
in the past. He hath beset me before and behind and laid Thine hand
upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It's high. I can't attain it. It's so large. The scope of it
is so large. It encompasses eternity. God made for us, David said,
an everlasting covenant of grace, ordered in what? All things ensure. And he said, this is all my salvation
and all my desire. He chose one mighty and holy
and righteous to be our surety, our guarantor. And salvation
is an eternal work. Before God ever created the first
being, he set in place a covenant of grace for you, for his people,
and ordained Christ as the surety of that covenant. And our God's
not a creature of time, he's an eternal God, and he does nothing
in time that was not purposed in eternity. Just a speck, and it's set apart
to manifest God's glory. Alright, here's the next question.
When Christ died on the cross, what did he reconcile? What did he reconcile? What did
he do in his death? What did he reconcile? Turn with
me to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, look up
here in verse 18. Talking about Christ. He is the head of the body, that
is the federal head, the representative of the body, the church, who
is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him, now watch this, to reconcile
all things to Himself. Everything. Everything. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, And you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. The scripture said, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, and
what become new? All things. Oh, what a new thing it is when
God revealed to you your curse in Adam. by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned, and He reveals that to you, and
you're sitting there with no hope, you're without God, you're
sitting there in your ignorance and your darkness and all of
these things, and your inability, and you can't do anything about
it, all you can do is just sit there and sob and weep and beg
God for mercy. And then He reveals Christ to
you. All things become new now. Even my fallen Adam, even that
fall was necessary to my salvation. All things have become new. My old inability, I have ability
now. God has made us meet, meet to
be partakers. All things become new. And all
things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ
and given to us the ministry of reconciliation. What did he
reconcile on the cross? All things. Fourthly, what does
the sinner acquire in Christ? If he comes to Christ and Christ
receives him, what does he acquire in him? What does he receive? Huh? All things. Paul said all things are yours.
They're yours. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas
or the world or life or death or things present or things to
come, all are yours. Death is yours. It's not a curse
to you. It's the gift of God to you.
It's graduation day. It's homecoming. I have nothing
to fear in death. Death is mine. Christ has defeated
death. He's victorious over death, hell,
and the grave. Death is mine, Walter. It's mine. It belongs to me. I don't need
to fear it. It's just a servant. Well, how did you get it in Christ? In Christ. Life, death, things present,
things to come. Oh, he said this is the foundation.
This is the foundation. To have Christ is to have all
things. He's all and in all. That's what Paul said. And just
think of the scope of it. The world is yours. It's created
to serve you. To serve you. It's yours. Know you not you should judge
angels? The world's yours. How does that song go? This is
my Father's world. And it's created. It waits with
earnest expectation for the manifestation of the sons of God. That's what
creation is doing. Our Savior rules this world.
He arranges all things in it for our good and His glory. Or
life, He said. That's yours. Believers are immortal
in this life until the Lord takes them home. What's going to take
you out when God's preserving you? The light, Paul said, I now live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. Our Lord said, I give unto them eternal life and they'll
never perish. They'll never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Death is ours, life
is ours, not as a curse but as a blessing. He said to be absent
from the bodies to be present with the Lord. And death is ours by inheritance
or things present, whatever they are, however unexpected they
are. However mysterious they are, however they appear, and however
frightening or shocking they seem to be, they're yours. For
things to come, the great unknown, it's yours. It's yours. It's already been
mapped out. Everything's set in place. Whatever the future
holds for us, it cannot curse us. It can only bless. All these
things are yours, and you are Christ's. You're His. That's how come all
these other things are yours, because you're His. And He's
God's. Our union with Him is why these
things are ours. We're joint heirs with Christ.
And Christ is God's. He's God's Christ, by God's decree,
according to God's purpose. God's will, and in Him we have
all things. Now you see what he's saying?
Preaching is important. I'm not trying to take away any
of the necessity of gospel preaching. I preach it as strongly and hard
as I can to men, because it's so. But we don't glory in men. And if you look at preaching
in the light of all things, my soul, the Son of God, Resurrected,
seated at the right hand of God, us seated in Him. If we look
at the massive things, the eternal things that God has done, then
preaching is just a little thing. It's just a little part of it
in time. It's all necessary, all necessary. But we're not glowing in men
anymore, we're glowing in God.