Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 3. 1 Corinthians, chapter
3. I'd like to deal with the first
nine verses of 1 Corinthians. Before we begin, though, let's
ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, this evening, we
do thank you for another time that we can come together. Lord,
we thank you for the blessing of being able to hear the gospel.
We pray that tonight would you bless the word by the Holy Spirit. Bless it to our hearts, to our
understanding. Lord, teach us. Oh, how desperately
we need to be taught. We ask these things for Christ's
sake. Amen. There's nothing that is more
refreshing to a believer than to be able to hear the glorious
report of God's mercy and grace to His people. that Almighty
God would be pleased, though He saw nothing in the
recipients of His mercy, that He would be pleased to show mercy
to a sinner, to a rebel, to a worm such as we. We rejoice that the
Lord has shown mercy. I'm so thrilled that we have
a place right here that we can get in an automobile and in a
few minutes we can meet together. So many people don't have that. And at best they drive hours,
hours, hours. But God has raised up a place
in this little town and has sustained it all these years. Now the Apostle
Paul is now writing a letter to a church that God raised up. Just like he raised up this church
right here, Katie Baptist Church. Almighty God raised up an assembly
in a city called Corinth. Corinth. And in the first two
chapters, when we're going through this book, I'm just going verse
by verse. The first two chapters of this
book, the Apostle Paul was blessed by the Spirit of God to teach
these people something of the glorious mercy of the Lord. and taught them what God Almighty
had done for them, taught them and called them out of darkness,
kept them, sustained them. And now in verse 3, and again
we must understand in chapter 3, that this Word is breathed
by the Spirit of God. Now God Almighty wrote these
words. They were penned by the Apostle
Paul. But these are God-breathed words. And when we hear the gospel of
God's grace preached, we must understand this is the same message
that the Lord Jesus Christ preached. These are His words. So as we
consider these words, let's be mindful. of whose words these
are. Now in this third chapter, the
Apostle Paul is going to deal with a subject and it's painful
to the flesh, I'm going to tell you right now, but oh how needful
it is. We need to be reminded by the
Holy Spirit that we are sinners that we are kept by the power
of God through faith. And that faith that has been
given us, it wasn't of ourselves. We weren't born with faith. That is the gift of God. And
when Almighty God gives a man, gives a woman a heart to believe,
oh, what a gift. Because without faith, it is
impossible to please God, and the Lord's got to give faith.
So here we're going to consider a few things, and I want to remind
us before, I want to say it's good for us. that we've been
afflicted. That's what King David said,
it's good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn
thy statutes. Now I want us to look at these
first nine verses and let's hear what the Spirit of God has to
say. Paul the Apostle writing says,
and I brethren, here's what I want us to do before we go any farther.
Who is he writing to? He's writing to believers. He's
writing to believers. He's writing to those that he's
convinced. are members of the body of Christ. He's writing to those that he's
assured by as much as Paul could know that these were redeemed
and regenerated sinners. But there was a dilemma. And
as these first nine verses unfold, we're going to see what the dilemma
was. But there was a problem. He says, and I, brethren, could
not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto
babes in Christ." And this is what he told them. He said, I'm
not able, I can't speak to you as mature believers. But he said, I'm going to have
to speak to you as babes in Christ. I'm going to have to talk to
you like you would a baby. He said, verse 2, I have fed
you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able
to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. Now, here's what the
apostle is telling them. He said, I realized by your actions
that he's going to bring out in just a couple of verses here,
that I could not speak to you as being spiritually mature. He said, I had to speak to you
because of your attitude and your behavior. I had to talk
to you like babies. I had to talk to you like babes
in Christ. He said, and here's the reason.
He said, you were not able to bear it, neither are you able. First part of verse 3, for ye
are yet carnal. Here's what he's saying. He said,
you're acting like unbelievers. You're acting like those that
don't know the Lord. And he said, I'm convinced that
you do. He said, now I fed you. I fed
you with milk. I have saturated your mind with
milk. Now, I'm going to deal with the
subject. You know, you think of the milk
of the word and the meat of the word. And Paul is telling them
right here, I fed you with milk and not with meat. Now I'm going
to deal with something that is an amazing truth. It's amazing
to me. I know it will be to you. Here's
an amazing thing. When somebody talks about the
milk, the milk for babies, or the meat for mature believers. You know, you think, well, I
wonder, what is the difference there? What is the difference?
He said, I fed you, when it says with milk, he said, this is what
I did. I fed you with the ABCs of the
gospel and not with meat. He said, I did not saturate your
mind with maturity. Now, let me make something perfectly
clear. I'm going to tell you the difference
in the milk for babies and the meat for aged believers. Now
here, get a hold of this because I want you to make sure that
you understand because we're going to deal with this for a
few verses here and I want you to understand the difference
in the milk for babies and the meat for believers. There's none. There is no difference. Here is the milk of the word
for babes. The fundamentals of the gospel.
When I set forth, when any gospel preacher sets forth the truth
of God's word, here's the fundamentals of the gospel. Man is a totally
depraved sinner. Almighty God, through no merit
in those that He chose to show mercy, Almighty God elected a
people from before the foundation of the world that He was going
to show mercy and compassion to whomsoever He would. Did He
have right to choose one and pass by another? Yes, sir. Yes,
sir. Why? Because He said, all souls
are mine. The souls of the son, the soul
of the father, their mind. The soul that sinneth is going
to die. When Christ went to the cross, for whom did he die? He
died for His people. He was their absolute substitute. He bore their sins in His own
body and they were His. They were His sins. Psalm 40
says, My iniquities, more than the hairs of my head, I can't
look up. When He became sin, when He was
made sin, He was made what His people are. When the Spirit of
God is pleased to call out one of God's elect that Christ died
for, He's going to call them irresistibly. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power He's going to call God's
elect and they will come. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And concerning all that the Father
gave the Lord Jesus Christ in electing grace from before the
foundation of the world, Almighty God's going to keep them. They're
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last time. Now, that's the ABCs of the gospel. Somebody say, oh, that's high
doctrine. No, that's what God Almighty calls his people out,
teaching right there. That's the ABCs of the gospel. That's the milk to babes. Well, what is the meat to the
mature? Man is a totally depraved sinner,
and I'll go through all five of them again. It's the same
message. It's the same word. It's the
same gospel. So when we talk about milk to
the babe and meat to the aged believer, taught believer, the
message never changes. Paul says, I am determined. not to preach anything among
you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He didn't come out
and say, now this is going to be for babies today. All you
aged and, you know, mature believers, which everybody would just sit
there real proudly, you know, and say, well, this is not going
to be for me. No. It's the same message. It's the
same message. But there's a difference, and
we'll look at that. Those first two chapters, Paul
set forth the fundamental truths of the Gospel. The milk of the
Word. That message by which God calls
His people out. And listen to this in 1 Peter,
1 Peter 2, 2-3, As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the
Word, that you may grow thereby. That you may grow in the same
message. That you may grow thereby if
so be you've tasted that the Lord is good. So here's what
we realize. There is no difference. There's
not two messages. There's not a higher and a lower
doctrine. It gets no higher. than the glorious
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. It gets no higher. It gets no better. This is the
message of life. This is the message. This is
the message that God calls out the babies and nourishes them. And this is the message that
the mature believers mature into more and more. They grow in grace. and in the knowledge of the Lord
and Savior. So there's not two sets of doctrines,
higher and lower faith. One for babies, the other for
mature. When my kids were little, I would teach them. I'd say, now listen to me. I
want you to be fair. Don't steal. Don't cheat. Don't lie. you know, I want you to be helpful,
I want you to, you know, make sure you get your chores done,
stuff like that, you know, and that was kind of some rules,
just ground rules. Now do you know what I expect
right now of my children? And they're all grown, they all
got kids. Don't lie, you know, be fair, you know, just be honorable,
be respectful, Now there's one rule. That rule for that child
was the rule for the adult. It's the same rule right now.
But I expect that that adult is going to act maturely. I'm
gonna expect, if I told Gabe when he was growing up, he would
go out there and he'd go out on the job with me. We'd go out,
be hanging vinyl siding. And he'd go up and he'd get a
piece of vinyl out of a box and bring it to me. And I said, oh
Gabe, you did such a good job. I'm so proud of you. Now that's,
okay. I expect him now as a grown man. to be honorable in his profession,
do it right, do it with sincerity and truthfulness, I expect maturity. Same message, but there is a
maturing. When a person begins to grow,
you don't act like a child anymore. These at Corinth, Though they
had been taught the gospel, and they were believers. Paul addressed
them as believers. Though they had heard the message
of the gospel, which was milk to babes in Christ, they weren't
acting like mature believers. They were hearing the gospel,
but they were acting like children. They were acting like carnal. That's what Paul was telling
them. So therefore, the Apostle Paul,
he said, I've got to continue preaching to you, treating you like children. In
verse 3, he said, For ye are yet carnal, for whereas there
is among you envy and strife and divisions. Are you not carnal
and walk as men, as the world? He said, what should have been
for your maturing hearing of the truth was obviously not manifested. This same thing was dealt with.
Hold your place right there. Turn over to Hebrews 5. Hebrews
5 for a minute. Hebrews chapter 5, verses 11
to 14. Here's what the Scripture says.
Hebrews 5, 11, of whom we have many things to say. He's talking
to this church of the Hebrews. Hard to be uttered, seeing your
dull of hearing, for when for the time you ought to be teachers,
you have need that one teach you again, which be the first
principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have
need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth
milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he's a
babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are full of age,
even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil." Before I go any farther, let
me just say something that was a real help to me one time. I heard this from Brother Henry.
That's where I heard it. He said, the difference in an
aged believer and a babe in Christ. He said, a babe in Christ hears
the gospel and God gives them faith and they believe it. They
walk in it. They love it. He said, here's
the meat of the Word. Here's the strong meat of the
same message It's when God Almighty teaches
that believer and they now begin to walk with some maturity. He said the setting forth of
the maturity that is wrought by the Spirit of God through
the preaching of the gospel and beholding it in the lives of
believers, seeing some maturity. He said that's when a believer
is said to be eating strong meat. The doctrine itself is the milk
of the word. The effects of the gospel of
God's sovereign grace upon a person is the meat that is wrought,
the effect, the manifestation. Does that make sense to you?
I mean, you understand what it is. If there is not a manifestation,
do we believe in salvation by works? Absolutely not. Absolutely
not. Not by works of righteousness
that we've done. But according to His mercy, He
saved us. But does a believer walk and manifest what the Scriptures
declare as good works? Love for the brethren. You know,
love for God's Word. I mean, there's a work. And it's not a work that they
put any confidence in for their salvation, but it's a manifestation
of maturity. That's the meat. That's the strong
meat. I'm going to tell you something.
People can say, I believe in the five points of Calvinism.
That's wonderful. I tell you what, that's good. I believe the gospel of God's
grace. walk, adorn the gospel that you profess. Walk like a
believer. Walk with some maturity. That's
what Paul is telling them. Now he said here in Hebrews 5,
He says in verse 11, "...of whom we have many things to say, and
hard to be uttered, seeing you're dull of hearing." He said, now,
we have some things to say and to be explained, is what he's
saying, as the Spirit of God gives understanding. But he said,
you're dull of hearing, that is, you've become spiritually
lazy and slothful, exhibiting spiritual immaturity, toward
the revelation of Christ. He said, this is God's Word.
He said, walk in it. Walk like a believer. Walk like a believer. He said,
everyone, verse 13, that useth milk, is unskillful in the word
of righteousness, for he is a babe." I had to look at that verse of
Scripture for a while this afternoon, but I believe this is what the
Apostle is saying. For everyone that useth, that
is, everyone that is partaking of what the Scripture sets forth
as the milk of the Word, everyone that is a baby, he said everyone
that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness.
That is, a babe is not expected to walk and to act like a grown
man, a grown woman. I mean, if you hear the gospel,
you believe the gospel, But if it's the milk of the word to
you, the experience of the gospel may not be there. As an infant,
yesterday Glenda and I was over at an office and there was a
little girl, a small little girl, and she had under the chairs, there was five
chairs in a row and her mama and somebody else was sitting
there and she's on the floor and she's got, she had five little
stuffed animals and she had a little stuffed animal under every chair
and they were all turned the same way and I'm sure in her
mind they're all sleeping. That's what it looked like to
me. She put all these little stuffed animals to bed. And she
was so cute and she was talking to me and she was petting them
and things like that. And I thought, you know, that's
the cutest thing. You know, she's aware, they sleep,
you know, and that's great. Unless I would see a grown woman
down there under that chair with little stuffed animals and she's,
you know, talking to them. Now something's wrong. I mean,
you know, what was milk to this little baby? After a while, I
mean, there should be some maturity. And this is what the Apostle
Paul was saying. He said, everyone that uses milk
is unskillful. There's no experience in the
word of righteousness because he's a babe, but strong meat. Belongeth to them that are of
full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil." He said strong meat, solid food,
solid food. What is the solid food? It's
the gospel. What is the milk to babes? It's the gospel. That's
why we never change our message. We never, never, somebody tells
us, you know, you need to get some more material. There ain't
no more material. This is it. This is it. This
is what feeds the children. You know, these children that
sit need to hear the same gospel that the elders do in this congregation. It's the same message. And the
Spirit of God teaches where they are, where they are. I was in
an art class. I was a senior. And it was all
four classifications. There was freshmen to seniors.
I was a senior. And the professor came and he
had a, there was some still lifes there. And it was a charcoal
class. And he said, now everybody is
going to, he said, I'll get you easels wherever you want to.
And here's the, here's they are right there. He said, now you
pick the one and you go ahead and draw it. And he said, I'm
going to grade you where you are. I'm going to give you a
grade, but I guarantee you that he did not expect the seniors
that have been in art school for four years, if they're drawing
like freshmen, then it ain't going to go well. I can tell
you that right now. That's the way it is. It's the
same message. It's the same glorious gospel. It's the same message. Milk to
babes is strong meat to the aged. Then the Apostle Paul Back in
1 Corinthians, he said what the problem was. He set forth. He said in verse 4, he said,
For you're yet carnal, for whereas there's among you envy and strife
and divisions, are you not carnal? Do you not walk as men? What he was saying was this.
He said, there's some divisions here, and they shouldn't be.
There should not be this envying and strife and division. He said, what you're doing, verse
4, one saith, I'm of Paul. I like Paul. Another says, I'm
of Apollos. I like Apollos. I'd rather hear
Paul preach." And they said, well, no, I'd rather hear Apollos
preach. Apollos, I like the way, you know. He said, are you not
carnal? Are you not acting like babies? Now, the problem was not the
gospel they preached. It wasn't that these, Paul and
Apollos was preaching two different messages. They were preaching
the same message. But what the problem was, was
one group was captivated by one man's preaching and the other
was captivated by another man's preaching. Paul had already mentioned
this in chapter 1. We dealt with this a few weeks
ago. So the issue was not the message, the issue was personality. their delivery, or some other
outward manner to compare one man to another. And Paul said,
you're acting carnally. He said, you're acting like unbelievers. You're acting like men of the
flesh. Just remember, if there's an
issue between two people, two people that claim to know Christ,
If it's anything other than, if there's an issue and it's
anything other than the gospel, that ain't the issue. Someone called Brother Henry
one time and he said, I got a problem. We got a problem over here in
the church. And he said, let me tell you what it is. And Brother
Henry knew him well. If he hadn't have known the situation,
I know what he would have said. He would have said, go talk to
your pastor. He said, don't call me again. But I tell you what
he told them. They brought up whatever the
issue was and he told them, he said, that's not even an issue.
That's nothing but a distraction. He said that all that is, is
just distraction. And all it does, it causes envy,
strife, and division. He said, if it's not the gospel,
if the issue is not the glorious gospel of God's grace, that message
that honors Almighty God in the redemption of His people, then
it's nothing more than a distraction. Leave it alone. Who then, verse
5, is Paul? And who's Apollos? But ministers
by whom you've believed. even as the Lord gave to every
man. I have 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 are laborers together with God." You're God's husbandry. You're God's building. Men taught
of God ought to know. Men taught of God ought to know
that preachers are God's ministers. They're called and taught by
the Holy Spirit. They are instruments in the hands
of the Master for one reason. to preach the gospel. I will
give you pastors after my heart. And they're going to teach you
with understanding. Preaching is not a popularity
contest. And God's preachers must never
be a source of contention or anything else. Anything else. This is what they were doing.
Preachers are gifts sent from God to His flock to be the proclaimers
of God's Word and that to comfort the sheep. This is what a God-called
preacher is supposed to do. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. You tell them that their warfare
is over. You tell them the gospel. When we were at Gabe's the other
day, one of the preachers there, He got up and said, was talking
about the type preaching. He's a pastor and he was talking
about the preaching that he likes. He said, this is the kind of
preaching I like. That kind of preaching, he says,
that sets forth how God could show mercy to a sinner like me.
He said, a message that gives me some hope. He said, don't
try to puff me up. I know better than that. I know
what I am. He said, you people don't know
me like I know me. He said, but tell me the message
of God's grace. And he said, just don't get distracted
on anything else. Don't have anything else. Who are these men? These men
are ministers, they're sinners, saved by the grace of God. Nothing
in themselves, and when they've done all that they've been commissioned
to do, this is what they will rightfully say. We are but unprofitable
servants, we have done that which was our duty to do. Whenever Paul said, we are but
unprofitable servants, this is what he meant. God's preachers
do not add anything to the glory of God in the proclamation of
the gospel. God's preachers don't add anything
to it. We preach it. We preach it. We
proclaim the truth. Paul said, he said, I've planted. Apollos watered. But God gave
the increase. Man, I'm telling you, The glorious
message that is proclaimed from this pulpit, if I have another
man come and stand in this pulpit, this is the only message, this
is the only message that we'll hear from this pulpit by God's
grace. This is it right here. It's the same message. He said,
I watered, I planted, but God gave the increase. You know,
the Lord may use one to plant the seed of the gospel in the
heart of His elect, and another one He may use to water and nurture
that which He's planted for the maturing and for the blessing
of that believer. But only God can get the honor
for it. The message that we preach, or
any other man that has preached from this pulpit, it's not our
message. It's the gospel. of God, the
glorious gospel. Now he that planteth, verse 8,
and he that watereth are one. And every man shall receive his
own reward according to his own labor. Whenever Almighty God
calls a man, that man preaches that which God Almighty has taught
him. And every man that God calls,
Paul says, we're one. We've been called to one work.
Same work. A minister of the gospel. We
stand in the same relation to Almighty God. Servants. Servants. Called by the same
Spirit, preach the same message and have the same hope of glory,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He that planteth, he that watereth
are one. And every man shall receive his
own reward according to his own labor. Now, let me, I don't even
need to say this, but I will. We're not sitting here earning
crowns, you know, and be able to get into heaven and just think
that all of this faithfulness that we've shown down here, that
we're earning these, you know, rewards. And we're just going
to have just, I mean, just going to be some of us standing there
and we won't even be able to hardly stand up for all of the
great crowns and rewards that we're going to When it comes
to rewards, a believer knows that he's going to receive nothing
from the Lord that he earned. I can tell you that. Our labor
adds no merit to his message or to us. We are who we are by
the grace of God. But to hear him say, now here's
a reward. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. What a reward. Because I know
this, it was only by the grace of God that I ever would hear
those words. I love the word of the Lord God
to Abraham. Listen to this, now you talk
about a reward. Now, let me tell you this, every
believer, I'm going to just tell you, let me tell you your reward. When God spoke to Abraham, Genesis
15-1, He said, fear not, Abraham, don't be afraid. I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward. You want to talk about a reward? Let's talk about Him. Let's magnify
Him. Our reward is God Almighty. He has given Himself to us. Now let me ask you this. What
else is there? Christ is all. And in all. Last verse. For we are laborers
together with God. Ye are God's husbandry. You're God's building. This is God's work. This is the
Lord's work. The church is His garden. That's what the Lord said to
the Spirit of God in the Song of Solomon. 4. Blow, O north
wind, O south, blow upon my garden. Blow, north wind, of convicting
love and grace, and to teach my people what they are. Blow,
O south, Spirit of God, you warmth from the south, and comfort them. that you've taught, that the
spices, the spices, the fruits of God's Spirit might flow out.
This is the Lord's garden. And His preachers have been called
into the labor, the scripture says, ye are laborers together
with God. What does any man, any woman
called by God's grace have to boast in save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified? Then Paul said, and I thought
about this in closing, 1 Thessalonians 5, 23, Brethren, pray for us,
pray for us. The Apostle Paul was telling
them, he said, I fed you milk. And he said, I couldn't feed
you meat. He said, because of the envy
and the strife and division, is the Spirit of God going to
teach his people? He said, but you're dull of hearing,
is what he said in Hebrews 5. He got many things to say. And I'll tell you this. The Spirit
of God matures God's people into walking like believers. I mean,
the walk of a believer, the walk in the midst of this world, we've
got corruption within, we've got fightings without, and we're
in a world and we're not of it. And it's by the grace of God
that God Almighty keeps us while we're walking. Lord, teach us
to walk as taught, aged believers, for Christ's sake. Amen.