Alright, brethren, let's turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. You notice there in that text
that Brother Ark read, the Lord again was talking about planting
that vineyard. He was talking about how He's
going to make it a well-watered garden like Eden, but it's His
work, it's His planting. Alright, let's look here now
at 1 Corinthians 3. Paul said, for a year yet, carnal,
Whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are
you not carnal and walk as men? Now here's why they were being
carnal. Here's the first problem. Because
while one saith, I am of a Paul, and another, I am of Apollos,
are you not carnal? These were two preachers, Paul
and Apollos. Now, the problem here at Corinth
is idolatry. That was the problem, was idolatry.
How so? Anytime something comes between
the sinner and Christ, whatever that object is between you and
Christ, that's your idol. And in this case, the idol was
preachers. It was preachers. Isn't it something?
God can assemble His people in His true church, and yet there's
creeping up idolatry in it. Somebody said one time, If you
find a perfect church, don't join it because you'll mess it
up. It's there with you in your old flesh. It's there with you.
It's creeping up there. Now, there was more than two
divisions, but Paul narrows this thing down to just him and Apollos.
And one reason he does that is because Paul, this division was
over their style of preaching. That's how it started. Paul was
not an eloquent man. stuttered and stammered when
he preached. Apollos was from the Grecian school. He was from
Greece, sat under these philosophers all these many years, and so
his natural style of preaching was to be a lot more eloquent.
You can read about that in Acts 18. I tell you that he was an
eloquent man in the way he preached, his style. But Paul asked this
question, verse 5, who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? So what if one speaks one way
and one speaks another way? Who are these men? But ministers,
by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave to 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. Because we're laborers
together with God. Now watch this. You are God's
husbandry. You're God's husbandry. Now,
the church is God's vineyard. It's his vineyard, it's his garden.
It's his garden. His people are his husbandry. When you go out in California
and you see the grape vines growing in the vineyards, that's husbandry,
that's farming. Go down south and you see the
farms and the gardens, that's husbandry, that's farming. He
says, you're God's garden, you're God's planting, you're God's
husbandry. And therefore, who's to get the preeminence? Who's
to get the glory? God our Savior is. Because He's
the one responsible for everything. He did it all. And so therefore,
His people are to be one in Christ. We're not in competition. We're
not We're not divided, we're one now by what God has done
in His church through Christ. Now that's the message Paul's
conveying here in what he says. Now here's the first point Paul
makes. God does use laborers. God does use laborers in His
vineyard. Look here, verse 5. Who then
is Paul and who's Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man? A preacher is only a minister. A minister. We're so used to
saying that word minister like it's some title of elevation
that we forget what that... That's a... That means something. That means you're... That's his
vocation. That's what he does. A minister.
A minister is an instrument. He's an instrument in the hand
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And a minister is one who executes
the commands of another. He's the instrument that does
what his master would have him to do. And he's a minister. He's a minister. He ministers
something. Look at 1 Corinthians 4 and look
at verse 1. Let a man so account of us as
of the ministers of Christ. That's whose ministers we are.
And stewards. That's what we're ministering.
That means we're ministering something. What are we ministering?
Stewards of the mysteries of God. We're ministering seed. Now, it's through his ministers
that God gives faith to believe on Christ. Look here at verse
5. Who then is Paul and who's Apollos but ministers by whom
you believe? Now does that really say that?
It says, these are but ministers by whom you believed. That's
important. Some at Corinth saw this division
over these preachers. They saw people elevating these
preachers and getting carried away with these preachers and
they had a solution for it. Their solution was, we just do
away with preachers. Look back at 1 Corinthians 1.12.
1 Corinthians 1.12. Now this I
say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Paulus,
and I am of Cephas. Now look at this group, and I
of Christ. That was not a compliment, or
he wouldn't have lumped them in there with them other folks.
No sir, that wasn't a compliment. You see, this particular clique
divided off, they claim Christ saved us, not the preacher, and
that's true. That's altogether true. Christ saves His people, not
the preacher. But their answer to this division
was to take things to extreme and to throw out all preachers.
Their thinking was, we'll give more glory to Christ, If we don't
even have preachers and support preachers and send forth preachers
whatsoever. We are of Christ. Christ is going
to say who He wants to whether He uses a man or He don't use
a man. Brethren, the devil would love it for all men to take that
position. The devil would love it if Christ
wasn't ever preached anytime, anywhere in the world. He would
love that. This is the extreme. You see
how it's last in that list? This is the extreme to which
this division leads to. Here's where it ends. It still
exists in our day. Folks saying, we were saved by
Christ, we don't need a preacher. And it's still wrong in our day.
It's still wrong in our day. It's error to say, and this is
where it leads to, once you start saying, well, we're not going
to support a preacher, here's the next thing. Necessarily,
here's where you lead to. In fact, if you're one of God's
elect, you don't even have to ever hear the gospel or believe.
That's terrible. That's terrible. But Paul says,
we're only ministers. That's all we are. We're just
ministers. But, he says, we are ministers by whom God gave you
faith to believe. So don't throw all the preachers
out just because it's God that's doing the saving. It's God's
wisdom to give life and to give faith through the preaching of
the gospel. That's God's wisdom. Look back
at 1 Corinthians 1.21. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. There He is. I read to you Isaiah 5. He created a vineyard. And he
did all these shadows and types and pictures in the law, and
he gave a law, and he gave all these advantages to oracles of
God to Israel. Did they find who God was? Did
they fall down and say, I'm a sinner, I can't come to you, God, unless
you save me by your grace? A few did because he gave them
grace to know it. But the rest of them said, we
can save ourselves. They made an idol out of all
the oracles of God and everything He gave. But that was after the
wisdom of God. To show you that men can't find
God out by our wisdom. But here's the wisdom of God.
But after that, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Well, I don't like that. Well,
you just have to take it up with God. Remember He said in Isaiah
5, My people are the planting of My pleasure. This is God's
pleasure. Why? It's God's good pleasure. That's enough. Look at Romans
10. Romans chapter 10 and look at verse 13. He says here, Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Who's the first cause here? God
is. God's got to... He's got to give
the glad tidings to His preacher. He's got to send the preacher.
He's got to send Him to the people. The first cause is God. Not man,
it's God. This is how God's showing you
He's the first cause in salvation through this thing of preaching.
So God does give preachers to His people and through the gospel
He gives His people life and faith in Christ. Look back now
at verse 5, 1 Corinthians 3, 5. Who then is Paul, and who
is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believe, even as the
Lord gave to every man?" What did the Lord give? Well, He gave
the preachers. We just read that. How can they
preach except they be sent? And what else does He give? He
gives the life in the sinner. What else does He give? He gives
the faith in the sinner. He gives everything. So He does
use laborers. He does use laborers, but they're
nothing. God's the one who gives them, and God's the one who gives
blessings through them. All right, now that's the first
thing Paul clarifies. Now look at the next thing. Be
sure to understand, though God uses ministers, it's God who
gives the increase. Now look here, verse 6. I have
planted, Paul said. These are gardening terms, aren't
they? I planted, Apollos came along,
You can read in Acts 18, he came along later and he watered. And it says, but God gave the
increase. So then, what do we conclude?
So then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth,
but God that giveth the increase. Now we saw God's preachers there
are but ministers. That's all they are, they're
just ministers. Who's Paul? Who's Apollos? But ministers.
That's all, just ministers. Instruments in God's hand to
minister. Now Paul says here, I planted. Paul was used of God, in God's
hand, to minister seed. That word minister, if you want
to, I've said this to you before to help you understand what it
means, administer. Administer. Somebody administers
something to you, they're giving something to you. He ministered
seed. He said, I planted. He ministered
seed. Paul says, Apollos watered. Apollos
was a minister in God's hand to administer water. Water. Now, when I used to have a garden,
I had various instruments that I used in my garden. And they were instruments in
my hand. I'd pick them up and use them. However, I pleased
to use them. They were my instruments and
I used them. That's what Paul is saying here.
The ministers of God are just instruments in his hand. For
him to use them how he will. And I used those instruments
to administer something. Now, sometimes you plant something
like radishes, for instance. A radish seed is a little bitty
seed. Tiny little seed. Like a turnip seed. you know,
a collard seed, a little bitty seed. And when you're planting
those kinds of seeds, you don't plant those seeds, go along and
plant them, you know, one by one. You want something to broadcast
the seed. And I'd have this instrument
I'd use. I'd put the seed in it, I'd turn the handle, and
a little wheel would spin and it'd broadcast that seed all
over the garden. Paul said, that's all I was in
God's hand. I planted. I was an instrument
to minister, to broadcast the seed. That's all I did, just
broadcasted the seed. And then when I was watering
my garden, I had this instrument they call a water hose. Some
place they call it a hose pipe. But the water hose, and at the
end of the water hose you got some kind of nozzle attached
to it to where you can make it go wider, hard, however you want
to spray the water. But that's just an instrument.
And it's an instrument used to administer water to the seed
in the garden. Paul said that's all Apollos
was. He was just a water hose in God's hand to administer water
to his garden. That's all he was. Now, God's
preachers are ministers. They're instruments in God's
hand to administer seed and water in God's garden. You know what
I never did with those instruments? I never praised those instruments.
I never gloried in those instruments. I never even, when I got through
with the instruments, I just set them wherever I set them
and I've done with them. I was after the fruit. I was
after the planting. I was after what I grew in the
garden. That's what I was after. I didn't glory in the minister. And Paul's saying here, they're
just ministers. We're not glorying in the ministers. But now, what
is this seed? What is this seed that Paul planted
in this water that Apollos watered with? Look over at 1 Corinthians
9. 1 Corinthians 9. And look at verse 11. He says there, We've sown unto
you spiritual things. You see that? We've sown unto
you spiritual things. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. Here's
what those spiritual things are. 1 Corinthians 15. Look at verse
3. I delivered unto you, first of
all, that which I also receive. You see, the preacher's got to
be sent, and before he can be sent, he's got to receive this
seed in this water too. He's got to be called and saved
by God's grace too before he can be used as a minister and
know anything about this grace. But look at this, I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Now there's the
seed in the water right there. That's what Paul planted with
and that's what Apollos watered with, spiritual things. How that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. There was
no New Testament Scriptures when Paul preached in Corinth. So
when he says here according to the Scriptures, he's talking
about the Old Testament Scriptures. You know what that tells us?
That tells us the Old Testament Scriptures are all about Christ
just like the New Testament Scriptures are. Paul went there and he preached
to them how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
He declared the Scriptures of God's promises. Genesis 3.15,
he said, I'll put enmity between thee and the woman. Speaking
to the devil. He said, I'm going to put enmity
between you and the woman. Who's the woman? Listen. Between
thy seed and her seed. There's the seed of the devil,
and then there's this woman who has a seed. That woman is Mary,
and she had a seed, and that seed's Christ. And listen to
what that seed did. It shall bruise your head. Speaking
to the devil, it'll bruise your head. That seed's gonna bruise
your head, and you'll bruise His heel. And that's what Paul
came declaring. He came declaring the Scripture
of promise. He came declaring the Scriptures of type, in types. He said, you remember back there
when Adam and Eve had sinned and they were naked and God found
them in the garden and God slew animal and He made coats of skin
and God came and He covered Adam and Eve's nakedness? Those coats
of skins, that slain, that innocent slain victim in the place of
Adam and Eve was a picture of Christ who died for the sins
of His people. And they preached the blood of
Abel's lamb. You remember how Abel came to
God and he came with the blood of a lamb? Cain came with the
fruits of his own planting. He came with what he had cultivated,
what he had grown. He thought God was going to save
him because of that. What's our text telling us? We're
God's husbandry. We can't come by planting and
growing ourselves. It's God that gives the increase.
Paul said, you've got to come in the Lamb, in Christ the Lamb,
the blood of the Lamb. He preached the scriptures of
prophecy. Daniel 9, verse 24. Look over
there with me. That's one of the most condensed
versions of the gospel you'll find in all the scriptures. Daniel
9, verse 24. See, these are the Old Testament
scriptures. You've got promises, you've got types, shadows, and
then you've got prophecies. Listen to this. Daniel 9, 24. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. You mean God has a
people? God has a city? That's who He
does this work for. He didn't come doing something
just at random. He came to do it for a people.
And He says here, to finish the transgression. The first Adam
transgressed and brought in the transgression and brought his
people under the transgression. The last Adam came, and for his
people, he finished the transgression. You mean I've never transgressed
against God? Not in God's sight. And that's all that matters.
Look here, and to make an end of sins, what about all my sins? Christ is the scapegoat. Remember
the scapegoat? The scapegoat took all the sins
of all Israel and carried it away into a land not inhabited.
That's what Christ did when He took all the sins of His people
and went into the land of death. He took all our sins away. He
made an end of them. It means there are no more for
His people. And to make reconciliation for iniquity. You see, we offended
God when we sinned against God. Christ came. We sinned in one
man and became God's enemy. And one God-man, Christ the last
Adam, He came and He made us God's friend. He reconciled all
His people to God by His atonement. He made atonement for our sins.
And then He brought in everlasting righteousness. Is that something
I've got to do? No, Christ is the everlasting
righteousness of His people. He's the everlasting righteousness
of His people, the fulfillment of the law. The righteousness
of God is Christ. And look, and He sealed up the
vision and the prophecy. Christ said, I came to fulfill
all these scriptures. He sealed them up. He fulfilled
them all. And look at this, and to anoint the most holy. You
know what Christ is right now for His people? He's the prophet,
the priest, and the king. He's anointed. And He's anointed
the way into the holiest of holies, into the most holy place. through
faith in Him. Now that's what Paul says, I
came preaching. And look back at 1 Corinthians
15.4. That's the seed in the water. And look at 1 Corinthians
15.4. He preached Christ resurrected,
triumphant, and seen by many witnesses. He said, and I preached
that He was buried. and that he rose again the third
day according to the Scriptures, just like God said he would,
and that he was seen of Cephas, that is Peter, then of the twelve,
and after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at
once, and he goes on to say, and at last he was seen of me.
Look down at verse 10. He says, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. And His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all." I went forth into this vineyard and I labored,
Paul said. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Now here's what he concludes. Therefore, whether it's me or
it's them that's preaching to you, whether I or they, whichever
one of these preachers of God it is preaching to you, so we
preach, so you believe by God's grace. So you see, Paul and Apollos
were just ministers by whom Christ administered the gospel of Christ. But now here's where my illustration
breaks down. Here's where my illustration
breaks down. In my garden, I use instruments to sow and to water.
But then you know what I had to do? I had to wait on God to
make it all grow. And that's what Paul is saying.
He is saying here, in God's garden, He might use us to administer,
but it's God that gives the increase. It's God that makes things grow.
Look back at 1 Corinthians 3, 6. I've planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the increase. See, spiritual life. What is
that? Spiritual life. Well, sin is death. Transgression
is death. Spiritual life is righteousness
and holiness. And who's your righteousness
and your holiness? It's Christ. It's Christ. God gives the increase. How?
He gives Christ. He gives Christ. You see, when
the Word's being preached, it's like that seed that's put in
the ground. You put that seed in the ground and you can't see
it. It's underground. It's in a dark place. You don't
even know where that seed is. If you get to messing with it,
trying to see that seed, seeing what's happening, you're going
to mess the whole thing up. Leave it alone. And in a little bit,
that seed that's in the ground breaks forth. And a little tender
plant of life comes out of it. And in a little while, you're
going to look down at that garden and you're going to see a little
tender plant poking its head up out of that ground. And it's
going to grow, and it's going to increase, and it's going to
become a vine, and then blooms are going to come out on it.
And from those blooms, fruits are going to come out. And all
of that is God's gift. It's God's gift. You see, He
planted that vineyard in Israel to show you we can't bring this
fruit forth. Now He said, but now when I plant
my vineyard, I'm going to hedge it about. I'm going to put ministers
in it. I'm going to minister, water
it day and night, protect it day and night. I'm going to give
increase in my garden. And that spiritual life that
comes forth, like that little seed in the ground, that life
that comes forth through the preaching of this Word, is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Who did Christ say He is? He
said, I'm the way, the truth, and what? The life. He's the
seed. He's the life. And then as you
grow, what do you become? Christ is divine. You're the
branches. Look at John 15.4. John 15.4. He said, Abide in me, and I in
you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide
in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide
in me. I'm the vine, Christ said, you're
the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you
can do nothing. See, Christ is the seed, He's
the life within, and He's the vine, He's the growth. And He's
the one that produces the fruit. Philippians 1.11 says, being
filled with fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto
the glory and praise of God. He produced them. He produced
them. Now go back to our text. So we
don't glory in men. We don't glory in the preacher.
We don't choose one above another. We give the glory to the Lord.
Look here, 1 Corinthians 7. I mean, 1 Corinthians 3, 7. So
then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth,
but God that giveth the increase. God ministers His preachers are
to be loved, they to be respected, they to be heard. You ever worked in a garden?
It ain't easy work. Working in a garden is not easy. God's preachers are to be respected
and loved and they're to be heard. But they're nothing in themselves.
God's preachers, they're sinners chosen and saved by the grace
of God, by Christ, by the Holy Spirit, just like every other
plant in the garden. No difference. They have nothing
except what they've received, just like every other sinner
God saved. All their gifts they got from God, just like you. If sinners are born through our
preaching, if there's a sinner born through this Word tonight
that I'm preaching, it won't be because of me. It won't be
by me. It'll be the God that gave the
increase. God's preachers are not popes. We're not lords, we're
not masters, we're not to be put on pedestals and bowed down
to as idols. That's what was going on here
at Corinth. But we're to be one with the brethren. Listen to
Christ. Be not ye called rabbi, for one is your master. Don't
be called master. You remember when the Pope that
we have now, he's supposed to be following after Peter, the
Apostle Peter. They say the Apostle Peter was
the first pope. Do you remember when that man came to Peter and
went to bowing down to Peter and Peter said, Get up man, what's
wrong with you? I'm a man just like you are.
That's what Christ said. Every preacher is just a man
just like you are. Listen to this word though. He says, One
is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. Brethren. All brethren. All right, now
lastly, here's the last thing. Back to our text, 1 Corinthians
3, 8. So God's true preachers are not
against each other. They're not to be set against
each other. God's people aren't to be divided
against each other. We're to be one because we're
all laboring together and we're all being used of God. Look at
this, 1 Corinthians 3. Now, he that planteth and he
that watereth are one. Paul said, I planted, Apollos
watered. Look here, listen to this. Paul
came there and preached at Corinth. Paul left Corinth, he went on
to Ephesus and preached. Apollos was at Ephesus, he left
Ephesus and went to Corinth and preached. They weren't together in body,
physically. But Paul said, but we're still
one. Still one. Chosen by one God, our Father.
Redeemed by one Redeemer, Christ our, the Son of God. And regenerated
by one Holy Spirit. Called into one body. One faith. We're one. We're one. Preaching one gospel. One head. One Christ. And God's two true
preachers are seeking one goal. One goal. And this is what I
want you to see. We're seeking one goal. And so
is all His people. We're one. All the brethren,
all the people, we're seeking one goal. And this is what I
want you to see. We're sure to receive it. Look
here, verse 8. And every man shall... That is the important word in
this text. Don't get confused by other words. That's the important
word. And every man, every preacher and every believer everyone of
Christ's sheep shall receive his own reward according to his
own labor." Now listen to this. Our reward, the preacher's reward,
this church's reward, our reward is not a selfish mercenary pay
that we're working for. I'm not working to get paid.
Salvation is by grace. It's free. We're saved by grace.
We're not working to get paid. Nor are we in competition with
each other. The reward that we seek is what
Christ promises He's going to bring to pass. What reward do
you want more than anything else? I want to see God get all the
glory. I want to see Christ get all
the glory. And I want to see every single one of the plants
of God's planting, I want to see them all planted and all
grow up into Christ in all things. That's what I'm seeking. That's
my reward. Paul said, Are not you our reward?
The glory of God in the salvation of His people. Is that not what
you want? He is our portion. That's what we want. That's what
we want. He says, we're going to receive it. We shall receive
it. Why? Verse 9. For we're laborers together with
God. You're God's husbandry. That's
why. Remember, Christ's reward is with Him. Remember that? He
said, you go forth and you preach. You clear out the stones. You
make the way plain. You exalt the highway. And remember
this, Christ's reward is with Him and His work. The effect
of his work is before him, before his presence. He's going to come
forth and give the increase. That's how we shall receive that
which we're seeking. God's going to get the glory
and his people are going to be saved because we're laborers.
If we were just sat here on our own doing this thing, there wouldn't
be no hope for any of us. We're laborers together with
God and you're God's produce. You're God's husbandry. That's
right. He gives a preacher and a people
together. And we labor together. And this
is not my ministry. And it's not your ministry. It's
our ministry. Together with God. And God's
going to give the increase. We got one goal. God's glory.
And the salvation of His people. Now I want to show you something.
Two scriptures I never put together. And this just tripped my trigger
right here. Zechariah 8.11. Zechariah 8.11. I showed you Isaiah 5, how He
broke down the hedge on Israel. He said, now that's not going
to be my vineyard, because they tried to come by their works
and their will, and my vineyard is my planting. And then He said,
but my vineyard is going to be one that I plant and I water
day and night, and I'm going to grow that vineyard. Now listen
to what Christ says about this, Zechariah 8.11. I will not be unto the residue
of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts."
It's not going to be like it was back here in Israel. For
the seed shall be prosperous, and the vine shall give her fruit,
and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall
give their due, and watch this, and I will cause the remnant
of this people to possess all these things. He's talking about
giving the increase in his vineyard. I'm going to cause my people,
the remnant of my people, the elect, to possess all these things. Now go with me to 1 Corinthians
3. And here's the application. What's
all this mean to me then? 1 Corinthians 3.21 You there? Therefore let no man
glory in men, for all things are yours. Isn't that what he
said? I'm going to make my people possess
all these things. All things are yours, whether
Paul or Apollos or Cephas or whatever other true minister
of the gospel you want to name. Are the world, or life, or death,
or things present, or things to come, all are yours. And you're Christ's, and Christ
is God's. Because He said, I'm going to
make them possess it. We're His increase, His produce. To Him be the glory. Amen. Father, we thank You for this
Word. We pray now that You would make that seed germinate, that
You would water it deep in that ground that You've broken up,
that You'd cause Christ to enter in and make life spring forth,
and that the vine would make the branches to bloom and bear
fruit, that we'd all be one, that we'd all seek only your
glory and the salvation of your people. That's the fruit. Lord,
make us to see that it's only because we're laboring together
with you. You've given the increase. You've
given every gift and every possession that you've purchased. And you've
given us all these things. Don't let us fret. Don't let
us be divided. Don't let us worship anybody
but Christ. That'll make us useful. Forgive us, Lord, of our sins.
We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.