1 Corinthians chapter 3 and beginning
there in verse 16, 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16, it says,
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of
God dwell 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 seemeth 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's, and Christ
is God's." Now, keeping in mind that the whole thrust of Paul's
message to the Corinthians has been the superiority of that
which is spiritual with that which is carnal. in spiritual things. And so there
is a great difference and there is no mixture between that which
is of the Spirit and that which is of the flesh. And the Spirit does not enhance
the flesh. The Spirit subdues the flesh,
but it does not change the flesh. Because the only thing that is
going to change the flesh is the resurrection. when the Lord
said, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall be changed. And that is the only time that
flesh ever changes from what it is by nature as God made it. Now, you know, the fact that we are flesh is
not a bad thing in itself because God made it and He looked at
it and He said it is good. But He made us as corruptible
flesh. We are what we are because we
are made exactly like He wanted, but He did that. for the purpose
of manifesting the glory of His grace in the redemption of sinners,
that His grace might be magnified through the ages to come. Now,
the only ones that can find fault with that are those who would
find fault with God, because men didn't make that up. You couldn't have come up with
that. How would a man ever think up such a thing as that? He couldn't.
And so if you find fault with how God has made the world, then
you have to take that up with Him, because He has set forth
in His Word that He is going to have glory from all things,
that He does all things, He said, according to His good pleasure.
And you remember, as Nebuchadnezzar said, the Most High ruleth in
the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and there is none that can stay His hand All question His doings,
saying to him, What doest thou? And so it is that Paul has set
forth this argument. And then he is reiterating to
them the fact that they are not the temples of carnality. That's
not what they've been called to. He said, Know ye not that
ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you." Don't you know that? Well, sure we know that. I mean,
we've been taught that. That's what the Scripture has
taught us and that's what the Spirit of God has taught us because
He has given us His Spirit and He has made us aware of what
we are by nature. Now, a man that doesn't know
what he is by nature hasn't been taught by the Spirit. If a man
doesn't think he's a sinner, unworthy of the least of the
Lord's mercies, then he's never been taught of God. That's just
as simple as it can get. I mean, you know, if a man thinks
that he has something in himself that he can bring to God and
say, look, Lord, here it is, you need to bless me on the basis
of this, then he's never been taught of God. because he never
been taught what he is by nature. That even his righteousness is
the very essence of the best he could do are filthy rags in
the sight of God. And so it is that he says this
in a rhetorical way. That is, he's asking a question,
but it's not really a question. It's more of a statement. He
said, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you? Don't you know that? Of course
you do. And so he says, knowing that, if any man defile the temple
of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy,
which temple ye are. Now, is he saying here that God
is going to destroy that which he made? Is He going to say that He made
that holy? Is He going to do that? Is He
putting forth a conditional thing here and He's saying, now if
you do this, God's going to destroy you? No, He's carrying on the
very argument that He's setting forth. He's saying this, that
you are the temple of God. You've been made the temple of
God. And if God made you the temple of God, He's not going
to destroy that and you can't destroy it either. But to know
that there is no mixture of the flesh and the Spirit, if it were
possible for a man to defile the temple of God, God would
destroy it. But you cannot defile the temple
which God has made because why? The Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, is he saying you don't have
any sin? Of course not. What he's talking
to them about is the fact that they don't need to try to mix
that which is of the flesh with that which is of the Spirit.
They don't need to come together and argue about who they're going
to follow. Because why is that? That's carnal.
We don't have any business doing that, he said. You're not in
the Lord because of what somebody did. And there's no mixture of
these things. And if there was a mixture of
it, God would destroy the one who brought about the mixture
of it. Now that should cause a dose of healthy fear in the
people of God, lest we defile the temple of God. Now, can we
defile the temple of God? I don't believe he can, according
to what he's talking about here, unless it is that God would destroy
that which is precious in his sight, which he has showed in
the Word of God that he will not do. So he says here, let
no man deceive himself. Don't get to thinking this way,
he says. If any man among you seemeth
to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may
indeed be wise." If you think you've got some understanding
of spiritual things from a carnal standpoint, he said, let him
become a fool, and then he'll be wise. Because otherwise, if
you continue on in the flesh, you will show yourself to be
a fool. So if you're going to be wise, there's only one way,
and that would be to be wise in the Lord. He said, let him
become a fool that he may be wise. Now, if you ask God's people
if they are wise in their flesh, in their carnal way, is there
any wisdom in my carnal flesh? Then the fact is that as we are
taught by the Spirit, there is nothing good within us. There
is no wisdom in the flesh. There is a way which seemeth
right to man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. But by
those things that the Spirit of God has taught us, we are
wise. Because the wisdom of God is foolishness to the world,
is it not? the Spirit are wise unto us. We want the wisdom of God, do
we not? Not in a carnal way. Now, like
Jacob has an interesting passage of Scripture there about what
he did with those sheep and cattle. You know, Jacob, he was a man
that was a schemer. Now the Lord made him that way,
and we're not condemning Jacob when we say that. But Jacob was
a man who was a schemer and a planner, and he figured out that if he
did these things, he would get the upper hand over Laban. And
so that was his work to do that. Now he did understand that God
was the one that brought the blessing to him. But nonetheless,
he was scheming and planning in this. And so, in that, he
exhibited the wisdom of the world. Now, if Jacob had really had
Laban's best interest at heart, which are we not supposed to
have our brethren's interest at heart, he wouldn't have never
done that, would he? But you see, he was mixing those
things, but God was teaching lessons, so we're not analyzing
what Jacob did there, but just pointing out that there is a
difference, you see. Because he taketh the wise in
their own craftiness. Now Laban, again, he was wise,
but the Lord took him in his own craftiness, didn't He? Because
he sent Jacob, whom he gave even greater ability to run a scam,
and he caught him up in his own thing, just like Jacob got caught
up by Laban. I mean, the Lord will cause the
wise to be taken in their own craftiness. And when you think
you're so smart that you've got away with something, then you'll
find out that you didn't. And so it is that the Lord does
work in His people, for the wisdom of this world is indeed foolishness
with God. There's nothing that a man can
bring to God that's going to impress him. I mean, everything
of man is foolish before the Lord. I mean, what is man that
thou art mindful of him, and the Son of man that thou hast
visited? Why would the Lord have any regard to men? Because everything
that man has ever done on his own has been in opposition to
the way of God, is it not? I mean, when the Lord's men came
together and decided to build the Tower of Babel, you know,
they were going to build this monument, and so they could get
up into the heavens, they said, well, you know, we're going to
just raise ourselves up. And the Lord confounded the wisdom
of the wise, and He brought it to nothing. And so it is that,
you know, when you look at ants on an ant hill, those ants, have
more power and more worth in this sense to you than the creation of God does
to him in comparison to the value of it, comparatively. Because
we're all creatures just like the ants, and I mean, who are
we to say anything about the ants? They can do whatever, I
mean, but how insignificant are ants? They're insignificant,
of course, until you step in the bed of one of them, and then
they're not too insignificant, but they're insignificant. And
you see them running around, and you say, what are those crazy
things doing? I mean, how much more is the
running to and fro of men foolishness in the eyes of God? More so than
you looking at those ants running around. Now, we know God's in
control of all these things, but nonetheless, as He has set
them in order, our runnings around are as much more foolishness
to Him than those ants are to us because of that. The Lord is not impressed with
men in any way, nor does He need them in any fashion, but that's
what makes the grace of God so gracious. It is that God who
is rich in mercy when He didn't have to do anything and nobody
deserved anything, yet in His mercy He gave us everything. And He has brought us from the
dunghill to raise us up to sit in heavenly places with Christ.
And so the Lord does take the wisdom, the wise in their own
craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise that they are vain. You know, there are intellectuals
who like to for you to be impressed with how much they know. I mean,
you know, you can, some of these guys, you know, they get on these
panels of experts, and they're asking them these questions,
and you know, they're just telling you everything they know, and
you're supposed to be so impressed with what they know. And they
do know a lot more about stuff than I'll ever know, or you,
or probably. You know, they are experts, but
there's nothing. The thoughts of the wise are
vain. Well, what do they really matter?
What does it really matter when you get these fellows that's
trying to figure out, they think they know how the Lord, or not
how the Lord made it, but how the world came into being? You
know, and this one will set forth this theory, and they'll have
this, and they've got this all figured out. And how vain and
foolish is that? I mean, the smallest child whom
the Lord has seen fit to give the gift of faith, he knows more
about what happened than the wisest of men ever could. They
just cannot know it. It is vain. It is foolish. And
of course, Paul is not just speaking about men in general, but he
is applying this to carnal thinking among the saints of God. He said
the ways of men are vain. So what would be the purpose?
What could be served by us boasting in who it is that baptized us? Or who it is that we learned
the things of the gospel from? How foolish is that to be thinking
of such a thing as that? Therefore, having said that and
seeing this, now this is the place, therefore let no man glory
in men. Let no man glory in men. Now, that's all right. We like that okay, as long as
we don't think it's talking about us. Because we want to have a
little glory. I mean, we want somebody to pat
us on the back, don't we? I mean, we've got to have something.
It just wouldn't be right if we didn't. Now, the Lord does
indulge our weaknesses and He does give us brethren of consolation
who do encourage us and pat us on the back from time to time.
But you know, the spiritual man, is moved to deflect all praise
to the Lord, because He is the One that is worthy of all praise.
And that is what Paul is saying right here. He said, Therefore
let no man glory in men, for all things are yours. Now what does that mean? Well, it simply means this. that
men didn't give you anything spiritually. It's impossible
that a man could give you something spiritual. Now, the Lord may
use a man, as Paul points out, that the Lord used him to preach
the gospel unto these Corinthians, but he didn't impart anything
to them. He was simply a mouthpiece. He
was simply the trumpet. Now, when a musician stands up
and he plays the trumpet, what is it that is beautiful? Is it the trumpet? Or is it what's coming out of
the trumpet? Is it the trumpet or is it the
one blowing in the trumpet? Now, I mean, you can have the
best trumpet that ever was and it won't do anything, will it?
So it's not the trumpet, but it's the one playing the trumpet,
and it's what's coming out of the trumpet. And you see, the
Lord's the one that plays the trumpet, and He's the one that
makes what comes out of it so that men can hear it. And so
He says, don't glory in men, for all things are yours. They've
already been given to you by the Lord. He's the One that gave
you the things that you have. And that's what He says, "...whether
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
or things present, or things to come, all are yours." The
Lord gave these things to you. You see, the Lord has equipped
His people. He called you out of darkness
and into light. He's seated you in heavenly places
in Christ. He's given you the mind of Christ. Remember when he said that up
here in verse 16 of chapter 2? He said, but we have the mind
of Christ. Now we talked about that. That
doesn't mean we know everything Christ knows, but it means that
we have His spiritual mind. We've been given the same desire
to serve God that Christ had. Exact same thing. Why? Because
the life that we have is the life of Christ. He has given
that to us. He has caused us to love Him,
to love His way. Where did we get it? Did somebody
come along and give it to us? No. The Lord gave it to us. And it is ours. It's been presented to us by
Him. So do not worry about those things or who brought it to you,
because it is yours because of what He has done. All things are yours, ye are
Christ's, and Christ is God's. Now that is a pretty good succession
there, is it not? I mean that is exactly what He
said there, but we have the mind of Christ. Whatever we have has
been given to us by Christ, And Christ is the manifestation of
God unto us in that we shall never see God in any other way
than that we see Him in Christ. He has revealed Himself unto
us in Christ. And He has given us all things
pertaining to life and righteousness, everything. There is nothing
that we lack. There is no way that you can
improve it. You can't bring anything to the table. You can't help
him out. But He has given you all things.
What a glorious thing, you know, to remember that we have been
acted upon and in our behalf by Him. And that's why we come
to this table, is to remember His death till He comes again.
Because everything that He did for us is set forth right here
in a manifestation. We are showing the Lord's death
until He comes again. May the Lord help us to do so.