1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians 3. My purpose tonight in 1 Corinthians
3 is to deal primarily with the
final three verses, 21, 22, and 23. But I confess to you that
for a long, long time I have avoided The major part of this chapter, do not yet know that I have very
much of a grasp on what it says, but I have read Brother Hawker
on this chapter, and I urge you to do the same. It's almost impossible to read
this chapter without going back to the previous two, because
when he begins commenting on this chapter, he refers to remarks
that he made in the preceding chapter. And it is vital that
we understand these things, this notion that believers are going
to receive rewards that other believers do not have in heaven. is absolute foolishness. Yet this passage seems to say
that, but it does not say that. Not at all. The Corinthian congregation
is having a problem with party factions depending on which preacher
you happen to favor. And Paul is addressing head-on
the foolishness, the carnality, the fleshliness that is contained
therein. May we pray. Lord, we know Your
Word is explicitly revealing that believers, all of them,
still have carnal, fleshly, aspects and areas to our lives. Sometimes, Lord, we're made to
wonder if we're even born again. Not a bad question for us to
put to ourselves, because our fleshliness, carnality in so
many leads us to think such thoughts
as these. But we ought to know, we must
know, whether or not in truth and in fact we truly love the
Lord Jesus. If we do, that cannot be by nature. must be grace. Lord, help us
this night as we read your word. We are discovering that this
book is far easier and far more difficult
to read and understand than we ever realized before. Lord, thank you for helping us. Thank you for opening our eyes
to the wonders and glories of your grace. That everything we
have is in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of your
children have the same mercies and the same blessings in Him. Oh, that we had a clearer view
of all that you've given us in our blessed Savior. Oh, how thankful
we would be if only we knew. But Lord, by your grace and by
your Spirit, we do know Him. Not like we ought, not like we
should, not even like we want to, but we do know Him. You have revealed Him by Your
grace in our souls. And this we cannot deny, that
we know Him and we love Him. We are ashamed of how little
we know Him and how little we love Him. But we bless You and thank You
that we do know and love Him. Now, Lord, we beg that you would
bring us to your holy scriptures once again, a book that our Lord
Jesus Christ is everywhere to be found within. This book is
about Him, and it is about that people who
are in Him His body, His bride, the Church. Lord, bless Your Word and our
feeble attempt to preach the wonders and glories of Your grace
in Christ. Oh, may our souls be satisfied
with Him. We pray in His dear name, Amen. All right, first of all, we read
1 Corinthians chapter 3. And I, brethren... Paul does
not use the term brethren loosely. He uses it in his letters to
refer to believers. So put any thought out of your
mind that these Corinthian persons are not believers. He's already
called them in the introduction of this book. He calls them saints.
And there ain't but one way to be a saint, and that's to be
in Christ. I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal or fleshly. even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and
not with meat. For up until now you were not
able to bear it, and you are not able to bear it now. Neither
yet now are you able. For you are still carnal, fleshly. For whereas there is among you
envying and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk
as men? For while one says, I am of Paul,
and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then
is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers, gospel preachers,
missionaries, by whom you believed?" Now watch this statement. as the Lord gave to every man. Every man must hear the gospel
from somebody. We cannot, we do not, no one
ever has figured it out on their own. Now, I'm confident that if God
gave you the revelation, you could see it as plain as the
nose on your face. But He has purposed, through
the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe. And
since He's in charge of the whole thing, He can do as He pleases. And it pleases Him to send every
man a preacher. even as the Lord gave to every
man. Paul says about himself in verse
6, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that plants
anything, neither he that waters, he's not anything, But God that
gives the increase is everything. Now he that plants and he that
waters are one. And every man shall receive his
own reward according to his own labor. Now that statement does
not mean what we think it means. If we've got any reward coming,
It is based on the blood, righteousness, and merit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul has just finished saying
that he's nothing and Apollos is nothing and God is everything. And now to take this statement
and make it say that somehow we deserve to be rewarded, we
must remember our Lord's own statement in Luke's Gospel when
he said to these to the apostles themselves. He put these words
in our mouth through that parable that when we've done our duty
of obedience to God, we declare ourselves to be unprofitable
servants. And so we all are, whether our
name is Paul or whatever else it happens to be. Now we come
to verse 9. For we are laborers, together
with God. Now, this ain't a cooperative
program. I don't know that I understand
this statement, but I know what it doesn't say, that Paul somehow
works with God on a par, on a 50-50 deal. No way. No way. This man everywhere proclaims
himself to be nothing. He describes Himself as a blasphemer,
as the chief of sinners. He tells us that what He wants
to do, He can't do. What He would do, He doesn't
do. What He doesn't want to do, He does. He calls Himself a wretched
man. Now we come to the second statement
in verse 9. Speaking to the Corinthians,
He says, You are God's husbandry. That's his vineyard, his field,
his crop. The Corinthians belong to the
Lord. They are his. Then he says, you
are God's building. He does not say, you are God's
builders. Everybody wants to be a builder.
These people are God's building. If there's a builder anywhere
when it comes to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is
Christ Himself, none other. According to the grace of God
which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the
foundation, and another builds their own. But let every man
take heed how he builds thereupon. For other foundation can no man
lay than that that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." There is one
foundation and one builder, and both are Christ. Now, if any
man build upon this foundation, You have six building materials,
three of which are precious and three of which cannot stand the
test of fire. The first three, gold, silver,
and precious stones, are simply Christ being built on Christ. Now, if any man build upon this
foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or 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 is built thereupon, he shall receive a reward, and
Christ is that reward. If any man's work shall be burned,
he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so
as by fire. he too shall receive the reward
of Christ. Know you not that you are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any
man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the
temple of God is holy, which temple you are. So any believer
who insists on dishonoring the gospel and grace of God in Christ,
God will simply take him out of this world prematurely. I could give you an illustration
of that, but I won't. Let no man deceive himself If
any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become
a fool that he may be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God, for it is written, He takes the wise
in their own craftiness, and again the Lord knows the thoughts
of the wise, that they are vain, as in vanity. Now these three
verses, therefore, let no man glory in men. Number one, for
all things are yours. Speaking directly to the Corinthian
congregation, all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos
or Peter, or the world, or life, or death, or things present or
things to come, all are yours. Number two, and you are Christ. You belong to Christ. You are
His, and Christ is God's. All things are ours. We are Christ,
His property, His possession. And Christ is God's. Now let's work on these three
statements. And the first one is this. How
does one become the property of Christ? How do we become His? What does this book say about
how those people that subsequently and ultimately make up the body
and bride of Christ, how do they become so? What makes them His? Here are four answers to that
from the Scriptures. If you'll begin with me in Jeremiah
chapter 50, one of the most glorious statements in this whole book
is the fiftieth chapter of Jeremiah and the particular verse to which
we make reference at the moment. If I can find chapter 50, Jeremiah
50, and the verse is verse 20, verse
20. How do people become the property,
the possession of our Lord Jesus Christ? You are Christ. You belong to Him. Verse 20,
Jeremiah 50, In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord,
the iniquity of Israel, and it's just like ours, plenty of it
to go around, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and
there shall be none and the sins of Judah, and they shall not
be found. And here it is, for I will pardon
whom I reserve." I will pardon them whom I reserve. So the first way that people
become the property of Christ is by divine reservation. And this reservation is first
made in eternity past in that precious covenant of grace in
which God gave this people into the care-keeping, saving, redeeming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. For I will pardon them whom I
reserve. Now if you'll turn to Romans,
Almost to 1 Corinthians again, the book of Romans chapter 11,
we have an enlarged statement that explains exactly what the
statement in Jeremiah 50 is talking about. Here we have actual examples
of persons who are set forth to us under these terms. It is
none other than electing grace in the sovereignty of God Almighty. Romans chapter 11. Now you remember
that chapters 9, 10, and 11 in Romans all are addressing the
charge that was brought against Paul's gospel. Paul, if what
you preach is the true gospel of God, where is everybody? And he answers it in three chapters
back to back, 9, 10, and 11. In chapter 10, he answers it
from the human perspective. And in chapters 9 and 11, he
answers it from the perspective of the sovereignty of God Almighty. And here's the answer. I say
then, verse 1, Romans 11, I say then, has God cast away His people? Perish the thought, God forbid. For I also am an Israelite of
the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast
away his people which he foreknew." Don't you know what the Scripture
says of Elijah? How he makes intercession to
God against Israel when he said, Lord, they've killed your prophets. Dig down your altars and I'm
left alone, and they seek my life. But what says the answer
of God to Elijah? Here it is. I have reserved to
myself. The Lord has reserved to Himself. 7,000 men. And I'll guarantee you if
there were 7,000 men, there was a bunch of ladies along with
them. The church has never been totally
one-sided. All men are all women. But he
only mentions the men. Now how could Elijah miss 7,000
men? Same way we can. If all God's doing is what we
see, my goodness. I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Even so then, the apostle concludes, makes this application, Even
so then, at this present time, and I believe based on this we
have full authority to say, and at this time also right now,
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And
if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is
no longer grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. So the first
way that we belong to our Lord Jesus Christ is by divine reservation. Before we know anything at all, we belong to Christ forever and
ever and ever. Well, God can't do anything without
me knowing about it. Yeah, right. Phooey. Phooey. All right. Secondly, 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. Chapter 6. How does one belong to Christ? Secondly, by redemption. To be reserved. and not be redeemed would not help us. Those that God reserves in electing
grace, He must redeem in redeeming grace. If Christ does not redeem
us, God cannot have us, and we cannot belong to our Lord Jesus
Christ. All right, here in 1 Corinthians
6, we'll lose two scriptures on this one. Verses 19 and 20. What? 1 Corinthians 6, 19. Know you not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have
of God, and you are not your own? Well, whose are you? Christ. Verse 20. For you are bought
with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's." Colossians chapter
1, all the way past Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and you'll
run head into Colossians, I think that's right. Chapter 1, verses 13 and 14.
I'll start with verse 12. Colossians chapter 1 and verse
12, giving thanks unto the Father which has made us meet or fit
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has
delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us
into the kingdom of His dear Son. In whom? In God's dear Son. We have redemption through His
blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Thirdly, the third way
by which we become the property of Christ. We'll look at just
one scripture. Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 1.
1 Peter chapter 1. The third way by which we become
the people and property of our Lord Jesus Christ is by divine
regeneration, being born again, the new birth. Here in 1 Peter
1, he calls it being born again. Verse 23, 1 Peter 1, being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. That incorruptible
seed is the Word of God which lives and abides forever. Verse
25, but the Word of the Lord endures forever, and this is
the Word. the incorruptible word of God,
which by the gospel is preached unto you." Fourthly, we go now
to 1 John. Let's see, you've got to go to
the right. 1 John chapter I'm all fingers tonight. 1 John
chapter 5 and verse 20, and we know that the Son of God
is come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true. and we are in Him that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the true
God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. The fourth means by which we
become The property of our Lord Jesus Christ is by relationship. God puts us in Christ. We belong to Him. We're His bride. He's our husband. He's our brother. He's our everlasting
Father. Oh, He's so many different things
in this book that time would certainly fail us to look at
all of these. Somebody wrote, Hail, sacred
union, firm and strong. How great the grace, how sweet
the song, that rebel worms should ever be one with incarnate deity. All right, we come now to one
other question having to do with these statements in 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. Let me get back to my text. We read in verse 21, 1 Corinthians
chapter 3, all things are yours. And the Apostle describes for
us what those all things are. Do you see them? They are in
the 22nd verse. Paul, Apollos, and Peter. gospel preachers sent to the Corinthians, all things are yours. Best don't
quibble over which one it is at whichever time. They all belong
to the Lord's people in Christ. Secondly, he said the world is
yours. This world belongs to God and
to God's Christ, and if it belongs to Him, it belongs to us. The
world? Thirdly, life or death? Is not our life in Christ's hands? Is not our death His appointing? life or death. And as if to gather everything
up in one, or things present or things to
come, all are yours. If Christ is ours, we're His,
and all things belong to us in Him.