Let a man so account of us as
of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of
God. The Apostle Paul here is writing
to the church at Corinth, and he said, I want to be looked
upon as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, as one
who is a steward of the mysteries of God. God had entrusted to
the Apostle Paul the mysteries of the gospel of redeeming grace. Paul felt himself to be that
vessel in which God had placed these wonderful mysteries concerning
the Lord Jesus, his coming into the world, his incarnation, his
death and resurrection, the truth of the gospel as to how God justifies
and saves sinners, glorious, precious treasures of the gospel. He said, I'm a steward of those
mysteries. Now, in verse 2, he says, moreover, it is required
in stewards that a man be found faithful. A man who has been
entrusted of God, been put in charge of the treasures of the
gospel, it is required of him that he be found faithful. Not that he be found brilliant,
not that he be found somewhere or another head and shoulders
intellectually above his brothers and sisters in Christ, but it's
required of him that he be faithful. that he preach the gospel. Somebody
says, well, isn't it required that he be successful? No. Success is in the hands of God.
We preach the gospel and we leave the results in God's hands. It's
not our business to give results. The scripture says, one waters
another's souls, but it's God that gives the increase. And
so Paul said, it's required of me that I stick to the gospel.
that I preach the truths of God's sovereign mercy and grace, that
I glorify God, that I honor God in my preaching, and I don't
take into account the persons of those that listen to me and
hear me. I do not fear man. I'm a steward
of the mysteries of God, and I must be faithful. And if that
rubs one person wrong, or if that creates a schism here or
there, that's not my concern. My concern is to be faithful
to Him that called me and placed me in this position of responsibility. But with me, says in verse 3,
it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or
of man's judgment. Yea, I judge not my own self. Paul says, To me, it's a very
small thing. It doesn't even concern me that
some people set in judgment on me and on my ministry, that some
people are criticizing me, that some people say that I'm not
God's mouthpiece in this world and that I'm not speaking the
truth of God, that I'm not saying those things that the Lord commissioned
me to say It's a very small thing to me if somebody sets and judges
me. I don't pay any attention to
it. Man's judgment is of small concern to me. Yea, he says,
I don't even set in judgment on myself. I know what God has
revealed to me and I preach that. And I leave the judging to God. We are not to assume God's prerogative
in judging preachers Nor are we to anticipate His decision
about them, as long as they're preaching the truth as God has
revealed it to them, and as long as we know it corresponds with
what the Word of God says. Paul says, for I know nothing
by myself. I know nothing. If I knew something
was wrong, and if I knew that I wasn't preaching what I ought
to be preaching, I'd change it. He says, I know nothing by myself. I know nothing against myself.
I walk with a clear conscience. I had the gospel revealed to
me and I'm preaching it. And regardless of what anybody
else thinks, I'm going to stick right to it. I know nothing against
myself. But he said, this don't justify
me before God. This doesn't justify me just
because I don't know whether there's anything wrong or not.
He said, he that judgeth me is the Lord, and the Lord knows
everything. The Lord knows whether I'm preaching
the truth or whether I'm not. God knows. It's in the hands
of the Lord. He's the final judge. Therefore,
he said, you judge nothing before the time. You don't assume God's
prerogative as we said earlier. You judge nothing before the
time. There's a time coming when Jesus Christ will do the judging.
And he says, this is when the Lord comes. You judge nothing
before the Lord comes. You leave it in God's hands.
Now if a man is speaking contrary to this word, we're told in the
book of Isaiah it's because he has no light in him. And we can
judge by the word of God whether a man's preaching the truth or
not. What a man says in the pulpit is public information. And he reveals his heart by what
he's saying in the pulpit. And if he's not preaching the
Word, the truth of God according to the Word, of course we must
judge that. But the hidden things of darkness,
the Lord's going to bring them to light. And what's he talking
about? He's going to make manifest the counsels of the heart, the
motives of men, God's going to reveal. We cannot at this time
judge the motives of men. Sometimes we say, I believe that
man's preaching for filthy lucre. I believe that man's preaching
there he's surely regards the the opinions of people, and he
doesn't say what he ought to say. He's not preaching faithfully
the Word, and this is the reason. Well, you see, you can't always
judge the motives, and certainly we shouldn't even assume that
we can, and we should not judge men's motives. If a man is wrong,
he's wrong according to the Word of God, and therefore we must
stand with that. But his motives, we'll have to
leave that with the Lord as to why he's preaching. the way he
is. And then he said every man is
going to have praise of God if he's got any coming. If he's
got any coming he'll have praise of God. God will praise him in
that day if he's been faithful as a steward and if he stuck
to the revelation And if he feared not man, but feared God only,
and preached the truth, that man will have praise of God.
In these things, brethren, he says, I have in a vigor transferred
to myself and to Apollos for your sakes that you might learn
in us not to think of men above that which are written. Never
think of a man above what is written of him in the word of
God, preacher or otherwise. All are sinners. All have a heart
that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. All men
are corrupt before God. All men come forth from their
mother's womb speaking lies. All men need to be regenerated
by the Spirit of God. All men must be led by the Spirit
of God or else they're in error and will most surely fall in
the ditch and lead others with them. We must never think more
highly of men than what is written in the Word of God of them. Don't
put any man on a pedestal above what the Scriptures teach about
man. Now he goes on to say here that no one of you be puffed
up one against another. If we stick with the truth of
the Word of God about men, then nobody's going to have any ground
to glory in the flesh. Nobody's going to have any ground
to get puffed up, think they're somebody that they're not. You
stick with the revelation of the Word of God about men. And
then verse 7, He said, for whom maketh he to differ from another?
Who distinguishes you from another? You have four things here, four
words. Who, first of all, who is it
that makes you to differ from another? Well, of course, here
we sit here this morning in this building in Great Falls, Montana,
and we're here under the sound of the Word of God singing these
precious old hymns of the faith and feel that God has given us
a measure of light in our souls, a measure of understanding, a
measure of truth. And over in Central Africa, there's
maybe people sitting this morning around a fire out in some dark jungle someplace, chanting
all kinds of phrases. They don't know anything, have
no revelation, no light, No truth? Who is it that distinguishes
among men? Well, of course the answer is
God. God is the one that distinguishes
among men, giving us the privileges that we have, giving us the abilities
that we have, and the light that we have, and the hope that we
have. It's God that distinguishes. And in election, God distinguishes
between men. God lays hold of, God arrests,
God calls effectually His people. And that's because He chose them
in old eternity. Because He set His love and affection
upon them back before the morning stars ever sang together. Back
before the flapping of the seraph wing had disturbed the ether
air, God had set His love and affection upon His people. God
distinguishes between men. God loved Israel. He did not
love the heathen nations. God loves his people. God loved
Jacob. But he said, Esau have I hated. It's God that distinguishes between
men. And then we have the word what.
And he says, and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?
What have you got that you didn't receive from God? What have you
got? Well, you don't have anything
that you've not received from God. What God has been pleased
to give you, the scripture says in James 1 17, that every good
and perfect gift cometh down from the Father above, with whom
there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Every good
and perfect gift comes down from heaven, it comes from God. What
have you that you didn't receive? Have you been a contributor or
have you been one who just receives? Man, and we notice the next thing
here, how? He says, now if thou didst receive
it, you did receive what you have, and in that that you have
received what you have, why dost thou glory? And there's the word
why. Why do you glory as if thou hadst not received it? If you
had received it, then why are you proud? Now all men by nature
are proud, And pride grows on the human dunghill. Pride is
something that every one of us must deal with. None has more
pride than those who think they have none. All those who think
they have no pride, they're the most proud among us. That's what
I'm trying to say. Pride. Well, you see, we're not
contributors. You see, man has never created
anything really that is vital to life. Every one of us, we
should be ashamed of ourselves. All men ought to be ashamed of
themselves, because all men are sinners. Everything that is corrupt,
everything that brings grief, sorrow, pain, misery into the
world, man has himself brought into the world. Man because of
sin. Death is because of sin. Thorns on the rose bushes is
because of what? Sin. S-I-N. Sin. Curse. Brought on man. Man has never created anything
that is vital to life. You live in God's world. You
drink God's water. You eat God's food. You wear
God's clothes. This is God's world. This is
God's world. Why are you proud? What have
you contributed? You're just a recipient. That's
all you are. You have created nothing but
misery and pain and sorrow as you come into this world. You're
a user. That's what you are. Why are
you proud? Why are you proud? Humble yourself
before God and rejoice and praise God. May this and these few scattered
remarks on these few verses here this morning May it do you good. May it do your soul some good.
May you profit. May God bless you and may you
be humble in your soul this morning as we continue to sing and as
our brother Marshall would speak to us.