Triplets in 1 Corinthians

I'll ask you to read please in 1st Corinthians and chapter 1. I don't like to see a conference pass without some ministry given regarding the local assembly. I was at a conference many years ago when I was quite a younger man and a brother come up to me at noon on Saturday and he said it will be your responsibility. He was a quaint Irishman and if you knew him you would understand.

He said it'll be your responsibility to share in the gospel tonight and then he went on to say I have never seen a man get help in the gospel coming down from a ministry platform. Well I wasn't told that today so I hope the Lord will give us a little bit of help. Very briefly, 1st Corinthians chapter 1, verse 1. Paul called an apostle, you notice those words to be are italicized indicating they were placed there by the translators.

They're not in the original manuscript. Paul called an apostle. That was a divine appointment to apostleship by the Lord Jesus.

Through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called again it's called saints. The two words to be can be eliminated. Called saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours.

Now look over to chapter 2, verse 9. But as it is written I have not seen or ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. What a wonderful promise that is. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.

For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him. Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.

Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Ghost teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him.

Neither can he know them because they are spiritually desired. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things. Yea he himself is judged of no man for who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him but we have the mind of Christ.

Chapter 3. And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal or fleshly even as babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bear it. Verse 4. For while one saith I'm of Paul and another I'm of Apollos.

Are you not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers by whom he 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. According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest or laid open and bare. 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 had built thereupon he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so is my fire. Know you not that ye are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth 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. Oh God will bless what we've read.

If you would like a simple synopsis of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, you could look at it this way. From chapter 1 to chapter 12 he deals with carnalities, that is everything that's associated with the flesh and everything that spoils assembly testimony. Then from chapter 12 to the end of the epistle he begins with this statement now concerning spiritualities.

Now he's talking about that which is spiritual, the power of the gospel, the mystery of the gospel and how it's manifest and the evidence of it in the lives of the people of God. Now you notice how Paul begins this epistle to the Corinthians. He's writing to a comparatively young assembly, maybe established three or four years at the maximum.

Paul had gone into Corinth and he went into the midst of that idolatrous city. People would say in that day if they wanted to speak disparagingly of someone they would say he's Corinthianized and that means he has sunk very very low morally. And Paul went into that city with a gospel and now he's writing to them.

There was a man called J.R. Caldwell that has written a very lovely book on this epistle. If you can find it, it says scarce as hen's teeth, but if you find it, whatever the cost is, pay the price. And he refers to this epistle as the charter of the church.

And I remember many years ago going through it very very carefully. And so Paul is setting out in the epistle the divine pattern of local testimony. Church of God.

Remember that, brethren, that every time you read that expression in the New Testament, Church of God, it's always local. It doesn't refer to that great universal mystical aspect of the church which is his body that's composed of all believers. There's a man who's taught in this country within the last year or so that every believer in the district is a member of the local church and that's wrong.

There are those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus that comprise the local company. You see when God speaks about the church, he's not talking about a building of brick and timber and mortar. He's speaking about a spiritual group composed of believers.

And here he says it's the church of God which is at Corinth. Now here he's suggesting origin and ownership. The assembly belongs to God.

Someone asks you where you go to church as people often do. Where I live, there's a lot of Lutheran in the area, what they call a retirement community, but I haven't quite reached that retirement yet. And they'll say to me, Eric, we're gonna make a Lutheran out of you yet.

And I like to say to them, if all of you Lutherans had what Martin Luther had, you'll be in heaven. Most of them, they're depending on their infant baptism and their church membership. But here he says it's the church of God which is at Corinth.

And if someone drove into this district asking for the church of God, I wonder where they would be directed. If it was in the Blue River area, they'd be directed to that lovely hall in the town of Blue River. So you see, the church of God is always local.

Acts 20, for example, you remember the Apostle says, after my departure, grievous wolves will enter in, not sparing the flock. And Paul says to the elders at Ephesus, feed the church of God. Listen to those lovely words in chapter 20 of the Acts.

Paul says, you feed them, they've been purchased with his own blood. Church of God purchased with his own blood. Now you know that God cannot die, but the man who was God died.

That was the Lord Jesus. And so it was the precious blood of Christ was the price that was paid to purchase our redemption, and those who are linked with him because of their faith in Christ, they're part of the church of God. Paul writes, you remember again in this epistle, to the church of Galatia, a Galatian epistle, and he talks again about churches of Christ.

So he's here considering their ownership, they belong to God. If somebody asks you what church do you belong to, don't say that you belong to the Gospel Hall. The Gospel Hall belongs to you.

We belong to Christ. Now what I want to look at very quickly and very simply are three triplets that I've noticed and what we have read this morning. The first one has to do with the activity of the Holy Spirit of God.

Verse 10 of chapter 2 says, God hath revealed to us by his Spirit the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. So the Spirit of God, a divine person, is the one that reveals truth. We don't need a Bible school, we don't need instruction other than from the truth of God, and we're indwelt by a divine person.

Dear young believer, you get hold of that. Not an influence, a divine person has residence in you. That immediately tells me what's right for me, where I should go, what I should do, if I remember that wherever I am, I'm taking a divine person with me.

Would it be right for me to go up to, where is it, Green Bay to watch, is it whatever you call them, the Packers or something? Would it be right for me to go there and take the Spirit of God with me? Well, you answer for yourself. Whatever I do, I'm taking a divine person with me. And we need young men and young sisters in our assembly to get fresh hold of the truth that I'm indwelt by a divine person, and not to be influenced by the godless world that's around me.

And so, he says, the Spirit of God is the one that reveals truth. Again in verse 13, he says, the words which men's wisdom teach, that's not what gives you spiritual instruction. He says it's the Holy Spirit which teaches.

So not only is he the one that reveals truth, he's the one that teaches truth. And we come to this book with an open mind, I hope you do, and ask God to show you something. I have Bibles loaded with notes, but you know sometimes I like to take a Bible, brother gave me a Bible when I was in Ireland last fall, and I nearly fainted the other day when I saw the price of it, 200 US dollars.

The new two-version Bible. But I like to lift that Bible down without a mark in it, and ask God to unfold to me some truth, something that I have never seen before. We have a divine person that can teach us.

Then in verse 14, notice what it says, the Spirit of God is the one that enlightens us. He says the natural man, he doesn't understand, that's the unbeliever, but the one that's indwelt by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, is the one that enlightens him, shows him God's truth and God's mind. And dear young believer, if you're looking for direction in your life, if you're looking for a life partner, I hope you pray about it.

I hope you're not taking up with someone that's not a believer. Because if you go into a married union, you'll have trouble with your father-in-law, the devil. Archie Stewart used to say, it's hard enough to get along with the right one.

Well, you make it a matter of prayer, and God will guide, and God will direct. There's worse things than not being married, you know, in the Christian life, and that's being married and wishing you weren't. And I could tell you some couples that are anything but happy, but God has given us the Spirit of God to direct us in our Christian living.

You wait on God, and in God's way and in God's time, God will bring your way someone that will be to your benefit. So there's the first triplet. The next one, three types of men.

Verse 14 of chapter 2, the natural man. Verse 15 of chapter 2, the spiritual man. Verse 1 of chapter 3, the carnal man.

Now I want to link them with Lazarus lying dead in the tomb. That's the natural man, the unbeliever. It says in verse 14, he receiveth not the things of God, their foolishness unto him.

An unsaved person comes to this book, and they just don't understand it. It's hidden. The truth of God is hidden from them because they don't have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling that can reveal truth to them.

So the natural man is the unregenerate man, never been born again. You know, it's possible, and I believe these three types all were in fellowship in Corinth. An unsaved man? Why do you think Paul writes as he does to these believers? I remember hearing years ago, I have mentioned it somewhere before, I'm not infallible.

I would tend to say something I've said before. You know when you're 70, they say, oh well, and you say something that you've said before, they say, he's losing it. But when you get to be 80 and they say, oh well, in other words, what else do you expect? Well, I remember hearing about an old blind brother, and it was a man that had been invited to the gospel meetings, an infidel, an unsaved man, and he had made a bet with another man that he could get accepted by the Christians at the gospel hall.

So he started to come, and you know how Christians are, all of us, so fickle, so easily influenced. Wonderful, an unsaved man, an infidel, coming to hear the gospel. And then one night he told the brethren that he got saved.

And oh, they were really elated. And after some time, he mentioned to one of the Christian brethren, he said, I would like to be baptized and received in fellowship. He was thinking of the money that he had bet, you see.

And so he met with a brethren, rightly so, and there was an old blind brother listening to his story, and when he got finished, he said to the other brethren, I don't feel him. I think we should just wait before we baptize him. And the whole truth came out.

He wasn't saved at all. Wasn't it good they listened to the counsel of that old blind brother? You see, brethren, the Spirit of God gives wisdom, and a natural man can be received into an assembly. I could tell you of more than one that have sat and remembered the Lord for years, and then discovered they had never really been born again.

Sad. But notice another man. Verse 1 of chapter 3, a carnal man.

Who's the carnal man? Well, if the natural man is like Lazarus lying in the grave, the carnal man is like Lazarus with the grave clothes on. You know, there's a lot of carnality among us as a people of God. Doing our own thing.

Not what Paul says in chapter 8 of the Roman Epistle, living after the Spirit, but what he says in chapter 7, living after the flesh. Doing what I want to do. Not considering the interests of other Christians, or not considering the teaching of the Word of God.

This is my own desire, and I'm going to do it. And that's a mark of carnality. God will never bless that.

And sometimes there's carnality among us as God's people. But we would all like to be like the other man I know. In verse 15, the spiritual man.

He's the one that's walking after the Spirit. He's like Lazarus now that has been let go. You remember the Lord said, loosen and let him go.

And he came forth, bound hand and foot. And someone has said as well, he mentioned his name, or all of the graves would have emptied. Lazarus come forth.

And dear brethren, the Lord help us to be marked by spirituality. So there's the second little triplet. The natural man, the carnal man, the spiritual man.

We'd all like to be like that last man. But notice in chapter 3, there are three types of material to put in this building. Paul has been saying the assembly was in the mind of God before it was planted.

You see in Corinth, there was little cliques and parties. One were saying I'm of Paul, another I'm of Apollos, another I'm of Christ, perhaps the worst of all. Apollos was a quite an orator, you know.

I talked to a sister years ago and she was telling me about this brother that she had heard minister of the conference. And I says, well tell me what did he speak about? And she thought for a moment or two. She said, I can't remember what he preached on.

Well I said there must be something about him that impressed you. You know what she said? I liked his accent. I liked his accent.

Well brethren, I hope we get beyond that. You see, Paul is saying don't be occupied with man. Apollos, Paul, whoever it might be, he says I'm the one.

The Lord says I have planted, Apollos watered, but it's God that made it grow. God gave the increase. Now notice what he says, he that planteth and he that watereth are one.

And every man shall receive his own reward, in verse 8, according to his own labor. Now brethren, this verse tells me that God does not reward for success. He rewards for faithfulness.

You put your best into the assembly. Put your shoulder to the wheel. You're going to have gospel meetings here next Lord's Day.

I've had gospel meetings several times in Blue River, and I can tell you brethren that are coming, the Christians in Blue River will be right behind you. And they'll do their best to interest relatives or friends to come. But you know, God wants us to labor, and all labor there's profit.

The Word of God tells us that. So he's talking now about the assembly as a tilled field, God's husbandry. You farmers know the labor that's involved.

This time of the year you're going to be on your tractor. There's a brother here today, just reminded me when I saw him. He told me that in the spring of the year when all the rain was coming and they had an awful job getting the crop in, he said there were days when we went 24 hours around the clock.

Well now, that's labor. But you know in a few weeks when those bins start filling up with that golden grain, they won't be thinking about all the labor that was involved back in the spring of the year. They'll be rejoicing in what God has given.

Now that's what he's saying here. There's a day coming when there's going to be rewards for your labor. He says he'll reward every man's work, not of how much it is, but of what sort it is.

Quality, that's what God's looking for, not quantity. Quality. We get taken up with numbers.

For some reason our minds run that way. Mr. Wark used to say sometimes you hear of a series of meetings and he said a lot of them are maple syrup converts. And I said to him one day, what are you talking about? Well he said, you know, for maple syrup you have to boil about 30 quarts of syrup to get one quart of maple syrup, 30 quarts of sap.

Well I hope it's not that bad, but you know sometimes we hear of great and gatherings, but you go back in six months and lots of them have disappeared. I'd rather see one or two profess to be saved and go on for God than a lot of empty profession. And so he says the reward is going to be for faithfulness.

Then he says again, this foundation has been laid. The wise master builder, he's laid the foundation and that's Christ. Now he says you take heed where you build, not only how you build, but where you build.

Because Paul has the judgment seat of Christ in mind here. And this affects me every time I read it. He says we must give account.

The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Dear brother, dear sister, the day is coming after the rapture that we heard of so lovely this morning. There'll be the judgment seat of Christ and it won't be a Sunday school picnic where everyone gets a prize, the losers as well as the winners.

Our life will be manifest. The next chapter of this epistle tells us that. Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness.

Everything is going to be exposed. My motive in trying to give a little word to help the Lord's people this afternoon, that'll be gone into then. What was your motive? Were you trying to impress people with something that you thought you knew or you were there to try and help the people of God? That's what ministry is, for the glory of God and to edify the people of God.

And so in a coming day we'll give account and much that we thought would be rewarded, it's going to be burned up. The Lord will say, Eric, there was too much of the flesh in that. No reward for that.

Someone has penned the words, deeds of merit as we thought them. He will tell us where it's in. Little things that we've forgotten, he will say were done for him.

So don't overlook little things for the people of God. Someone's sick, lift the phone and ask how they're feeling. Send them a card.

You don't have to pay three dollars, go to the dollar store and you get them for 50 cents. You see, just little acts of kindness. That's what Christianity is all about.

And so he says there's labor. Then he says there's a building and it's ongoing, and soon the last stone will be placed in the building. When the last soul is saved, and men can make a stone but a man can make a brick but only God can make a stone.

These are living stones. They're placed in the building. And further down he says you're the temple of God.

That is the naos, the dwelling place. Paul uses that word three times. Here it's about the local company.

You're the temple of God. God's dwelling place on earth, the local assembly. In chapter 6 he says your body, don't you know, your body is the dwelling place of God.

And when he writes to the Ephesians, he says the whole mystical body is the dwelling place of God. Now let me point out that other triplet I had in mind is the three types of material. What we can build in to profit.

Gold, maybe you link it with truths related to the deity of the Lord Jesus. That's lovely. We've heard much at this conference about the person of the Lord Jesus.

We heard about him this morning. Incorruptible. One that was absolutely sinless.

Separate from sinners. Imagine having a boy in your family. Never had to correct him.

Everything he did was perfect. Never had to apologize. He was God, manifest in flesh.

And so the Apostles telling us here, you build in truths regarding the deity of the Lord Jesus. We can never, never get too much of him. And then silver, that would remind us of redemption.

You remember the Israelite had to pay the half shekel, and that was the money that was demanded by God for every one of them. But it all reminds us of the cost of our redemption. Reminding us of this one who was God that took upon him the form of a servant to go to the cross and redeem us.

And then precious stones, maybe truths regarding the excellencies of the Lord Jesus. The one that we were reminded of this morning was altogether lovely. There's none like him.

Absolutely perfect. God's only, well, beloved son. And so the Lord helped us to appreciate the local companies of God's people and to put our all into building, adding to it, enabling it to go on until he comes.

And when he does come, looking back over life, by and by, when we look on his face, beautiful face, wonderful face, by and by, when we look on his face, we'll wish we had given him more. The Lord bless his word, and what will follow.