We open the Word of God tonight to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We'll read the whole chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. This is God's Word. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal, whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions. Are ye not carnal and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul, And another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers, that is, servants, by whom ye 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. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are 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. 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 hath 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 as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that 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. 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. That's the reading of the chapter. The text is those last two and a half verses. I'll read all of 21 and through 23. Therefore, let no man glory in men, but especially this then is our text, 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. Well, I was not scheduled to preach tonight for you, but I thank you for the privilege of being here again at the elder's request. I am not your pastor, but I feel somewhat to be your pastor. And I want to bring you this Word of God this evening. I alluded this morning to the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter 3 when the Word of God of the wise man there says that there's a time and a purpose for everything. Well, today is not a time to laugh or to dance, but a time to weep. and mourn. Today is not a time of rejoicing, of being born. Child is given to a member of the family of faith, but a time of grieving because of death. To everything, there is a season, and this season is sad. Sad for Dad and Mom Latterman. whose son will no longer come home. Sad for the young lady whose boyfriend can't ever become her husband. Sad for the young man at whose hands one of his friends, not his enemies, lost his life. Sad for just about everybody, so many involved, sad. And it's so sad, and that's the point then, that the child of God is tempted to act and to speak foolishly, to think wrongly, to doubt whether God is good, to question whether God is wise. to wonder whether God loves us. Why? How could this be right? And how could any of this be good? Couldn't God have kept this from happening? If only we say to ourselves, and we know the futility of that, we could go back And so, sometimes believers in such sad, confusing, distressing times say what the psalmist asked in Psalm 77, has God forgotten to be kind? And is His mercy clean gone forever? Well, it's in times like this that key passages of the Word of God are so important and If you didn't know that this is one of the key passages, our text for tonight, then you need to elevate it in your mind and put it right up with the heavyweights. Like Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good. In Romans 8, 35 and following, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, nothing. And second, Corinthians 4, verses 17 and 18, where it ends, we don't live by sight, we live by faith. With those great passages, lift up this passage in your mind and memorize it and take it with you and bring it to other people. It says to you tonight and to me, everything is yours. Now that needs explanation, of course, but this is the truth of the Word of God. Everything is yours. And in a very important way, everything then that's yours is good. And I can hardly choke out that word because that's almost unbelievable to say it, but this is the staggering truth of the Word of God. Everything is yours. Here's the text graphed. At the beginning, all things are yours. At the end, all things are yours. And in between six examples that cover all of your life, all things are yours. All things are yours because you are Christ's and Christ is God's. Everything is yours. So let's look at this text briefly tonight under that theme, All Things Are Yours, and ask the question in the first place, what is yours? In the second place, how could that be? Why? How? And then in the third place, it's not intended to be a flippant question, so what? If all things are mine and I understand why, then what will that mean for my life? That's the third point. So what? All things are yours. I say again, that's the staggering truth of the Word of God. Don't get it wrong. It doesn't say, a few things are yours. It doesn't say, many things are yours. It doesn't say, some things are yours. It doesn't even say, most things are yours. It says, all things are yours. And that covers the gamut of the entirety of your life, 360 degrees in this dimension, 360 degrees in this dimension, and it covers everything. All things, the Word of God says, are yours. That's staggering. Don't water it down. Listen to what Paul does. He repeats it. As I said, graph, the text is, at the beginning, all things are yours. And as though you didn't hear it, with all those examples, he needs to repeat it. All things are yours. All things. And he means by that that they're good for you. They'll serve you. And I want you in your mind's eye to picture already now, and then we'll come back to that, every one of these six things is as a servant for you and a butler standing around you. They're good for you. They serve you. They're useful to you. They're profitable for your life. Not like you own the flu, because you might get the flu and say, I have the flu and the flu is mine. And not like you might say, I have a bad president. They're yours, good for you. and not good in your present experience. Goods in themselves, the very fact that he mentions the one horrible reality, death here, makes that plain. In themselves, these things aren't necessarily good, but he means that they become good to you in the goodness and providence of God. He makes them your servants. He makes them useful to you. He makes every one of them promote your life and enhance your welfare. Everything is your property. You are the owner of all of these things, and they are your servants. And so you see, we put this text up with Romans 8, 28, Romans 8, 35 and following, and 2 Corinthians 4, 17, because Romans 8, 38 and 39, for example, say nothing is against you, and that's quite something. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. This text says, positively, all things are for you. They're yours. Now we'll come back to this, but you need to see this at the beginning also, that the only way to understand this is to see the comparisons that he makes at the end of this chapter in verse 23, when he says, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. Now let that sink in for a moment, just as all things are yours, You are Christ's and Christ is God's. Start with Christ being God's. Everything Christ is, everything Christ does, stands in the service of His God and Father in heaven. Nothing in Christ contradicts the glory and praise of God. You, to go down this set, are destined by God in your life as belonging to Christ are for His glory. Everything you do, everything you think, everything you say must be for His praise. Nothing in your life must be, and now that's where sin comes in, and we contradict sometimes God's glory, but this is God's purpose for us. Everything in you and everything in me is designed to be for Christ's glory. Christ for God's, we for Christ's, now everything in that same sense is ours, belongs to us, and serves our good. I'll put that in the context that we are in. I'm not going to talk so much about the context of this text, that's important all by itself, but now, The context of us is in trouble, great trouble. Well, let's not talk about Saturday's trouble or today's trouble. Let's talk about all trouble and just imagine that every child of God can relate to this because every child of God has trouble. Some are without work. Some bear heavy burdens. Some have sorrows that never go away and every night when they go to bed, they're crying. Or every night when they go to bed, they can't sleep because of pain. There's trouble, trouble, bitter disappointments, and heavy burdens. And in that context, I need to hear, everything is mine. Everything is good for me. Everything is going to profit me. I don't see that. I can't figure it out now. But this is what I must tell you, teach you. I need to believe this, and you need to believe it. Paul says it twice, once more, all things are yours. Starts with that, ends with that. Let's look for a moment at what's between. There are three pairs, that won't be evident until I explain it, of realities that cover the entirety of your life. So when we're finished talking about these three pairs of realities, you won't be able to find anything in your life that doesn't fit under one of them. Three pairs. Twenty-two. in the text, says Paul, Apollos, Cephas, world, life, death, present, future, and that's more than six, but the first three are one, Paul and Apollos and Cephas, and they go together with the world. Paul and Apollos and Cephas are spiritual things, And the world is physical things, and both of them are yours. Think of spiritual things. I need to prove first that Paul and Apollos and Cephas represent spiritual things, but that's not so hard to see. Paul and Apollos and Cephas were apostles. By the apostles, the gospel came to them. Paul laid the foundation. He planted. Somebody else watered. They're all working in the cause of the kingdom. They represent spiritual things because they're the instrument by which God gives to you spiritual things. By preaching of the gospel, faith is worked in you. Hope is quickened in you. You want to love God because you hear of God's love for you. It's by the preaching of the gospel that you say, I want to be a member of the church and I am so thankful for the communion of the saints. It's by the preaching of the gospel that you know the forgiveness of sins. This is everything spiritual. Everything spiritual. Hope for today, bright hope for tomorrow. We'll talk about that in just a moment. Spiritual things. Your eternal, unconditional, unchangeable salvation belongs to you. And that's easy to see. And it's not surprising either that the Apostle Paul puts that first. Let me make two brief applications of that first half of the first pair. Application number one, Paul mentions not only Paul, but Apollos and Cephas, and he puts them together as though there's no difference. You read between the lines and go back to chapter 1 and Paul's rebuke of them and their schismatic spirit. Some of them said, I like Paul as a preacher. I don't like Paul, I want Apollos." And yet a third group said, no, I don't want either of them, I like Cephas, that is Peter. I love Peter's preaching. He's so dynamic, he's so earthy, he's so practical. And you can hear the divisive spirit in the church at Corinth. And Paul says, did we save you? Did we die for you? Christ is your Savior. We are but instruments, and now he comes back to that and says, we're equal instruments. We all have different styles. My style may be very dry. Paul's perhaps was. Powerful in word, but very weak in the body, he said. And Peter and Cephas may be different, but here's the point again. Don't be of party spirits with regard to spiritual things. The second application of this is the obvious one, and that is the spiritual things are mentioned first. Here's going to be everything that covers your life, spiritual things, physical things, present things, future things, living thing, and death. And the very first thing Paul mentions is spiritual things. And that reminds us of what ought to be priority in our lives also, church. and faith, and preaching, and pardon, and communion of the saints, and everything that we have here. That's first. Well, second with that is mentioned the world. Spiritual things and physical things. Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, and the world. Physical things. And that covers everything that you can see, and feel, and taste, and touch, and buy. The world. Creation, the universe, sunshine, rain, mountains, oceans, food, drink, sky, earth, work, government, commerce, money, marriage, family, everything earthly. All the ordinances of men and the creation that you can see. Even, and this will spill over into another one, the hostile powers that are opposed to the people of God. Paul mentions in Corinthians the wisdom of this world. and the power of this world, and immediately your attention is given to those threats of the church. The world is often a threat to the spiritual and the church. There's a devil that goes about as a roaring lion. So that's the first pair, spiritual things and earthly things. The second pair, and we'll just take it in the order of the text, are life on the one hand and death on the other hand. Life is simple to understand, physical life that we regard as a good, and everything that enhances and enables physical life. Food, drink, clothing, home, medicine, everything that promotes my earthly life. Exercise, fresh air, springtime, good food, life is yours. But now here's the hard one, so is death. Your death, the death of a loved one, the death of a young one, the death of an old one, the death that's expected and the death that is an utter surprise, the death of someone simply who expires at old age The death of another one by disease. The death that's peaceful and the death that's violent. The death that's accidental and the death that's deliberate. Death. Death. And then everything that brings death. No food. No drink. No medicine. No fresh air. No spring. No fruit. spiritual things, physical things, good things in life, and awful things in death. And then the third pair, And we have to come back to all of these in applications, and you make those applications too. But we need to be brief here so we can keep going. The third pair is present things and future things. That's how verse 22 comes to an end. Or things present, or things to come. What's your life at present? What do you have today with regard to your life and the promotion of your life, with regard to your church membership and spiritual life and your earthly life? What do you have today? What was yesterday, but especially what's present? good things, bad things, painful things, distressing things. Everyone's life is different. Yours is one thing, yours yet another. But what about tomorrow? And that's where my trouble often comes, because I can handle, I think, we sometimes say, maybe with too much confidence, today, But what bothers me is tomorrow and next week and next year. That's where I'm troubled. That's where my anxiety comes up. What about tomorrow? What about next week? For the Lattermans, for the Muhlenbergs, for all of you who are friends and family and church family, we don't know. And that's what's a problem for us. And that's why it's so important that this, in my estimation, is what brings this text up with the other heavyweights. It speaks of both the reality of the present and of the future. Now, the Apostle Paul does that in Romans 8 also, in that other, as I speak of them, heavyweight text. That's how the chapter ends. I'm persuaded that neither death nor life, there's that pair, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, and here it comes, nor things present, nor things to come. Same twofold dimensions. What's now and what's then. It's what the Reformed fathers did in the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 10 in such a marvelous explanation of the doctrine of providence. You remember in Lord's Day 10, what is the doctrine of providence? Nothing comes by chance, everything comes by God's fatherly hand, rain, drought, fruitful years, barren years, and that long list of things. Nothing comes by chance, everything by God's fatherly hand. And then it asks, what's the profit of believing providence? How does it help you to know that? And then it gives three, not two, prophets. We often look at the two and forget the third. We're patient in adversity. We're thankful in prosperity. And the third prophet is that with regard to those things that shall hereafter befall us. And there's that to come idea. There's that future idea. The benefit of believing providence is not only for the present if I'm in adversity or in prosperity, but it's in the future. And now it comes up here in this text again. So in this third pair, It wraps it all up, and you see there isn't any dimension that's missed. Spiritual things, physical things, things that promote life, and things that promote death and death itself, and things present, and things to come. All of those are yours. And then you ask, how in the world is that possible? I hear what you say. You say, pastor or professor, I hear what you said. I read what the Word of God explains, but I don't understand that. Well, the key to understanding this is a little word in the text, and. that begins verse 23 that you ought to understand as meaning because. Now, I can't argue that case for you tonight. You may look at the Bible elsewhere. But once in a while, an and in a text is not simply a plus sign, but sometimes and in a text means because or for. And in this case, that's true. All things are yours. Everything is yours. And Paul isn't saying, and here's another truth, and you are Christ's, and here's another truth, and Christ is God's. Paul is saying everything is yours because you are Christ's and Christ is God's. And now this second point needs to explain that. And the explanation begins by saying, well, now I understand what this doesn't mean. The text does not mean that automatically everything is mine or naturally everything is mine or everything is mine because I deserve it. Spell that out for a moment. Try that once. Skip the end of the text. Put your own ending on it and see if that works. Everything is mine as a servant of me because I deserve it all. I own it all, naturally. I've earned it by what I've done. And you're tempted to respond in a cynical tone, but try that once. The world is yours. I own a little piece of property, not even an acre. And even when you say own, you mean I'm a steward of it. Eighth Commandment. How much do you own? Pretty big property? What does that compare to the whole of the world and the whole of the universe? You hold title to the world? Of course you don't. And if you would try by saying, I deserve it, I've earned it, you'd be laughed out of the room as a fool. You don't own the world. Now go to the other, the first part of that first pair. Spiritual things, you deserve them? You've earned them, you have a right to them, church membership, forgiveness of sins, hope, faith, charity, and all of the rest. You deserve it. The folly of it becomes greater the more you think about it. and then go to that second pair, life. You are able to control life and promote life and maintain life. You can't even do that for yourself, much less someone else. And death, you have the power over death. You, everyone's life and everyone's death, again, that's folly. And you able to control the present, well, maybe a little bit, I can control what's going on in my life right now, but I have no ability to determine what's coming tomorrow. I wish I could control the weather once in a while. You can't even do that. You must not say that all things are yours because you deserve them or you've earned the right to them. That's where we need to start tonight. We need to start with the proper stance by confessing that all things are God's. All things are His. The absolute impossibility of anything being mine leads us to the reality that everything is God's. He made it all. He owns it all. He planned your salvation and church membership and all the blessings of salvation, and He provided it. in our Lord Jesus Christ. All things are God. Spiritual things are God's. Physical things are God's. Life is God's. Death is God's. Things present are God's and things to come belong to Him. Now, spell that out just a little bit and then we'll go on. All things are God's because God is God. And in the beginning, God made them all. And as the maker of them all, He owns them all. He owns time. He owns history. He owns the past. He owns the present. He owns life. He owns death. He owns physical things. He owns spiritual things. God does. And then God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, down to the earth To do what we talked about this morning, He came to do. And when He was finished doing what He came to do, God exalted Him in heaven and said to Him as He was exalting Him, all power and all authority is given to You, to You, Jesus Christ, to control all things. You own them. You govern them. Read Ephesians 1. Read Colossians 1. God gave power. over all things into the hands of the risen Christ who is now head over all things, everything. And that Christ, if you remember all things, us, Christ and God, that Christ lives eternally and only for the sake of the glory of God. God gave everything to Him and now here's the gospel. You belong to Him. And if you belong to Him, then everything that's His is yours. You belong to Him. It's what you learned from your earliest days as a Christian. You belong to Him. You belong to Him. Now spell that out for a moment. You've learned this all in catechism. You belong to Him because in eternity He wrote your name on his hand and said, you're mine, and you'll always be mine. And writing your name upon the palm of his hand, never to be erased from that palm, he gave you to his son, Jesus Christ, and commissioned Christ to live and die for you. That's the marvel of the gospel. It's the beautiful, humbling truth of what God is for us. God chose us in Christ, gave us to Christ, commissioned Christ to do everything for our sake, and He did, and He's finished, and it's ours. Everything that Christ has authority over belongs to me. Spiritual things, because Christ earned them for me. Physical things, because God has titled all of them. Life and death and things present and things to come. God. Christ. You, these things, all of them are yours. And now picture it that way too. I said earlier that we need to come back to that figure of speech that all of these are servants. Imagine, if you can, butlers with their linen white cloth standing perhaps around you, seated there, six of them, And this servant, named Spiritual Things, is living every moment of his life for your good. And then next to him is physical things, another servant. And he's standing there as your butler, with the intent, with every moment of his existence and every ounce of his strength, to serve you and your good. And go all the way around. There are physical things, there are spiritual things, there's life. Life is your servant. And so is death. And so is today. and so will be tomorrow. Every single thing you can imagine in the hand and purpose of God is yours. We ought to go home tonight and make a list. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. and ask ourselves prayerfully and studying the scripture in what way has, is, and will be each one of these things for my good. Look at how each one of these things has been, good for someone else, is now good for someone else, will be good for someone else, and then plug my name into that. Go home tonight, make a list, begin thinking about it and praying over it. This is where the sermon doesn't end with a period. It needs to end with an ellipsis, so though I say amen, you keep talking and thinking and applying the Word of God. Everything is yours and you know how. A refiner's fire to purify you. Thwarting your desire. To think of Psalm 1, Psalter 174. So you cherish the things of God more. So that you're humbled. So that you love God more. and love your neighbor better, and cling like you've never clung before to the Lord Jesus Christ, on account of whom all things are yours. You go home, let me go home, let's make a list, if not on paper, at least in our mind, and begin asking, God, show me, show me. Not so that I can see with these eyes, but so that my faith embraces this truth. Because that's what it comes down to, doesn't it? And that's why the unbeliever can't ever make this confession, because he always wants to see it. He always wants to feel it. He always wants to hear it. He always wants to taste it and touch it. And if he can't, he doesn't embrace it. And you and I are different. We don't live that way. We live by faith. Faith. And then if that's true of us, and we do make that confession, then I pray that my life is different tomorrow than it was yesterday, and I pray that your lives are different tomorrow than they were yesterday, in even a minor way. because you've learned a little bit more what it means that all things are ours and you are so thankful for that truth. You look at the unbeliever and see how he responds to these things. And he's angry, or jealous, or terrified, or determined somehow by hook or by crook to take control so that he can determine what's coming for him. Look at the unbeliever and how he lives. and then compare and contrast with how God has enabled you and me to live knowing these things. Number one, so what? I'm going to use everything that God gives me without guilt because it's all mine. I'm not going to hog it. I'm not going to be greedy. But what God gives to me, I'm going to use with gratitude. And remember what Paul says in the book to Timothy. Receive with thanksgiving. Don't refuse anything. Use it. Sanctify it by the Word of God in prayer, but use it. And then use it in the right way, not simply for yourself, but for the cause of the kingdom. And you receive everything God gives you with a glad heart and not with guilt. Joyfully. Number two, when I know this, the so what in my life is that I submit to everything and don't rebel. And sometimes that means, Psalm 39, that I just close my mouth and don't say anything. Preachers don't have that privilege when they're on the pulpit, but we ought to take that privilege when we come off the pulpit, and you ought to too sometimes. I was silent because God did it. I submit and I don't rebel, especially when Father, capital F, is pleased to send evils to me. Three, with regard to the future, Though my heart quakes, especially when I see what comes upon other people sometimes, it does, I calm my heart when I hear God saying to me, be still and know that I am God and the future is in my hand and is going to be good, maybe painful, but will be good for you too. and so I'm not anxious. Or when I am, I confess that as a sin and say, God, thy will be done and thy will is always good. Four, and this ties the text with just a little thread to the context, you make that connection stronger on your own. Number four, the so what, I'm going to live and work in everything I do to the glory of God. Let no man glory in men. Don't boast of yourself. Don't glory in what you've done. Don't glory in what others have done. Let you and me glory in God and in God alone. Give glory to God for spiritual things and physical things, for life and for death. and for things present, and for whatever He deals you in the days to come, give glory to Him. That's what it means to be a child of God. All things are yours because you're Christ's and Christ is God's. Amen. Our Father which art in heaven, we thank Thee for Jesus Christ and His work by which He took possession of us, by which He paid for all of our sins, on account of which He's given all power and authority in heaven and earth to govern everything, so that we're able to confess nothing happens apart from Thy will. Therefore, with regard to those things that shall hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in Thee, that nothing will pluck us out of Thy hand or separate us from Thy love. O God, forgive us when we doubt that. Forgive us when we demand to see and understand that fully. and increase by thy word tonight and by every means in thy hand, increase in us faith. So send us home with thy blessing. Again, we pray for both of the families and all of us as a church in this great distress. Hold them up, be their God. Come to them by their side and enable them tonight to sleep. For Thou alone, Lord, dost make us dwell safely. Amen.