Sermon #1547                            Miscellaneous Sermons

 

     Title:           And Ye Are Christ’s

     Text:           1 Corinthians 3:21-23

     Subject:      Christ’s Treasury in His People

     Date:          Sunday Morning—November 2, 2003

     Tape #        X-84b

     Reading:    Ephesians 1:1-23

     Introduction:

 

(1 Cor 3:21-23)  "Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; {22} Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; {23} And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."

 

Paul is urging the Corinthian believers and us to cease from glorying in men. He says, “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men” (vv. 20-21). The word translated “glory” implies more than simply following a man. Indeed, all God’s saints are taught to follow and obey their pastors (Heb. 13:7, 17). This word “glory” suggests following one to the exclusion of another. It is horribly evil for the saints of God to be divided into cliques, following one preacher or another.

 

Still, as Paul uses it in this chapter, the word “glory” seems to imply something even worse than this. He is telling us never to pin our faith on a mere man, not to put our trust, our confidence in men, but in Christ himself. He is telling the Corinthians not to put their trust in himself, or Apollos, or Peter, but in Christ alone.

 

Then, to urge his point and push it home, he makes three tremendous statements.

 

For all things are yours.

 

This is a promise made to every sinner who trusts Christ as his all-sufficient Substitute and Savior. If you look to Christ alone for redemption, righteousness, and acceptance with God, “all things are yours.” What a great promise this is!

 

·       All God’s servants, all true gospel preachers, as laborers together in God’s vineyard, as watchmen upon the walls of Zion, as under-shepherds of Christ, as men who labor for your souls, all true servants of God are yours.—Yours to Serve You.—Yours to Use.

·       The world is yours.

·       Life is yours.

·       Death is yours.

·       Things present are yours.

·       Things to come are yours.

·       All are yours!”

 

And ye are Christ’s!

 

He tells us that we are Christ’s peculiar, distinct, treasured property. —“And ye are Christ’s!Yes, all things are his. The Father has given all things to the Son as our Mediator, Covenant Surety, Successful Savior, and Almighty Redeemer. He owns all things. All things were created by him and for him. But “ye are Christ’s!” We are Christ’s distinct, peculiar, treasured property and possession.

 

And Christ is God’s.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Mediator, our Substitute, our Surety is God’s own Son, the only begotten of the Father, his well beloved Son. That simply means that Jesus Christ is himself God the Son, one with the Father. Christ is God.

 

But Paul is particularly talking about our Savior as our God-man Mediator. As a man our Savior was made by him, made of a woman, made under the law. As a man, as the one Mediator between God and men, the Lord Jesus is Jehovah’s Righteous Servant, whom he has chosen, called, brought forth, upheld, in whom he delights, and in whom he is glorified.

 

Let us therefore never put our trust in men, let us never pin our faith to any man’s sleeve, though ever so good, useful to our souls, and greatly esteemed. Rather, let us trust him whom God has accepted as the sinner’s Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

 

Today, I want us to focus our attention on those three words at the beginning of verse 23—“And ye are Christ’s.”

 

Let’s begin with that word “and.” It is a conjunction. It joins this with what Paul has just told us. In addition to all things being ours as the heritage of God’s free grace bestowed upon us, we are Christ’s heritage, Christ’s property, Christ’s possession. As I said, Christ is the owner and possessor of all things both as Creator and Mediator. But you and I (God’s Elect—Redeemed Sinners—Believers) are Christ’s peculiar property, his heritage, his inheritance, his portion as our Mediator.

 

Let me show you what I mean. Christ is our Portion, the Lot of our Inheritance. And we are his portion, the lot of his inheritance (Deut. 32:8-12).

 

(Deu 32:8-12)  "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. {9} For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. {10} He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. {11} As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: {12} So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him."

 

We are his peculiar people and his peculiar property. We have obtained and find our inheritance in him. That is easy enough for us to grasp (Eph. 1:11). But here is another fact a bit more difficult for us to grasp. Our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ obtains and finds his inheritance in us (Eph. 1:18). We are the fulness of him that filleth all in all (Eph. 1:23).

 

(Eph 1:11)  "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."

 

(Eph 1:18)  "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints."

 

·       We are “his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:23).

·       He is the glory of His people Israel (Luke 2:32) and His people Israel is His glory (Isa. 46:13).

·       The Lord is the inheritance of His people (Num. 18:20) and His people is His inheritance (Deut. 32:9).

 

Tender Care

 

What tenderness, affection, and care our God has for us! It is beyond comprehension, or even illustration. Does a father love, care for, and tenderly watch over his family? The God of glory is our Father!

 

(Ps. 103:13,14) "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust."

 

(Jer. 31:20) "Is Ephraim My dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore My bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord."

 

But a father is sometimes thought to be hard and uncaring, even when he is most tender and most caring. Therefore our Father compares himself to a woman, even to a tender mother.

 

(Isaiah 46:13) "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem."

 

What can be softer than a loving mother’s tender heart? Nothing except the tender heart of our God and Savior! He compares himself to a tender hearted mother to show us his unfailing, unchanging, unconditional, free love for his weak, wavering, wandering children.

 

It may not be true in any earthly family, but in God’s family (that family in which all the children except the firstborn Son are adopted) a child is always a child. Neither all the demons of hell nor all the devils of our own black hearts can cause him to disown, disinherit, or unchild us!—"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion of the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee" (Isa. 49:15).

 

Think of a father’s love for his son, or a mother’s love for the baby nursing at her breasts, and you will have a faint picture of God’s great love for us. Think again of the love of a bridegroom for his bride and you will have another faint picture of your Savior’s love for you (Eph. 5:25-32).

 

(Eph 5:25-32)  "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; {26} That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, {27} That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. {28} So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. {29} For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: {30} For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. {31} For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. {32} This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church."

 

Ye are Christ’s”—Think of it! You and I have been raised to such high honor and dignity that we have been made the sons and daughters of God almighty. We have been so highly dignified that the Son of God has taken us to be his Bride! Though we are black with sin, wretched, vile, base, corrupt and corrupting in ourselves, our Savior declares, "Thou art all fair, My love: there is no spot in thee" (Song 4:7).

 

Ye are Christ’s!”—The objects of his love.—The people of his care.—Approved of, accepted by, and one with him! He is near you. He is with you. He is for you. His infinite, holy heart is upon you. His omnipotent arm upholds you. His ear is open to your sighs. His arm is under your head. His right hand embraces you. “Ye Are Christ’s!

 

Our worst things are his.—All our sins were accounted to him, and laid on him by imputation. He bore in his own body on the tree. He put them away by the sacrifice of himself at Calvary.—All our griefs and sorrows are his.—All our reproaches, afflictions and sufferings are his.

 

Our best things are his.—All our temporal mercies come from him and through him.—All our spiritual blessings are blessings we have in and by him.—All our good things: repentance, faith, love, prayers, graces, good works, all are his, his work wrought in us. He says, “From me is thy fruit found,” and we gladly acknowledge that it is so.

 

How is it that “ye are Christ’s”? Let me briefly show you five answers to that question and I am done.

 

Reservation

 

"Ye are Christ's" by reservation (Jer. 50:20).

 

(Jer. 50:20) "In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve."

 

God has a people in this world whom he has reserved, a people who are his, a people who shall be saved.—“Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom. 11:4-5).

 

·       By Election

·       By Predestination

·       By Donation

·       By Separation (Sanctification)

 

Redemption

 

"Ye are Christ's" by redemption. He, and he alone, had the right, the power, and the will to redeem us. And he and he alone has redeemed us.—With Zechariah, our joyful confession is, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people" (Luke 1:68).—"Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:19,20).

 

Regeneration

 

"Ye are Christ's" by divine regeneration and effectual calling. He sent his Spirit at the appointed time of love, gave us life by the omnipotent power of his grace and created faith in us by irresistible mercy. We roamed as far from God as sheep can roam. But the Good Shepherd sought us out, found us, and fetched us home (Eph. 2:1-4).

 

"Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to save my soul from danger,

Interposed His precious blood."

 

(Eph 2:1-10)  "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: {2} Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: {3} Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. {4} But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, {5} Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) {6} And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: {7} That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. {8} For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: {9} Not of works, lest any man should boast. {10} For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

 

Reconciliation

 

We are Christ’s by the voluntary surrender of ourselves to him, under the influence of his Spirit and by the power of his grace (Luke 14:25-33).

 

(Luke 14:25-33)  "And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, {26} If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. {27} And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. {28} For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? {29} Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, {30} Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. {31} Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? {32} Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. {33} So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

 

We are his by our profession of him. We declare ourselves to be the Lord’s entirely and exclusively. All that we are and have are his alone.

 

Relationship

 

"Ye are Christ's" by the special relationship of spiritual union. We are nearer to Christ than a wife is to her husband.—Nearer to Christ than a baby is to its mother.— Nearer to Christ than a son is to his father.

 

“Near, so very near to God,

Nearer I cannot be,

For in the person of His Son

I am as near as He!

 

Dear, so very dear to God,

Dearer I cannot be,

For in the Person of His Son

I am as dear as He!”

 

We are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh—One with him! This relationship, this union is eternal and indissoluble.

 

‘Twixt Jesus and the chosen race

Subsists a bond of sovereign grace,

That hell, with its infernal train,

Shall ne’er dissolve nor rend in vain

 

Hail! sacred union, firm and strong,

How great the grace, how sweet the song,

That worms of earth should ever be

One with incarnate Deity!

 

One in the tomb, one when He rose,

One when He triumphed o’er His foes,

One when in heaven He took His seat,

While seraphs sang all hell’s defeat.

 

This sacred tie forbids their fears,

For all He is or has is theirs;

With Him, their Head, they stand or fall,

Their life, their surety, and their all.”

                                      John Kent

 

Christ is god’s

 

Our text declares, “All things are yours…And ye are Christ’s.” But there is one more word here to instruct and cheer our hearts.—“And Christ is God’s.

 

I have read and studied this text with much profit to my soul for years. But I never quite understood why Paul was inspired to put that last statement in the text. I knew that he was not suggesting any kind of inferiority in Christ. I knew that he was not suggesting that Christ is not God, or that he is something less than God. But I could not get what he was saying. I believe the Lord has taught me. This helped me a lot. I hope it helps you.

 

The Holy Spirit put this last statement in verse 23 because his purpose is to assure us that all this great boon of grace is absolute and certain. When Paul says “and Christ is God’s” he is talking about our Lord Jesus as our Mediator and Covenant Surety. Since you are Christ’s and Christ’s is God’s, all is well and all shall be well forever! If we are Christ’s by such a relationship, in such a union, then as he is, so are we in this world!

 

(1 John 4:17)  "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world."

 

·       Is Christ a Son? So are we.

·       Is Christ justified? So are we.

·       Does Christ possess all things? So do we.

·       Is Christ accepted? So are we.

·       Is Christ secure? So are we.

 

(1 Cor 3:21-23)  "Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; {22} Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; {23} And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."

 

AMEN.