Building on a Solid Foundation - Part 1

Will you turn with me this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, a wonderful chapter, we began dealing with it last week. We're going to continue with this chapter 1 Corinthians 3. I'd like to read it all this morning because it's so powerful, every sentence, every word. If I could, I would expound every syllable, even the commas that go between the words I would want to expound this morning, but we're continuing on this series of Christ being our only foundation, both in salvation and as a church. Christ, the person of Christ, the work of Christ, is the only foundation for an entire church and the worldwide global church, as well as an individual who's come to faith in Christ. What a foundation, but I want to bring you to part seven here this morning. I'm going to emphasize the first word, building. That's the word, building on a solid foundation. That's our message, building on a solid foundation. Reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 1, 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, not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it. Neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal. For 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 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 labors 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. And 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 thereon, 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, for Christ is God. Father, we love you this morning. We bless you for so great a foundation, so secure a foundation, so solid a foundation. The saints, weak and strong, young and old, knowledgeable and immature. Nor, God, meat eaters and milk drinkers have all found, through the ages, through millennia, that this was a solid foundation. It kept them through persecutions. It kept them through storms, and trials, and troubles, heartache, disappointments, all manners of things going on around them. When they had many friends, and when they had no friends, this foundation remained sure. And nor, God, we thank you this morning. Help us, O God, to build upon this foundation rightly. Raise up builders in this church. Raise up preachers who are going to build the right. Nor, God, raise up Christian men and women that are going to build good Christian lives in the church of God. And we love you and ask that you speak to us. This morning, in Jesus' name, amen. My message here, building on a solid foundation. In 1 Corinthians 3, we have the foundation. Christ is that foundation, the only foundation. Christ is everything that you build your life on. Christ is salvation. You're not saved by your good works. You're not saved by what you accomplish. You're not saved by what you know. You are saved by Christ alone being your foundation and coming to faith in him. But look at 1 Corinthians 3 again. We don't only read about this foundation and those who are upon the foundation. We read about people building on the foundation, and that's what we're going to deal with. In 1 Corinthians 2, the chapter before this, we read about two kinds of people, and I'm going to mention them briefly. The natural and the spiritual. The natural man, the psuche cos, psuche cos. Psuche is that soul realm. Your soul is the psuche. So he's saying the natural man is a soulish man. He lives by the soul, the natural senses, the five senses that operate through the body. So the natural man in chapter 2 is not a man born again. He is a natural man. In chapter 2, you have the natural man and the spiritual man. So in chapter 2, you've got two kinds of people. And you know what? All the spiritual ones are those who are born again. They are all spiritual in chapter 2. Every real Christian is spiritual. But in chapter 2, you have this natural man who is not born again. So just hold that for a second. You've got two people in chapter 2. In chapter 3, you also have two different kinds of people that are noted. But this time, they're both born again. And you know what he calls them? He calls them carnal and spiritual. So in chapter 2, you have the spiritual and the natural. One is saved, one isn't. But when you come to chapter 3, you've got two building on the same foundation. One is called carnal and one is called spiritual. In chapter 3, I believe these are two stages of maturity or of spiritual growth. But in chapter 2, you're either in or you're out. You're either opposed to God or you're listening to God. Either you reject his teaching or you receive his teaching. In chapter 2, verse 14, it talks about this natural man, this soulish man who lives by the soul. We could say from this verse, the soulish man rejects the teaching of God's spirit. This natural man, and we read it in all the verses in chapter 2. I'm only mentioning this in passing. He is against the word of God. That's how you identify a natural man. He's not for the word of God. He doesn't receive it. He is opposed to the word of God. He cannot accept the teaching of the Holy Spirit. It goes on to say there that he receiveth not the things of the spirit. How do you know a natural man? He doesn't receive the things of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is trying to speak to him. He cannot accept it. And notice why. For they are foolishness unto him. So look at this natural man. The teachings of God's word, how the Holy Spirit teaches, they don't make sense to the natural man. They make no sense. He opposes them. He doesn't accept them. Why? They are foolish. The word foolish there means silly, to be absurd. They don't make any sense. They're of no practical good. He doesn't think they're worthwhile applying in his life. That's a natural man. You try to give him the word of God, and if you ever find anyone in God's house and they are like that, they go, I don't understand that. I can't accept the word of God. They reject the word of God. It means they're natural. They can't, and neither can he know them. So this natural man is a soulish man. There's nothing spiritual about him. He doesn't have spiritual eyes or a mind or a heart. You know what? He comes to the word of God. The Holy Spirit's trying to speak to him. He's listening to preaching, but he cannot know them. It's absurd, the teaching of God. What's the single celibate until the day I marry? Are you crazy? It's absurd to him. It makes no sense. That's because you're a natural man. Of course you don't think like this. You're not spiritual. You're not born again. You actually think that's normal. That's natural. That's logical. Just look at the world out there. It doesn't work. Just ask the girls out in that high street. How guys have used and abused you, or the girls have used and abused you. That is their world, that natural world. But do you know what a spiritual man thinks radically different? It says the reason they reject spiritual things, or the teaching of the Holy Spirit, because they are spiritually discerned. That's why it's absurd. That's why they don't accept it. That's why they cannot know it or understand it. Why? Because they don't have the faculties. They don't have, you know, the faculties, five senses. Imagine you didn't have your five senses this morning. You'd be a useless human sitting here. You couldn't function like the rest of us if you don't have your five senses. It's the same with a natural man. He has no spiritual senses, no faculty, no ability. Neither can he know them. Why? Because they are spiritually discerned. You have to spiritually discern the teaching of the Holy Spirit. And that word discern means to scrutinize, to investigate, determine, examine. So the Holy Spirit's speaking to them, trying to communicate to them. God is trying to communicate to this natural man, but he can't perceive it. He doesn't have the faculties to discern, to scrutinize, to understand what is God and what is the flesh. He can't even tell the difference between the devil, the flesh, the world, his own thoughts, and the real Holy Spirit. He has no capability. You see, that takes discernment. You need to scrutinize. Only a spiritual man can do that. That's why a natural man, God could be speaking to him and he'll think that's the devil, or I don't believe that, or I reject it. Your eternity could hinge on that, and yet you think that's absurd. No, it's God trying to save your soul so you don't go to an eternal hell. I'm showing you in chapter two, there's a natural man who rejects the teaching of the Spirit of God. But every true Christian has the ability to receive the Word of God, to hear the Spirit of God. I'm not talking about a dream, a vision, or hearing a voice, or an impression. I'm talking about, and we'll maybe touch on this in chapter two, how does the Holy Spirit speak? Paul says through us preaching the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is actually speaking, teaching, ministering. And there's many who are natural, they can't receive it. But every true Christian is spiritual. In other words, they're taught of God. So all Christians, whether you're a babe or whether you're mature, whether you're a milk drinker or a meat eater, you in chapter two, you are spiritual. You're those that are receiving of God. You're receiving milk and meat and sustenance. It's the teaching of the Holy Spirit. But there's the mark of every real Christian, whether babe or mature, whether young or old, whether knowledgeable or very simple in your faith, you know what? You receive the teaching of God. You have the capability to say, I know God's speaking to me. I know there's truth. But as we come to 1 Corinthians 3, we're going to deal with something radically different. You see, the carnal and the spiritual in chapter three are both built on the rock. They are both Christians, really born again. And I'll prove it to you. But there are two people that God deals with, two stages of maturity, two different places of spiritual growth. So this morning, I've got three things for you. Number one, carnal builders. It's all about building this morning. See, we've dealt with the foundation. You know what the foundation is. You know you want the foundation. But why do you have a foundation? Imagine if you come to visit me and I said, let me show you the foundation of my house. And you're going, I wonder where the house is and the doors and the walls and the roof. And I just perpetually, I'm there in a little tent in the garden. And everyone who comes visit, I put the little stove on outside my tent. And I say, come look at the foundation. Isn't it great? You're going to start saying, when are you building the house? One year, two years, five years, 10 years. You're still in the garden. Don't you realize there's a reason why a foundation gets laid? It's to build a house. You don't just lay the foundation and stand there saying, isn't this wonderful? Isn't this beautiful? But a lot of Christians do. Oh, I'm saved. I'm born again. The foundation is salvation. The foundation is the blood of Jesus, the cross, redemption. It's his work. They'll hold you through eternity. And you know what? There's many in the church that say, isn't he wonderful? Isn't it beautiful? I've got a foundation. You know what I'd like to say? When are you going to start building something upon it? Let's start dwelling and living here. Not just saying, isn't it a wonderful foundation? The reason God has given you a foundation, it's time to begin building. And this is what we're dealing with. Carnal builders, second of all spiritual builders, and then third of all preacher builders. It's all here in these verses in 1 Corinthians 3. Let's first of all look at the carnal builders upon this real foundation. It says in verses 1 to 4, it speaks three times about carnal men. And that's our first point, carnal builders. It's those called carnal who are building upon the real foundation. They're upon the real foundation. This carnal man is mentioned in verse 1, verse 3, and verse 5. And in the Greek, it's called sarkikos. This word sarkikos, it's a Greek word. And here it's carnal. It's used 11 times in the New Testament. And nine of those times, the Greek word is translated carnal. Twice, it's translated fleshly. What does this mean? Because there's a controversy in church history over the past century. Some men say, no, Christian is carnal. And then there's others say, oh, there's such a thing as a carnal Christian. And they debate over it. My stance is halfway in the middle. Well, it depends. You see, in Romans 8, you can't be that sort of carnal and get into heaven. You cannot be. It talks about, in Romans 8, the carnal mind. In other words, people in the church, they are utterly carnally minded. All their thoughts are carnal. They think carnally. They're dominated by carnality. They're not saved. So in Romans 8, you will die in your sins. You are not a Christian. You've got to be spiritually minded. Every Christian is spiritually minded. But when we come to 1 Corinthians 3 here, we see this carnal person is actually a real believer. How do I know this? Well, he addresses them in verse 1, brethren. He calls them brothers in Christ. Also in verse 1, he talks about these carnal being like babes. And to be a babe means you're born. You see, you weren't always born. Who here was always born? Can I ask you? Were you always here? No, you weren't. There was a day. And usually, if they've got the records right, there's a day, an hour, a time. You at least have the date of your birth. The hospital, the address, the country, the nationality, the mother who birthed you, the father who at least claimed to bring you forth. So you have those details. To be a babe means there was an hour of being born again. You weren't always a Christian. You weren't always born again. That's utterly impossible. I was raised in a godly environment, a spiritual environment, saturated with Christ. I believed in God. But at four and a half, I hadn't committed any great crimes. I was convicted of sin. I was hung over hell. I knew if I died that night, I'd go to hell. I had to be born again that night. And the Spirit of God came to me. You must be born again. Candice, my wife, she lived for many years in her 30s. She was good, upright, spoke in tongues, led worship, never born again, never genuinely born again. And it was in this city. She had a crisis meeting with God and was born a God. She always had integrity, uprightness, morality, tied to God, done much, was always in the church from a child. But there was regeneration. This is the new birth. And so here we see that these carnal, they're called brethren, babes. We're told that they're milk drinkers. So they're not sinners. These carnal are not sinners, rebels against God. No way. They love the Word of God. They drink the milk of God. They're feeding on the Word of God. Also note, they are building on the foundation. That means Christ is eternally their salvation. He is the foundation of their Christianity. They're building on the right foundation, thank God. And so we see that they're born again, twice born, regenerate. When were you born again? When were you changed? When did you come to Christ? When were you convicted of sin? When did you put faith in the blood? When did you walk in the truth of God? You don't just grow into this. You're born into this. There's a process. Oh yeah, a process to come, but you're regenerate. Maybe you can't look at the day or the hour, but you must understand something of this. You weren't always saved. And so we begin to see these carnal builders are definitely genuine Christians. You see, you can't have a babe, a Christian building on this, who says, oh, I'm just saved. I'm on the foundation, but I'm not obedient. I don't love the Word of God. I don't obey the Word of God. You're a sinner. You're a natural man. If you have no fruit, if you have no obedience, there's something wrong with you. So what does this word carnal mean? The word carnal in the Greek, it can mean fleshly, pertaining to the flesh, but that's not flesh, old nature. It means pertaining to the physical body, this flesh. In other words, the carnal person is conscious of the natural world. He's not thinking of the spiritual world, the unseen, or the internal world. He is so conscious. All his thinking, all his ideas are so affected by this natural body. That's what the carnal actually means. It doesn't mean that he is a sinner. Look, it says in verse two, I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able. Look at the eating habits of these carnal builders. They are on the foundation, and you know what? We're told they build on it. There's a building process. They are working. They are doing things upon the salvation. They are actually desiring to build a house. This is their entire Christian life. It's not about being holy, because all Christians are holy. You don't get Christians who are immoral, fornicators, drunkards, taking their drugs, and then they come in every week just to enjoy the things of God. You don't get that. You see, the mark of all Christians, babes are mature. They're all saved. If you're constantly every week going back to fornication, you have not been born again, or else you've had a bad lapse, and you need to sort it out, like King David. But I want to tell you, every babe is holy, sanctified by God. Notice that they drink milk. These carnal believers, they love the milk of God. What is that? That's the ABCs, and please note this. This is what makes a difference between a babe in Christ and someone mature in Christ. What does it mean to be drinking milk? That's the ABCs. Have you noticed a baby? They don't feed themselves. They're looking to be fed. Feed me, feed me, feed me. Why do you have a mummy? To feed me, of course. Why do you have a daddy? To get up in the middle of the night when mummy's still in bed, and to walk the floor with me. No, most daddies don't know about that, do they? That little baby thinks everybody who comes into vision is there for it. You're there to feed me, to nurse me, to smile at me, to goo-goo at me. It actually believes that everything is there. Everyone ministering to that babe. Do you realize that babes in Christ, a new convert, is very needy. A babe is needy. I have great needs. I actually operate on this basis of need-centered, and so a babe in Christ is need-centered. A new convert, aren't they needy? You young ones coming to Christ. Oh, you have some crisis. You have crisis going, what am I going to do? Then you have a mature older Christian saying, you're going to come through. You'll be okay. They're there to comfort you, but you know what? Those early years are need-based. It's all about what Christ has done for me. Remember the difference between milk and meat? What's the milk? Christ died for me. I'm forgiven of my sins. The blood washes me. I'm secure in Christ. All of that is milk. What is the meat? His high priestly ministry. You see, when you consecrate, when you concentrate on Christ's earthly ministry, that is milk. All that he done on the earth, all of his ministry and dying, it's necessary. You don't move on from that. We all need it. I need it. I took a big glass of milk this week. I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I've done it twice this week, and Rory's going, amen. There's some hope for this preacher yet, but you know what? There's more than that. The meat actually is moving on. It's no longer the gospel centered around me. Meat is actually now me serving him, ministering unto him, pouring my life out, laying my life down, going through a life of suffering. You know, when you get to maturity, you suffer for the body. You don't care whether you're feeling good or not. You'll stand and preach. You could feel like death, but you've got to minister. You've got to preach. You've got to be there to pray. You've got to be there to worship. You've got to be there on the streets to evangelize. Oh, I feel like giving up. There's no time for that when you come to maturity. You see, that babe can roll around and say, I'm not going out today. I don't feel like playing today. I don't feel like lifting my hands. Well, that's fine. It's where you're at, but do you know what? There's a stage of maturity where you move on. Do you see that these carnal believers, they're genuinely born again, but Paul's dealing with the problem. He's not just dealing with new converts. He's dealing with older believers who have got stuck. They haven't moved on from this realm. Everything's about me. Minister to me. I need the same thing over and over and over and over again. Milk is very same-ish, isn't it? When you begin to move to meat, there's diversity, but milk is milk is milk. There's a similarity. And so you have with babes, when you get a Christian who it's always the same, elementary, am I forgiven? Am I saved? Am I okay? You know, there's a sameness, but there's something wrong when you get a mature Christian who's still in that position. There's still a milk eater. There's still all always needy. You're always having to look out for 30 years in the house of God. Are they okay? Are they going to come to church today? Are you managing? Okay. There's something wrong at that stage. Now, you know, this babe has not grown up and this is what Paul is dealing with. Look at a mark here. He begins to show you this mark of milk drinking, carnal Christians. They're really born again. They're really saved. They're really forgiven. They're really born again. And they're standing on the real foundation. But notice with me what he says in verse three. For ye are yet carnal. It's going to give you how you can identify. What is it about carnal builders in the house of God? They're working. They're active. They're speaking. They're thinking. They're doing in the house of God, but all of their actions, words, thoughts, there's a mark on them. Look what he says in verse three. For ye are yet carnal. How do you know? For whereas there is among you envying strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? So he's saying, there's the evidence. These three things, if they're in you, don't think you're mature. You're not. If you ever meet anyone in the house of God, I don't care if they're a preacher, an apostle, a prophet, or claim to be. I don't care if they've been 60 years in the house of God. If these three things mark them, they're a babe. They're carnal. They're focused on themselves. It's me, me, me. Feed me, feed me. That's what they're like. But yet here they are trying to act mature. You know what marks them? Envying, strife, and division. Notice these three things very closely. Paul is saying, you that are building on the real foundation, you're really on the foundation. But you know what? All your words, your actions, your thoughts, there's a carnality. What you're building is in danger. You've got stuck in a form of growth. Oh yeah, I know you're saved. This isn't an issue of your salvation here. I don't even doubt your salvation. I know that you're born again, but there is a problem and we need to deal with it. What is envying? That's feelings. Notice very carefully, envying. The word envying is zealous. It's a Greek word, zealous, where we get zeal or being zealous from. It means to have heat, zeal, or jealousy. The word means to be burning hot or like water, you bring it to boiling point where it's literally bubbling, boiling. It can't get hotter. That's what this word means. What's the mark of a carnal person in the house of God? If they are saved, if they're reborn again, one of their traits is in their feelings, they so easily, they're bubbling, they're boiling, they're jealous, they're stirred in their emotions. That person's going to cause a problem. Now I understand babes being like this. When you go into one of these houses and you've got a few children there, and I hear crying, and there's things lying about, and there's things dirty, and maybe there's a little smell. I don't get worried about that. That's normal. That's life. You've got a house with babes in it. Wherever you get a church with babes, you're going to get problems. That's okay. We understand that. You're going to stub your foot. You're going to go in circles a bit. You get confused. You get hurt. You're up and down, going, am I saved? I understand that. But see, when people are meant to be mature, and they're envying, they're boiling hot, angry, jealous of others, feelings burning in them, that's not okay for the house of God. That's not okay. You need to grow up. That's a mark of carnality, that you're stuck as a babe. Don't call yourself mature. Oh, I'm red hot because I'm mature. No, you're a baby. You're a baby. Calm down. Stop boiling. These people, they get red hot boiling over things that aren't important. They get boiling up. They get boiling over the carpet. You remember Jonah the prophet sitting outside the city of Nineveh, and the tree, the gourd that grew up over him, and then it dies. God makes it die, and then the Lord comes to him, says, why are you angry? Why are you all stirred up? He says, because the gourd, the gourd, that worm came along and killed it. He's angry over a tree. God says, you know what your problem is? There's a city sitting there, a whole entire city on its way to hell, and I've shown mercy to it, and I've stopped judgment coming, and you're not even concerned about those sinners. You're concerned about your silly tree. A lot of people in God's house, they'll get red hot angry about something. They don't care about a city going to hell. They don't care about the souls of men. See, at best, they're carnal. They're a babe in Christ. That's where they are. The second word that he uses here is strife. Now, that's words, strife. This word, strife, means to quarrel, wrangle, or debate, debate. It means to get embroiled in pointless arguments. Do you see the difference between a carnal man and a spiritual man in the house of God? Here's a carnal man. He's always quarreling, wrangling, debating about little words. You know, when I find something like that, I just, there's no point. If you draw back, they think they won. They're mature. I won. He doesn't have an answer for my arguments. I don't want to debate with you. You're carnal. You're absolutely carnal, wrangling over stupid things. You don't even know what you're talking about. You have to walk away from a babe like that. Then the third thing, divisions. That's an action, so you have feelings, then words. Now you've got actions. What's divisions? Disunion, or dissension. Oh yeah, if you're mature, you have to separate from heresy, compromise, wrong teaching. But see, as a babe, you're quarreling when you've got an apostle Paul ministering to you, and the house of God on fire, and real things happening. You know what? You're an individual. There's some people can't live in good churches. They call themselves a Christian, and you know what? They're always causing division and problems. Well, Paul says, at best, if you're an individual in the house of God, you're a babe, you haven't seen what this is about. You do not understand this. Paul says in verse four, for a while, one saith. You're going to see what the argument is here. See at Corinth, under the ministry of Paul, there's carnal builders there, or carnal Christians. What are they quarreling over? What are they getting hot over? What is the issue? It must be something very serious. Let's see what it was. Verse four, for a while, one saith, I am of Paul. Another says, I am of Apollos. Are ye not carnal? So look here, these babes building on a real foundation. I mean, they're really building, but what are they building? You know what all their building is involved? I'm for Paul. I'm for Apollos. Apollos was a great man of God, a teacher of the word of God, maybe one of the most eloquent creatures in the New Testament. He was dynamic. He was powerful. He was trained. He was gifted. He was actually from Alexandria in Egypt. He was tremendously gifted and taught too, who then converted to Christianity. So Paul is saying here, you're there, you carnal believers. You go, I'm in Paul's camp. I like Paul's style of preaching. I like how Paul teaches. I only buy Paul's books. I don't like Apollos. He reaches heights. He goes flying off into the heavens with his eloquence and his beauty and all of the rest. I'm more a Paul man. Then there was the other camp that said, oh no, I don't like Paul. Is Apollos going to preach this week? I hope you've booked Apollos over the next few weeks to minister. You know why? We actually read in Corinth, there were Christians in Corinth who said, Paul, your letters, when you send them to us, they're very weighty. They're very powerful. They're dynamic. Then you turn up and we go, we're not very impressed in how you look. And you open your mouth and we're not very impressed with your style of speaking. Do you realize, Paul, who founded the church at Corinth, there are carnal believers at Corinth who thought this about Paul. Man, bring back Apollos. He is dynamic and powerful. Paul, he's going to be preaching us through midnight and someone will fall out the window and we'll have to raise him up from the dead. Paul's sermon is going to be over in the next 15 minutes. I've got an appointment here. So you had all these debates going on in Corinth and Paul is saying, I know that you are yet carnal because there's a whole camp that says, I'm a Paul man. I'm an Apollos man. Or you fit in, I'm reformed. I'm Pentecostal. I lean towards the Puritans. Oh, I'm more reserved. I don't like that. Since you need to be very careful. I love the entire church. I love the entire body of Christ. I love all the great men from every church, every denomination who were really of God. I love them all. All of them belong to me. Give me the Puritans. Give me the Covenanters. Give me the old Methodist. Give me the Pentecostals. I tell you, I see the worldwide body of Christ. If they're in error over the foundation, I reject them. But be very careful. What you have here is these carnal builders. Do you know what? There's one of those times where I suddenly realized I'm not going to get all this in in this one message. I won't get my three points in. I think I'll maybe get my one point because it's so important what we're going to deal with here. I'll just rename this or something. But we need to stick on this here for a moment. I want you to understand what these carnal builders in the house of God really look like. So Paul begins to minister and explain exactly what they look like. For one saith, I am of Paul. Another, I am of Apollos. Are ye not carnal? So this natural, these people, they're not looking at the invisible, spiritual, or eternal. You know what? In the church, they're caught in ministries, controversies over style. They're not asking, are they qualified? Twenty-two qualifications about their life. Do they preach and teach the truth? You know what? They're looking at styles. They're looking at appearance. They're looking at these things. What does it make me feel like? No, that's the wrong way to judge preachers. Do they live holy? Do they treat their wife right? Do they raise their kids right? What's their attitude towards alcohol or towards money or towards some other issue? That's how you judge a preacher. But carnal Christians can't do that. I'm in this camp. I like him on YouTube. I don't like him. My one thing is, are they born again? Are they preachers of truth? Are they a real servant of the Lord Jesus Christ? I am absolutely persuaded within the church, we don't even know how to test preachers anymore, how to discern who is from Christ. A carnal Christian will reject someone called of God, appointed of God, anointed of God, who preaches the Lord Jesus Christ in salvation. So Paul is trying to deal with them. Listen to what he says in chapter one of this letter. For it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. He gets right in there at the beginning of this letter. This is a letter to a church, to Christians. And you know what? As he writes that church, he says, I am dealing. Do you think it's always wrong to tell about problems in a church? Absolutely not. Those in the house of Chloe had either written to Paul or sent someone to tell him, saying, Paul, you really need to deal with these issues. Do you realize what's going on in Corinth? Do you realize believers are rising up and they're arguing? I'm of Apollos. I'm of Paul. And the house of Chloe, obviously they were spiritual. Obviously they're mature because they're going, oh no, give us Christians again who say it's not okay to sit around tables, out of fellowship, debating, arguing, criticizing, hurting, wrestling over stupid issues. Yes, we need to discuss real issues. Yes, we need to get into the word of God. Yes, we need to expose error. But do you know what? A lot of churches, they revolve around this. They can think that they're detectors of heresy, discerners of evil motives. No, they're carnal. They don't even have the ability to go, there's kind of all day. I think you're carnal. You shouldn't be eating food dedicated to idols. You must be sinning by eating that. You can't have a Christmas dinner on the 25th of December. You're worshiping the sun, God, if you dare have a Christmas dinner. This is where it can go. Someone left this church a year ago. They actually, I want to mention, I don't have a Christmas tree, okay, just so you know. I don't keep Christmas as a religious festival. Jesus wasn't born then. It's not a religious festival for me. Just a nice family time. It's a cultural time. If you're going to stop Christmas, then stop using Thursday. It's Thor Day. Stop using the word Sunday. That's named after the sun, God. You need to be very careful. You see babes in the house of God. They pick up on these things. These are the things that get them hot, that they'll divide the church over. A year ago, someone wrote, all I said was concerning coming into this Christmastime. That was enough for them to turn to his wife and say, uh-oh, there's a problem here in this church. They've been blessed by the church, stirred by the church, loved by the church, but do you know what? That was me finito. I was dropped in the waste bin. Why? I didn't even celebrate Christmas. All I done was coming into that time saying, Christmastime is coming, and this is what we're going to do. You see, that's how foolish things can get. Do you honestly think that's where we're meant to be living? You know, however you deal with 25th of December, that's fine. If you don't get presents, fine, fine, don't get presents. If you do, fine, praise God. Give it to them. Bless someone with a good Christian book. Give a Christian DVD to one of your unsafe family members. What a great opportunity to use the time. If you don't want to use it, fine, no problem. We won't have a Christmas tree in here. It won't be in my house. I could call it a Nimrod tree, but I won't do that on you poor folk. But you know all these things. You know that when believers start rotating around that, and they could say, this is a genuine issue. Are you denying the truth? Hey, I wrote on the 25th of December before you even got in the kingdom of God. I know these things. I'm not ignorant of all these things. I know that Easter is named after Ashtoreth. I know that. We don't celebrate Easter here. We're not commanded to celebrate the resurrection. You're commanded every single Sunday to break bread, or each Lord's Day, or regularly, not once every three months, regularly remember his death. We don't celebrate this saying, you've got to remember the resurrection once a year. Show me a scripture. Show me where that is in the Bible. But you know what? The church actually comes, since that man led his whole family away from this church, his young children, his godly wife. Why? All because I mentioned Christmas. That's despicable. Do you realize the consequence on that man's life, on his spiritual growth, upon his children? All because of the mindset of a man. I actually thought he was even born again, because there was such a carnal thinking, no spiritual aspect with them. And so Paul is hearing from the house of Chloe, there are contentions amongst you. Now this I say that every one of you saith, so he's quoting them, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, and I am a Cephas. Who's Cephas? That's Peter. Simon Peter is also called Cephas. So now there's three of them. He says, you at Corinth, you've got a Paul camp, an Apollos camp, and a Peter camp, all in the same church. One church, in one city, raised up by me, Paul. And yet some of you say, you know Peter, he's hot. I mean he preaches quick to the point. He's short. He's a 20 minute preacher. Paul, he preaches for an hour and 20 minutes. Apollos, he's my sort of preacher. He's 50 minutes, 45 minutes. He's just exact. That's what it was. But Paul is showing here, they are saying, I am of Apollos. He says, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? You need to be very careful when you're caught up in ministries, names, styles. I'm a Keith man. I'm a Malcolmson man. I won't listen to anyone else on YouTube. Then you're very narrow. I'm sorry that if you're online and you go, I'll only listen to Malcolmson. I can give you a few more suggestions. I could broaden your perspective. Maybe that wouldn't be to your liking though. Be very careful of being, we ought to be the Christ camp. Oh no, Paul dealt with that as well. He actually says, and he says, then there's the real spiritual ones who say, we worship only Jesus. Do you see how carnality operates? You'd think, oh, I'm not in the Paul camp, the Peter camp or the Apollos camp. We worship Jesus. We only follow Jesus. How many of we had through this church? I don't listen to man. I don't need to listen to you. I follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit leads me. I read the Bible. They're saved the year. They haven't got a clue how many times they read the Bible. They don't even know the basics, but they're saying, I follow the Holy Spirit. You don't even know how to follow the Holy Spirit. You don't even know what it is to test with the scripture and understand these things. And so you have this whole controversy in the church of Corinth saying, I'm of this man. Paul is saying, who saved you? Whose name were you baptized in? Get your priorities right. You know what? I'm only a preacher here. That's all I am. I'm a very weak, a very frail, a very struggling preacher. I'm like you. I need the grace of God every step. There's nothing for me to boost them. If you're sitting here saved, I can claim your salvation as mine. I got them saved. I done a great work. Look at all of this that I'm doing in their life. Aren't I a great teacher? That's anathema. You know what? Christ has to be the foundation. It's all about the foundation. But let me conclude here. And this is the most important thing that I'm going to deal with. What did I say there were? Carnal builders. The foundations there, they're saved, but they're arguing about preachers. You see, they're not arguing about the world and saying, I think it's okay to get drunk. I think it's okay to sleep around with the girls out there. I think that's okay. I can curse and still be a Christian. They're not saying that. They're saying styles of preaching is thoroughly within the church of God. The controversy is about ministry, styles, preaching, the substance of the messages. Then Paul really brings this down. See, that's what they're building. Do you actually think building like that, contending against the Christmas tree are for it, contending against mate-dedicated idols are for it? Do you think arguing around that, how do you think that's going to get into eternity? How is that going to affect you for all eternity? Here's a foundation. It gets you into heaven. It'll save your soul eternally. But what's going to happen to you living years like this as a baby? It's all about me, me, me. Do you ever feed a little lamb? I did. I had a bottle and it was a little lamb. I had a number of them when I was young. There. I never fed a baby. Don't give me your baby to feed, okay? I may do the wrong thing. You don't want me to hold your babies, I assure you, unless it's dedicating them to the Lord up here. But that little lamb, there's nothing like a little, we call them little sucky lambs. That's what we call them, sucky lambs. It's absolutely beautiful. But do you know what? What's going to happen? And this is the clincher. Listen to this so carefully, verse 12. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work should be made manifest. He's teaching on this chapter of carnal people who have grown up, but they're still carnal after years. Their whole thinking, their attitude, their words, their emotions, they're carnal. But also they're spiritual, meat eaters here, all together in the same church. Do you know what he's saying? If any man builds on this foundation, this is what they're all doing. They're all building. You know you're building. All of you in this room, you're building. If you're born again, you're saved. You've been building. I wonder how you've been building. Are you like that Christian, like me camping in my garden, just showing everyone the foundation and I haven't built anything? But I think most of you have been building. What have you built? Do you know what Paul is saying here? Everything built on this foundation, whether it's gold, silver, precious stones on one side or on the other, wood, hay, stubble, all of this, every man's work, what's it say in verse 13, will be made manifest for the day shall declare it. What day? What day? It says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that they be done, whether they be good or bad. The Bible talks about a judgment seat of Christ. No sinner goes there. Sinners only go to the great white throne judgment spoken of in the book of Revelation. Only Christians go to the judgment seat of Christ. The word judgment in the Greek there is bima, bima seat and that's very important. What was that bima seat? A judgment seat. Do you know you can go to Greece and I believe it was Rory when he went out in that last trip to Corinth and he actually got a photograph of the bima seat. It's still there. You can actually photograph it, the bima seat. Do you know what it was? The bima seat was the Olympic race. It was a place of rewards. It was a place where decisions were made about how well you've done in the athletics. That's what the bima seat is. You know the judgment seat of Christ, this life is very short saints of God. If you're born again, you're on the foundation, you're eternally saved, you're safe, you're going into eternity with Christ. You won't get cast into hell if you have this solid foundation which is Christ. But can I warn you, praise God if you're saved. But you see there's a judgment day coming. What happens? It's not judging you for your sins. They're forgiven. They're forgiven. They're under the blood. Never be brought up again. So what's going to get judged? Your works. Your works. What does Paul say in chapter 3? Now if any man build upon this foundation, every man's work shall be 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 it is. So all those who build upon the foundation on that day at the judgment seat, all of us are going to be there. Then God's fire comes. You know what he's saying? Let's see what your works amount to. See you could reach the end of your life as a Christian going, oh I'm a great guy. Look what I've done. I've caused all sorts of church disputes. You won't believe how many times I went on YouTube videos and I stirred up a riot. I go in all of these disputes and talks. You need to be very, very careful. Everything you do will come under fire. Do you realize all the conversation? Have you tried to unite this church or divide this church? Are you building up your brother and sister or do you want to tear them down? Do you prefer them before you? Are you always trying to insult yourself? Are you telling lies? Are you slandering? Do you speak words that you're going to regret on the day of judgment at the judgment seat? See it's not that you get punished for your sins. You don't. It's just your works. Okay this is all that you've done. Now let's test it. Let's let's light a match. Let's just light the match and whatever is left over then we'll see about a reward for you. And if nothing's left then you don't get a reward. You know what? You're saved by God's grace. But there's no reward. There's no crimes. Do you know these carnal believers who have grown over many years but still act like babies? Do you know what their works are like? It is wood, hay, stubble. Wood burns and it burns quick. It takes years for wood to grow. Years for a tree to grow. It takes a short intensive hard bit of time to cut it down or to cut it into sizable places but it doesn't take long to burn. It's gone like that. Could you imagine living years, decades, 10 years, 20, 30 and all your Christian works it's wood. Oh it took years to grow. You're impressed about it. You're really impressed with how you think, how you speak and how you act in the church. The match goes. Oh didn't seem to be anything left. You think wood's the best. What about hay? Do you know how quick hay burns? I got stuck in an entire barn that went up in fire. I was in the middle of it as a kid. The whole thing went on fire. I stuck my head up. We had a hut in the middle of it. I stuck my head up. The whole top was on fire. To this day I don't know how I got out of it. Do you know how well hay burns? Oh man. I don't like candles in houses. Candace used to like candles and I'd go about the house. She soon got used to it. She'd go out of the room and it looked beautiful. All these candles smelling nice, looking nice. She'd come back. Oh man there must have been some gust of wind. There's no window. How did it happen? You know after this happening a lot of times it suddenly clicked. Malcolmson walks in the room. He puts all of the little fires out. Why? Because I know how horrendous a fire is. It'll destroy everything. And so these carnal believers who never grew up, they're saved. They're on the foundation. But the stayed babes, the remain babes, they act like babes. They never grew. It's all about men and ministries. It's all about me. It's all about milk. It's all about what Jesus has done for me. And that's wonderful if you are a babe or the first three years of salvation. That's wonderful. Don't you feel guilty about that? Do you know I always return to drink a milk. I love just to meditate. I'm forgiven. I'm forgiven. What our brother shared wonderfully this morning. I'm forgiven. I'm in awe that he washed me and that he gave me his grace. And it says in verse 14, if any man's work abide, which he has built there on, he shall receive a reward. This fire is Christ. It says his eyes are like fire. His words are like fire. Hebrews 13, our God is a consuming fire. See your works, they'll remain. You keep seeing them. You're looking at them. They just sit there like King Saul. He rejects God, rejects the Holy Spirit. 38 years, God leaves them there with the anointing and the calling. 38 years, but that's going to catch up with them. Do you realize all your works, they'll be there. You could look at them, name them. You could think about them, but a day will come. It's going to get tested by God's fire. Will your works remain? Your words, your actions, your decisions, how you left the church, how you conducted yourself in a church, how you've related with other ministries, how you've talked about genuine preachers. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. Now look at this. There's a carnal, a carnal builder. All his works are burnt. He lose it all. He suffers loss, but notice what it says, but he himself should be saved. Yet as so by fire. This is what we called about people saved by fire. Their works are burnt, but they're saved. They're on the foundation. They're born again. They're at the judgment site. They're washed in the blood, forgiven, but all their works get burnt up. You know what he's saying? You're saved as by fire because all those works couldn't come into heaven. All those works can't come into the eternal state. All those works have to be burnt out. They're no good. They're worthless. They're a waste. In other words, you got saved, but you didn't do anything with your Christian life. It was all about what he'd done for you. Nothing about what you'd done for him. It's a bit like the thief on the cross. Did he make heaven? Did he make paradise? Yes, that very day. This day, you'll be with me in paradise. Do you realize when he got nailed to the cross, he's reviling Christ. He's rebuking Christ. Save yourself, save us, if you'd be the son of God. He gets saved on the cross. Born again, his eyes are open, and he changes. Then he rebukes the other thief and said, don't you speak to him. He'd done nothing. We are guilty, but this man isn't. It was a change in three hours on that cross. Three hours. That man come under conviction of sin, God saved, but he's nailed there. He can't get baptized in water. He can't do any good deeds. He can't go and evangelize. Not got much time to pray. You know what? That's a man saved as by far. God's grace saved him, but he never gets to live a Christian life and go serve God or reach souls for Christ. At least that's what I thought. Then I had a thought last night and I thought, I wonder because of the story, that damn thief, how many times has that been preached and someone got born again? Suddenly thought that last night because I was going to preach it that other way. Then I thought, I wonder if that's going to his account. All through these years, every time someone preaches on the damn thing, and that damn thing goes, praise God. I've got some more gold, precious stones. I've got some rewards here, but you know that believer who's lived for years, debating, bickering, arguing, always looking naturally, thinking they're spiritually mature because they go, well, I think this about Paul, this about Peter, this about Apollos, and they think they're spiritually mature. The Lord says, it's hay, wood, stubble, it's all going to burn. All you're going to have to do is say, I got saved by God's grace, but I never served him. He cannot reward you. There's nothing to reward. What is he going to reward you for? Causing splits, arguments, being divisive, arguing about little words, always causing problems, thinking that you're a heretic detector, and you know I deal with heresy, and false teaching, and I rebuke it. You know that. I'm not minimizing that at all, but I'm just going, I've seen an awful lot in the church, the body of Christ. Then from verse 16 to 20, he starts dealing with people, and I'm not going there this morning, starts dealing with people who think they're carnal. After what you've heard, someone online will hear this and think, oh, well, I'm just a carnal Christian. I don't need to be spiritual. I don't need to be obedient. I'm just a carnal Christian. I'm saved, but I don't need to live spiritual. Do you know the problem with carnality is you never quite know which side of the fence you fall. When you play with these things, and you go, oh, I know I'm saved. I'm just not very spiritual. You're on dangerous ground, and you know what? In your heart, your own heart condemns you, and you're not quite sure. See, with the babe in Christ, when they sin, immediately they lose assurance. They don't lose their salvation. They lose their assurance. Do you know what? It's a good thing. It's a safeguard of the Holy Spirit. You sin against them. All sins deliver. You sin against them, instantly, you lose that inner witness that I'm okay. You go, oh, Lord, are you still there? Please don't leave me. Please forgive me. That's a real Christian who sinned. I wish I hadn't sinned. I wish I'd never grieved them, but I've known what it is. I've sinned against them. You feel the grief of the Holy Spirit. Do you know why it allows that? Because it draws you back in. If you're a real Christian, you go, I've grieved them. If you can sin and you don't get grieved, I'd be worried this morning. See, if you can sin against them, and you go, oh, sure, it's okay. You're heading for tragedy. When you take sin and obedience lightly, because a real babe in Christ who sins, goes, Lord, please forgive me. And they wrestle over that for three days a ton. They've already repented. They've already asked him to forgive them, but they don't feel forgiven for three days. They're forgiven the first day. They say, oh, forgive me, wash me, cleanse me. And the Word of God says, if any man repents or asks him to forgive him, he's forgiven. The Word of God says that. But you spend the next three days going, are you there, Lord? And are you back again? Three days. You're already forgiven three days, but you don't feel forgiven. Do you hear me? I'm telling you, when you begin to learn this, because the carnal babe is moved by the natural, the feelings. So go, if I don't feel forgiven, I mustn't be forgiven. That's not true. That's not true. What does the Word of God say? If you ask him to forgive you, you're forgiven. You're washed in the blood. It's gone. He's right with you. You just need to stand on the promises of God. Stand on the Word of God until your feelings come in line with reality. Please stand with me. Thank you, Lord. Let's worship him. Let's praise him. Oh, let's thank him. Hallelujah. Oh my God, I worship you this morning. What a Savior. What a Redeemer. Lord God, I pray, oh God, this morning. Lord God, let the wind of God blow upon us. Let that conviction of the Holy Spirit come. We don't want carnality dominating. We understand how we're babes in Christ. We're new to this. We're drinking the milk. We are needy, oh God. We have many needs, many crises, but oh God, we want to be a body, a church that's growing in Christ, that's going on to perfection, that's going on to maturity, that's moving into spirituality, where we can discern the deep things of God, where we begin to understand that high priestly ministry of Christ, where the gospel, the meetings, the teaching is no longer about us, but it's about your glory. It's no longer you having saved us by grace, but it's us building a house that's glorious to you, building for your glory, building with gold and silver and with precious stones. My God, I pray, lead us by your Holy Spirit. Convict us, stir us today. If there's one that needs saved, save them today by the power of your Holy Spirit. Lord God, if there's one that's got stuck in carnality, Lord God, help them by your grace and your mercy. Lift them and carry them, Lord God, that they might see and discern spiritually. We pray for every person online today. Lord God, all those that will watch this afterwards, Lord God, thank you for these, Lord God, that have joined themselves with us week by week. We pray for them as a church. We pray for a move of the Holy Spirit. Lord God, encourage them and help them and edify them. Lord God, raise up a spiritual maturity in this hour, Lord God, of men and women of God in the house of God who are going to walk with you. We love you this day. We praise you. We commit our souls, our entire being into your hands that you might sanctify us, that you might wash us, that you might renew us, that you might conform us. Lord God, you say in your word that you predestinated, you made a plan from the very beginning, from all eternity to conform us, to change us and to make us like the Lord Jesus. We believe this this morning. Help us, oh God, as we submit to this wonderful plan in Jesus' mighty name.