Spiritual Builders - Part 1

I want you to turn in your Bibles this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians and chapter 3 with me. Just last week, beginning to preach, I was into the message and realised last week's message has become three messages. I just knew it halfway through. This has to go to three messages and this is a continuing part of last week. Last week was part 7 and we dealt with carnal builders. This week, part 8, I want to deal with spiritual builders as we read from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 together. In this series concerning Christ and the foundations, I believe this series, we are dealing with very, very vital information. Just read in 1 Corinthians 3 and please, our videos online are a week behind where we were actually at. The last week's message went up this morning. Please, can I beg you, if you weren't here last week or if you didn't see it online because of being sick or whatever, please listen to last week's message on carnality in the church with Christians, our carnal builders on the foundation. It's very important that you understand it. Don't just listen to this message. It's important to listen to the other. It builds into this and is vital. Reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 1. Our message, spiritual builders, 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 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 had planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither is 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 thereon 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 has 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 as 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. Let's pray together. Father, we love you. We pray together. Thank you for the solid foundation that all hell cannot destroy, nor God. It is eternal. Lord God, it is invisible, and yet so established, so real. Lord God, it is a foundation laid by God himself. It is a foundation who is a person in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a foundation that is going to outlive this world, nor God, it is a foundation that not only supports us here now in life, in this temple world, but it is a foundation that will carry us beyond the pales of death. Lord God, beyond that realm of breathing our last breath into eternity, into an unseen world. It is a foundation, nor God, that we are building upon now. And nor God, we realize, Lord God, nor God, that all of our works, all of our labor one day at the judgment seat of Christ will be tested by fire. And nor God, I pray in this room right here this morning, my God, raise up, Lord God, spiritual children in the house of God. Don't let us remain as babes, but oh God, give us an insatiable desire for the milk of God's word, for the truth, for the life, for the teaching, for the doctrine of the ABCs. Nor God, of all that Christ has done at Calvary, nor God, all that he done in shedding his blood to forgive us, that we might grow up into maturity, into Christ's likeness, oh God. Nor God, that we wouldn't be caught up in foolish attitudes and childishness, but oh God, that we had grew into manhood and go on to perfection. Lord God, stir our hearts with the deep desire this day in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. Our message, good spiritual builders. Last week, I was going to call this building on a solid foundation and add three points, but I had to stop because the first point was too important and it took up a whole message, carnal builders. So again, we're coming back to this truth, building on a solid foundation. Christ is that solid foundation. What does it say here in verse 11 of chapter 3? For other foundation can no man lay that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only foundation. When you find yourself born again, saved by God's grace, and that's who God is dealing with here in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. He begins the chapter by saying brethren. He's talking to real Christians. You don't get sinners building on this foundation. You only get real Christians. And yet, like last week we saw, there are those in the church who are carnal. And by carnal, he means those that have been around a long time, but they're still babes. They've never grown, but they're building on the foundation. They are brethren. It doesn't mean they're sinners. You know, there's certain people in the church and they go, oh, well, they excuse themselves. I'm just carnal, but I believe in the foundation. If you're living like a sinner, speaking like a sinner, acting like a sinner, living like a sinner, it means you're a sinner. Don't try to say, oh, I'm just a simple Christian. No, you're a sinner. You're a sinner. But do you know what a carnal Christian is? It's someone who's bickering over the preacher and squabbling over food dedicated to idols. That's the sort of person he is. And yet he is in the house of God. He loves God. He's born again, but he hasn't grown. There's something wrong. And this can happen. And I warn you as believers, you can get stunted in your growth. You know, when I was at school as a kid, they talked about cigarettes stunting your growth. I think they moved on from that. I don't think any scientists would maybe say that cigarettes stunt your growth anymore, but that's what the media used to say. And you know, it was a great fear. We all thought, man, I'm only a wee fella, but I want to grow up into a big fella. I don't want to be stunted in my growth. I'm sad to say many in the house of God are stunted in their growth. They don't actually grow. They're not growing up into Christ's likeness. And so they are called carnal. And here, what we dealt with last week is we called them carnal builders. They are building. They are in God's house. They do speak. They do think. They do act. They do make decisions. But they are carnal builders. They are building something on the foundation. Thank God they're on the foundation. Thank God they're there. You can't go through 30 years of not growing or 10 years and do nothing in the house of God. You'll be in the house of God doing something. But if you're carnal and you're not growing spiritually, then all that you are doing is in danger. It means nothing. But let's come to this message here this morning. You see here in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16, it's talking about us building on the foundation. But what are we building? It says in verse 16, know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. So you begin to see what you're building on this foundation. This was the church of Corinth. There's only one foundation. The foundation has been laid. It is the person of Christ. It is forgiveness, the blood, the cross, all that he has done. He is our righteousness. That is the foundation. But what is getting built on that one foundation? It is a temple for God to dwell in. Spiritually, you and your life, you are, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells within you. He lives within you. God himself, if you're born again, God is in you. You know, we can so easily forget the awareness. God is in me. God has dwelt. That's why when you sin, you grieve the Holy Ghost. You feel it. Unquenching the Holy Spirit of God. Because you're a temple. But you know the whole church together, we are also a temple. It says in 2 Corinthians 6:16 that it calls us the temple of God as the church living together. And he says God has said, I will dwell in them. Walk in them. And I will be their God. And they shall be my people. That's what it means to be a temple. God is gonna dwell in us. God is gonna walk in us. God is tabernacle with us. We are building a temple, a dwelling place for God. It's a remarkable thing. But I wanna bring you, we dealt with the carnal builders last week. And I don't wanna repeat that. I want you to go back and listen it. And if you're here, I want you to go back and listen it again. It's important that you understand these things. It could affect you for however long we're here in this church together. But this morning, I wanna deal with spiritual builders. Not the carnal Christians who are building on this. But I wanna deal for a moment with the spiritual builders. And I've got three points here concerning these spiritual builders. See, in chapter 3 verse 1, it talks about those who are spiritual. It says, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. Those carnal Christians, carnal builders, who are like babes, like they had never grown. You see them. They're very different than spiritual. Paul says, I could not talk unto you as spiritual. Imagine if you've been around a lot of years, gathered a lot of knowledge, knew an awful lot of stuff. And yet I, looking at your life, I go, you're a carnal. You think you're mature, but actually I have to speak to you like a baby, like a newborn Christian. Imagine that. And imagine you've been around this years and you know so much. But when I talk to you, I cannot talk to you as a spiritual adult. I've gotta talk to you like a little child. I've gotta go back to basics again, about forgiveness and the basics of salvation, because I can't talk to you as someone who's mature, who understands the things of God, who understands the ways of God. I can't do that. And that's where Paul was at. He said, you Corinthians can't talk to you as spiritual. But I want you to see what are these spiritual builders, because in the church of Corinth, you will never understand the two letters to Corinth, unless you understand what I'm just about to tell you. See, people try to make the letter to Corinth, they say the church of Corinth was carnal. No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. A portion of the church was carnal and a portion of the church was spiritual. So all through these two letters, especially 1 Corinthians, you actually get Paul, and if you don't understand this, you'll never understand 1 Corinthians. At times he's speaking to the carnal, at times to the spiritual, and that's what a preacher has to do. Imagine if I only preach to the new converts, or imagine if I only preach to those that are mature in Christ. It's actually a mixture. My messages are a mixture. Some things might go over your head. Don't worry. There's always something in here for you to eat. I want to tell you, there's something God's going to apply to you. And so you see here that you've got two groups in the church of Corinth, one called carnal, one called spiritual. And it's fine to be carnal if you're a young Christian. It's absolutely fine. In fact, it's normal. We would see it as abuse if I tried to make you act older than you were. That would be wrong. But I'm telling you, when you've been around a lot and you think you know a lot, and people who think they know a lot, they let you know they know a lot, and they exude it. I am spiritual. And it's very hard when you have to speak to them like a baby and begin to deal with little things. I've had to do this with people before and said, don't you think we know that? And I feel like saying, you don't act like it. You don't speak like it. No, I really think I need to speak like this to you. And it can be offensive to someone. And yet it's very obvious they don't know what I'm saying. But they're offended being told. You know why? Because intellectually they know it. I've got three points here to say about these spiritual builders. Number one, they master their senses in judging. How do you tell a spiritual builder, someone who's spiritual in the church, who's actually building something, they're mature. How do you recognize them? That they are building things. What they do from week to week in the house of God is going to last throughout eternity. How do you recognize them? What is the mark of them? See this word in chapter three, verse one, spiritual. It's the Greek word, pneumaticos. It actually means of the spirit, pertaining to the spirit, or belonging to the spirit. The word spirit there, pneuma, actually is the word for breath. That's what spirit is. It's what your spirit is within you. And so these spiritual people, they are like the Holy Spirit. They are attached. They are associated to the spiritual work, not the five senses. Remember the carnal? What does the word carnal mean? It means to be sensual, or fleshly, or bodily. It means they live by the five senses. This is one of the great marks how you tell the difference between someone spiritual and someone carnal. A carnal Christian lives by the five senses. That's why so much of the church, they darken the room, get the meeting room dark. Let's get the music up. So it's lights, it's music, it's numbers, it's atmosphere. You know what that is? You're living by the five senses. That's a carnal church. They're moved by that and said, do you feel the anointing? What do you mean by that? Oh, don't you feel the anointing? Strip all that away. Put you in the fire and let's see if you're spiritual. You see a lot in the church, they live by the five senses. But see these spiritual ones, they actually are like the spirit. They're living in a different dimension, not by the bodily five senses. They don't live by those things. They're up, they're down, they're in, they're out. One day they're saved. The next day they're not. They're all over the place. They're moved by their senses. The spiritual man actually lives through his spirit. He's not moved by the five senses. He belongs to the spirit. He is inwardly birthed of God. He's a new creature. And so, he lives like a wind. Those born of God are like the wind. He is alive. He is moving. And he is aware of an invisible, eternal world. Someone who's only aware of this life now and what benefits you. You're carnal. Maybe that could be fine. You're just young. You're new. You're a babe in Christ. That's fine. You're aware of just me, like a baby, like these young children. The world revolves around them. Every person in this meeting this morning revolves around them. They are the center of their world. It's just normal. It's not wrong. But that baby, the younger they are, it's, you mommy are there for me. Daddy, you're there for me. I am the center of the world. I am God's gift to you. And so, there is a danger of when someone sticks around the church very long, if they remain carnal, everything is revolving around them. But not the spiritual. They're living daily for an eternal, invisible world. A world to come. A world beyond this lifetime. This is what they think and they feel. This Greek word for spiritual is used 26 times in the New Testament. And 11 of those times, it's used in 1 Corinthians. So, this word to be spiritual is very important in this letter. Paul is writing to the Corinthians and 11 times he talks about what it means to be spiritual. It's very different than being carnal. But let me define what it means. Look at chapter 2 verse 6. It says, how be it we speak wisdom among you that are perfect. That are perfect. He's talking about these same people. These spiritual ones, these mature ones, he calls in this sense, they are perfect. He's talking about speaking the wisdom of God. Who to? Those that are perfect. The word perfect is teleos. It means to be fully grown. It means a completed work of growth. You know, when I get to 21 or thereabouts, I've reached my full stature, my full height. I have grown fully. I've got an awful lot of growing, but I'm not going to go any higher. And that's what it means about spiritual. Those that are spiritual, I am fully grown. I'm not going up any, I might go out a bit, but I'm not going to go up any more. I have reached my full stature, but I've got a lot of growing to do. I'm going to keep moving, but there is a fullness. I have reached the goal. Having attained a stage of fullness, it means to reach a goal that you had in mind. It means to reach a place of mature understanding. You're no longer childish, lacking nothing. You are complete. Or listen to what it says in Hebrews chapter five, verse 11. It talks about those who are of full age. Again, it says in Hebrews chapter six, verse one, therefore having, sorry, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection. Do you see that in the church, there is an entire teaching about going on to maturity, growing in Christ, not staying as babes. It says in Ephesians chapter four, verse 13, till we all in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God come on to a perfect man and the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. There's an entire teaching here that we as a church are to grow to maturity, that we're to come to a full maturity. It's called perfection. It's called full age. You know when you get to 21 and it used to be you got a card with a key on it. In other words, you've reached an age we now could hand you the key of the house. That's what they used to do in the old days. 21 years old, here's a key. Now a 10 year old will throw a storm if they don't have a key for it. If they don't have anything or everything, they'll throw a storm. But Paul is talking here about this maturity, this spiritual maturity. He says in 1 Corinthians 14, 20, brethren, be not children in understanding, how be it in malice. Be ye children, in other words, innocent, harmless, without guile. But in understanding, be men. We need people in the church who in their thinking, how they think, they've come to a place of maturity. Saints, this is very important in the house of God. Do you realize in eternity all of your works, it's going to affect everything you do throughout your Christian life. Whether you remain as a babe, it's fine to be a babe. It's not okay to remain a babe. You could actually live your Christian life for the first year, second year, third year being a babe, and it's not sinful. But all of a sudden it can become a problem if you don't grow, you don't move on. If you don't learn to not live by the five senses, but move to live by the spirit, out of the spirit. Now you've got a problem. Now what you begin to do is going to be burnt with fire. It won't go into eternity. You won't get a reward for it because of who you are. You're immature. You're a babe. Your growth is actually stunted. It's a bad thing. So the first mark of those that are spiritual, how do I know someone who's spiritual? They master their senses in judging. You say, where is that? Read with me 1 Corinthians 2, and it says in verse 9, but he that is spiritual, it's the same word, judges all things. How do I know a spiritual person in God's house? They judge all things. They have mastered, they control their senses. They have taught their senses how to judge. What does it say in 1 Corinthians 2 and 9? But he that is spiritual, judges all things. Or I could say the spiritual man judges all things truly or correctly or accurately. In other words, he has the ability, the maturity, the spirituality to judge things and not to make mistakes. That is a spiritual man. And you know what? You have to grow there. You're not there at the beginning. You don't get there overnight. But this is what we're looking for from every single person here. If you're a father, if you're a mother, there's something seriously wrong with you if you weren't looking for your child to grow. If you're satisfied that they remain at stage one growth, year one, if you think that's normal, by three years old you'd be panicking. You'll say, why aren't they speaking? Why aren't they walking? Why aren't they moving their arms? Why aren't they actually beginning to eat for themselves? You're going to get worried. I can assure you, you would immediately be going to the doctor or speaking to me or talking to your partner and saying, I think there's something wrong here. What do you think? You know why? There's a natural desire. Babies are lovely. There's nothing wrong with babies. It's okay to be a baby and two years old and three and four. It's okay to knock things over. It's okay to be needy. It's okay to dirty your diapers, your nappies. That's all fine. But you know what? At a certain stage, I'm going to start getting worried. It's the same in the house of God. I expect growth from every single individual, not to be harsh, not to lay burdens on people, but it's natural. If you're born again, if you're walking in these things, you're going to begin to grow. And this is one of the outstanding marks that you can now judge accurately. This is going to mark you. How do I know you're moving away from judging by five senses to become spiritual? How do I know you're reaching maturity, full growth, perfection, that you're actually understanding what's being preached in this church? It's because you learn how to judge biblically. And there's something we taught often in this church. It's something that's a big issue in this church. It says over in Hebrews chapter five and verse 11, but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age. Now notice this carefully. Strong meat belongs to them that are full age. Even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. This is the mark. So these ones who are mature, they're full age, they're spiritual. How do I know that? Because by reason of use, they have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. Let me explain this. By reason of use, that word use means habit, practice, custom. It means to constantly and continually use things. Who here has to think about driving their car? Who here had to consciously tell themselves to use the indicator, to press the brake, to use the accelerator? You laugh at me in saying that. Do you know why? Because it's automatic. There was a day when you used to go out, you were terrified to press the accelerator. You're going, where is it? Where is it? How heavy do I press this? You know why you're learning. Why is it now you're not even conscious? You don't even think about basic elementary things. Why? It is a habit. Through habit, it becomes unconscious. It's what you are. I drive, I swim, I do whatever. I don't even think about it anymore. So Paul is saying here the mark of a spiritual person by reason of use. In other words, it has taken time and much practice. How do you come to spiritual maturity? You discern things, you judge things. You don't know how to do that at the beginning. You know these Christians, they walk in and say, oh, I can discern anyone. Balderdash. I've had mature Christians say, I can discern, I can see through anyone. Ludo twaddle. Rubbish. Then you know nothing about the gifts of the spirit because everything can look normal. This is a gift of the Holy Spirit. You don't need to discernment if it's just obvious. You don't walk about with a gift. Those people have always said it, always get chipped. I've watched them get chipped. But here it says by use. In other words, it takes time, it takes practice. That means those that are spiritual, and it could be a short growth, spiritual growth, or it could be over years. But they have come over time to a place through exercising their senses, through regular, habitual, and every situation. Everything that's going on in the church, they are exercising habitually. They're doing this all the time. They're getting used to it. They suddenly know how to move from the five senses to spiritual senses. They become where? How to judge? Not by the eyes, not by the ears, not by feelings, not by smell. Some people think I can just smell out trouble. Really? Really? I bet there's things that you miss. You've gone through a repetitive long process to make this normal a part of your life. You know how to judge. You know how to discern. You can see things. You can sense things. It's more than natural senses. It's a natural part of you. It's normal. It's who you are. You now are able to judge things accurately, not emotionally, not sentimentally. You don't think in a carnal fashion or a baby fashion. You're actually thinking of things, spiritually, in maturity. The emotions don't rule here. It's the spirit, the word of God that actually rules here. It says, by reason of use, they have their senses exercised. See the word senses there? That means the senses are apprehensions or how you perceive things. You've got five natural biological senses. You have ear gate, eye gate, smell, touch. What am I missing? Taste, that's it. You've got all of those, but you also have that. If I took you into Scripture, you've got touch, taste, and see the Lord as good. See the Lord high and lifted up. You've got five spiritual senses. It's told here about through use, through habitually working on this, you are growing. How do you grow to maturity in the house of God? You're using spiritual senses, not five natural senses. You're seeing the Lord by faith. You're tasting the Lord. Not every Christian learns this. They're feeling with their emotions, but there is a feeling in the spirit. I can feel things and know things that aren't natural. It's not by five senses. I don't know how it's cultivated, but it's there. I can walk into a building and I know an awful lot. I just know it. I don't know any information, but I know what I feel. Through exercise and over the years, I find that time and time and time again to be accurate. I've learned that that's a very, very real thing. It says having their senses exercised. The word exercise here is the Greek word gymnasium. I don't play around with Greek words. I'm not trying to look smart. I don't know any more than you really. It's just a new word to go and study, but look at the Greek word gymnasium. It's where we get the word gymnasium. You see the importance with language. I tell you a bit of Greek. You understand. So to exercise these spiritual senses, we can understand. It's like being in a gymnasium. It means to practice or to train as an athlete in an unhindered manner. That's what the Greek word is. Lay aside everything that's burdening you and exercise. You know what? Some of you aren't growing in your senses because you're burdened with so many things. You know when you're burdened, I'm discouraged, I'm down, I feel like giving up. You can't even discern anymore. You're so weighed down with things. Why not set all that aside? Why not cast your cares upon Christ? Why? Because he careth for you. You know why you can't see the Lord high and lifted up? Do you know why you can't hear him? You know why you can't feel him or taste him or smell him? Smell. There's a spiritual smelling, you know. We can go into scripture on that. Go into Song of Solomon. Do you know why you've got so many burdens? But see this word exercise means to set it all aside. And listen, it's in the perfect tense, meaning this condition is the product of much past work, where you are. I'm spiritual. I'm mature. I've gone on to perfection, but it's the product of years ago. Now I have maturity. Now I have spirituality, but it's actually the building blocks of what I built on over many, many years. This is the condition I have actually came to. Now it's my responsibility to maintain that. When I was in the army just a few years ago, every year we used to do a CFT, combat fitness test. It was an eight mile run. We'd done it with boots on, a helmet in our head, a rifle, and around our waist, we had 35 pounds packed in around our waist. That's over 15 kgs, or I think two and a half stone of weight in around your waist. It's on webbing, and you had to run for eight miles. That was our basic fitness test every single year. Once a year you had to do that. Then when you got to the end of the eight miles, you're coming down to the finish line. You paired off with your teammate, and guess what you had to do? You gave him a fireman's lift for the last hundred meters. That's a killer. Now I've got his weapon, his helmet, all of his weight, and his body weight that I'm actually carrying. You know what that was? That's a basic fitness test to be in the army. How are you going to go into the battle without this exercise? You don't join the army and say, hey, call me when things get rough out there, then I'll get ready. I'll say a little prayer. I'll go to school. Lord, make me ready. I want to go do something for you. This is a perpetual, annual, constant, weekly, daily training. An entire army, there may be no war, but that army, it is ready. It is prepared. I used to love this, especially running up hills. I loved it. The adventure, the talent, the adrenaline gets running. The challenge of this, I can still hear my staff sergeant, dig in, dig in, dig in. I can hear it. It rolls in my mind. It's a part of me. Saints of God, we are in the army of God. You want to go on to maturity. You're going to have to exercise these senses. You need to get into the gymnasium. You need to begin. You wonder why you get in a crisis. I can't see him. I can't feel him. I can't hear him. It's because you're living by five senses. I can walk through hell. I'm telling you, I've walked through hell the past year and a half, but I want to tell you, I can touch this God. My worship has never, apart from one momentary time, and I won't tell you why, but apart from one momentary time, I haven't been hindered in worshipping my God in this room. That's not possible. It's not possible if you live by the five senses. If you're young and immature, yes, built on the foundation, I can never do that, but you see through exercise. Why have I handled losing Candice the way I have? Why have I kept preaching from five weeks after it? Why have I been able to sustain this? Do you think I'm acting or I'm strong or something? Do you know what it was? This is what I was doing way before Candice left here or got ill. This is how we lived our Christian life. So the crisis comes. This is what I am. I can't pretend what you see is what I am, but do you know what? This is what has happened. This is an entire Christian life of daily going through the small issues of life, and suddenly you find this is who I am. I don't judge by my feelings or my circumstance. I judge spiritually according to the Spirit, and this is what we're to be. It says that through their senses, their senses be an exercise to discern both good and evil. This is a mark of being spiritual. How do I know someone's spiritual? Through exercise, perpetual, habitual doing this, they've exercised their senses, exercised seeing the Lord, hearing the Lord, worshiping the Lord through day-to-day life, the normal rule of life. To do what? To discern what is good and evil, and this is the word I want you to see here very carefully. It says to discern. The mark of a mature Christian is discernment or judging biblically, judging correctly, accurately, not making mistakes in their judgment, and you know what? That's a skill. You don't get given this as a gift, what I'm talking about. This is mature discernment, not a gift of the Holy Spirit. There is a gift of the Holy Spirit that's discernment. It comes suddenly, supernaturally in one moment. You don't work on it. You don't gain it. You don't grow into it. The gift of the Spirit comes to help you and protect the church, but this is hard work. This is daily work. This is weekly work. You grew into this. You mature into it. It's a mark of maturity to discern. Now listen to me. This word discern has three meanings to it, and it's very important you understand this with all of your discernment in the church. It's the Greek word diakrisis. It means judgment in a particular situation where you have come to a final conclusion. There's three parts to it. Number one, to scrutinize, investigate, to interrogate, and determine. That's what the Greek word means. How do you discern? You scrutinize. You ask questions. You look. You need information. Oh, I just know. You haven't even asked basic questions. Through the years, I wish I would have asked a lot more questions when I interact with people. Really do. Really do. If you have mature discernment, you scrutinize. Oh, don't think. Don't judge. That's carnal. To judge, to come to maturity in judgment is spirituality. It's vital for the church, vital for your own health. I'm constantly judging. Will I drive out in this road or not? Will I pick the apple with bumps on it or the apple that looks rosy? You're constantly, it's a faculty that's very important. Your life, pulling out onto the road, is that car coming too fast? Is that car close to me or far enough away that I drive out? You're constantly using this faculty of judgment, scrutinizing. We need it in the church. This is a part of this. You scrutinize. You investigate. You're looking to get facts, information. It's not a feeling. It's not the senses. You are now discerning. You're thinking biblically. Second of all, it means to weigh, to separate, to compare, or to evaluate. That means you gather the information. You're discerning. Now you're doing something with it. You're evaluating. Let's weigh this to see. Let's look at it. Let's separate. Let's compare things here. See, if you don't go through this process, you don't know how to discern. You don't know how to judge. You don't have discernment. You don't have maturity. Because a mature believer is actually doing this with everything in life, every sermon, every issue in the church, every issue in their marriage, everything to do with their own life, their own thoughts, their own feelings. This is maturity. This can actually become second nature, like driving your car, where you don't even think about it anymore. This is what you do. And then you look at someone who does this and you go, how do they do it? Well, it's years. I got burnt in the past. I got deceived in the past. I got lied to in the past. I got betrayed in the past. I trusted things I never should have. I'm telling you, I've got stories to tell you. This didn't just happen overnight. I got deceived in a church and I went, I've got to live by the word of God, the scriptures. I was living by the senses, thinking it was spiritual. Certain people deceived me. False prophetess deceived me. You've got to be so careful. The third thing with this, it means select, choose, or determine. It means to decide or to draw a conclusion. Do you see what's happening? So you've got to investigate the information. Then you've got to weigh it, and sort it out. Then you've got to make a decision. You've got to select. You've got to decide. You've got to draw a conclusion from all of this. This is discernment. And so he's saying here that those who eat strong meat or who are of full age or maturity, this is a mark of them. They have grown into maturity. You can't be a babe in discernment. You cannot be childlike in how you judge things and how you scrutinize things or how you examine them, and yet think you're spiritually mature. And we've done that in the church. We've got people, spiritual, saints, mega. You know what? They're utterly carnal. They're babes. They don't know basic things. And it says to discern good and evil. The word good means valuable. The word evil means worthless. Do you have that discernment? Are you growing in that discernment? Or do you want to grow in that discernment where you learn how to judge everything, to test what's valuable, what's worthless? Number two, they're meat eaters. So they've got the ability to discern. They've mastered their senses. They've become able to discern. But second thing, they're meat eaters. Look at verse two. I have fed you with milk and not with me. For hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet are ye able. Do you see that? The carnal, the babes, either new Christians or people who have not grown up in the church, they do not have the ability to eat meat. The word able means ability. No capability. They have no power. They don't know how to eat meat. To give a baby a steak, it's a pretty foolish thing. What does the baby do with the steak? It's a month, six months, eight months, an eight-month babe. And you cook this steak. You work hard on it. You watch over it. You spice it. It's done to perfection. And you set it down in front of a babe. What's a babe going to do with that expensive, hard-worked-on steak? What are they going to do with it? Play with it. They're not going to even eat it. Maybe they'll try to gnaw on it, but they're not going to eat it. They can't chew it. They can't bite it. They can't digest it. And so that babe, at best, it's going to play with it. Look at this. Why does a babe not eat meat? At one month old or three months old, why? It actually internally does not have the ability to digest that or to know what to do with it. Under four months or under six months, there's signs you begin to look for readiness of just beginning to move age away from milk. Under four months, do not give that babe anything apart from milk. Don't even think about it. Just give it milk. You're not meant to give it anything else. But there are signs you begin to look from. And I haven't suddenly become a professional. I looked up a YouTube video, okay, so just set your head. I haven't got a clue what I'm speaking about here, but I do know to go and investigate it a little bit for this message. And so I looked up a little video on how do you know a babe is moving from the milk, and you can begin to consider just thickening something to give to it. This is a mark, able to sit up, able to hold their head up. Very basic things. Able to begin using their hands to interact. These are basic signs. We're actually just moving off. If you find someone in the house of God, they can't even stay in their seat. They can't even stand. They can't even do anything. Their hand flops. Their head doesn't even stay up. That person is not ready for meat. They're not ready. This babe actually, why do they not want meat? They're actually full and satisfied with milk. Often a babe, at that stage where you're maybe saying maybe they could move on to something, but it doesn't want anything else, and you can't coax it. It won't take anything else. Probably it's full of milk. It's enjoying its milk. It's satisfied with milk. It has no desire for anything else. It is drunken and full. And then thank God, if you're breastfeeding at any rate, that teething doesn't come into the two to three year period. There's 20 teeth sitting down there, ready, prepared, just hidden away. See how God has designed everything. The timing of things. Do you think it's less with spiritual growth? Do you not think that God is built into us? Spiritual growth is just like natural growth. There's steps, there's stages, there's ways. A preacher can discern he's looking out for this. One minute, someone's sitting in the front row. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Bright eyed. Halfway down, back row. Where are they? They've fallen out the back door. Doesn't mean they're bad. Doesn't mean they've apostatized. They've hit a bump on the road. They blew it. Got down. Got discouraged. The devil's come in. Someone's got to go look for them. Oh, let them go bring themselves in. You don't do that with a babe. A real genuine babe. You look after them. You care for them. It's a very genuine thing. Look what it says in chapter two, verse 13. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual with spiritual. You see, this is feeding our teaching. Paul here is trying to teach spiritual people. You know how the mark of spiritual people is their eating habits. I need meat. I want meat. You know, Candace used to do too many salads. I go, give me a burger. I had an educator. I'm a man. I'm not like a woman. Men are different than women. You know, give me a little salad. Disguise it. Try to hide it under some meat or whatever. But I need meat. Not time to go off meat. But I want to tell you, I'm a meat eater. I need it. Ladies, you need to understand. Your men need to eat. Don't give them just all herbs. They'll go crazy. And it's like in the house of God. Those that are spiritually mature. I'm telling you, they'll go insane if they have to sit in a church where it's dripping milk. There's nothing more than milk. Everything is watered down. Even the milk isn't pure. They water down the milk. It's stories. It's entertainment. It's music. Where's the meat of the word? You know, in a church when they're not crying out for God's word, why not? There ought to be a desire. If you're growing, give me meat. Well, Paul says here, to teach the wisdom of God, how do you teach it? Paul says, this is how I teach them. Comparing spiritual with spiritual. Notice that word in verse 13. Comparing. It means to judge one thing in comparison with another. Then to combine them or to collate them. You know how the Holy Spirit teaches you? Someone says, the Holy Spirit just tells me things. I just go and they think they're so spiritual. You're a carnal. Do you know how Paul the apostle, a mature man of God, do you know how he taught the people of God? You know how he's comparing spiritual with spiritual. One scripture with another scripture and then collating them to get the mind of the Holy Spirit. Being led of the Holy Spirit isn't. I have a feeling and I believe the Holy Spirit speaks and I know the Holy Spirit guides. I'm not denying that. I've experienced that. But since we're maturity, we're with the Word of God. How do you feed? How does the Holy Spirit speak? We get into the Word of God, compare scripture with scripture. We're looking, we're collating this, we're understanding this. This is how the Holy Spirit teaches you. Well, I just go for a little walk and the Holy Spirit teaches me. Rubbish. You need to get into this Word and study. Oh, I don't do that. Then you're a babe. You're an actual babe. You need to grow up. But here Paul is saying, how you compare. It's this judging again. No, I'm going to the Word of God, comparing scripture with scripture. Paul done this. What's he doing? He's teaching by the Holy Spirit. He's bringing forth the mind of the Holy Ghost. It says in Hebrews 5:14, but strong make belongs to them that are full of age. How does strong make belong to? Those of full age, the mature, the spiritual, the perfect. Strong meat belongs to them. It says in verse 13, the verse before this, for everyone that uses milk. This is Hebrews 5:13 and is a very important verse. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. So again, notice the difference between a babe, a carnal babe and a mature spiritual man. Notice the difference. They're meat eaters. It's their eating habit. I can tell where you are spiritually by your eating habits. And I'm not talking about your three meals a day or your dinner table. I'm talking about spiritually. I can tell a lot about you by how you eat. What does it say in this verse? For everyone that uses milk, familiar with milk, that relies on milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. The word unskillful there means inexperienced, does not know how to use it. What is the word of righteousness? That's meat, not milk. What's the word of righteousness? Not talking about being righteous in Christ when you're born again, that's milk. So what is this meat? The word of righteousness, the logos of righteousness, the logos, God's word on how to live righteously. See, if you're growing, you come to a point of, what does the Bible say about that? Then you start realizing I need to change that. There's things I wear, I need to get rid of them. There's actions, how you start. You don't need to do that, but if you're going to grow, this is the word of righteousness. A babe doesn't look that. I'm a saved, I'm a washed, I'm a forgiven. How do I know I'm born again? You're not even thinking this, but as soon as you start growing and desiring some substance, something more than milk, you know what? You begin moving onto the logos of word. We want the Holy Spirit to teach us comparing spiritual thing with spiritual. And so we see that a babe is inexperienced. You know what? He's not even considering. That's why all these hyper grace movements that say, oh, obedience doesn't matter, and holiness doesn't matter, and doing what the word, that's legalism. You know what? Those folk are carnal at best. They don't know what the word of righteousness says. This isn't legalism. We're ministering the word of righteousness. It's meat. So you see those, they're rejecting mature, meaty, eating, meals, teaching, the Holy Spirit speaking, and they think it's legalism. They think it's the devil. You know why? Because something gets said and they go, that's a burden on me. That's too hard. Remember John chapter six says the multitude called themselves disciples and Jesus was teaching them. What did they say? Master, these things are too hard. What you're teaching, it's too hard. Few people said today in God's house, what you're teaching, it's too hard. No, it's the word of God. It's basic, simple. Why do you think it's too hard? Why do you think it's too much? You know those disciples in John six says, then they turned back from that day, didn't walk with them anymore. It's called disciples. It started with saying, these things are too hard. What did Peter say? These things are the words of eternal life. This is life to me. One person said, it's too hard. It's too much. Another person sitting beside them said, this is life. Yeah, it's hard. Peter says, this has taken me apart. He's dealing with my heart. He's getting right at my modus, but this is life. How can you get two people, one thing in its heart, the other telling you, you need to be careful over this eating thing. So babes are unskillful in the word of righteousness. They don't even understand there's an entire teaching of righteousness. Oh, no, I'm righteous in Christ. Yes, I know you are. I know you are. That's the basics. That's the foundations. But let's build a temple. Let's build a house. Let's go on to maturity. You know, if you're going to go on to maturity, you want to get in. You're not condemned when you begin looking at commands or teaching or to grow up in the maturity. You don't do that. Saints of God, we've got a problem in God's house in this hour and it's the eating habits. Thirdly, and finally, they live and serve for eternity. These mature ones, not only do they judge or discern, not only do they eat maturely or they eat meat or they're looking for substance and holiness. This third thing, they're actually living for eternity. It says in verse 10, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed. How? Underline that if you underline your Bible. How he buildeth thereupon. Who are these spiritual ones? They live, they hear, they think for eternity, for heaven, for the future, not for this life, for the world to come. Do you know when you see a babe, a babe only thinks about now, about me. I wonder if they noticed me. They weren't listening to my testimony there. That's not spirituality. It's okay to be like that. We've all been there, but that's not spirituality. You need to grow. And so here the apostle writes, says, but let every man take heed. How he buildeth. Take heed. How? How are you building? All of you are building in this room. All of you are building. You can't help but build. You're part of this church. You're part of this body. You're building something on the foundation. Everyone is. The carnal, the babes, the young ones, and the old mature ones. Everyone's building. Take heed how you build. That's very important. It means to look at, be aware of what you're doing. You know, someone who's carnal, who's been around the house of God a long time and hasn't grown. They don't take heed. They haven't been taking heed. They can't have. They're saved by grace. They love Jesus, but they're not growing. They're not changing. They're not taking heed how they are building. They're not even conscious of the words they say, how it affects others. Are they judged one situation differently than another? You know, the carnal, the Corinthian church, that was its problem. Remember the guy who was having sex with his dad's wife? Remember that? Paul says, the problem is you're proud. You go, we don't even deal with him. He's having sex, calling himself a Christian, outside of marriage. And he's sitting in the church and the Corinthians around him think they're spiritual and saying, we love him. We just accept them. We don't even correct them. Paul says, that's a problem. Guess what happens in the second letter he writes to them? The same believers. Now the man's repented. He's broken. He's weeping. Guess what happens in the second letter? Paul's writing them sin. God help me. Forgive the man. It's the same people. You know, in one Corinthians, Paul had to rebuke them for not dealing with sin in the church. In second Corinthians, he has to rebuke them for dealing too harshly. The same believers. One minute they're that way. One minute they're the other way. Do you know a babe takes one scripture, doesn't even compare it with others. They build on one scripture. I'm doing the will of God. I'm doing the word of God. I know God's mind. What about the other scriptures? They say, judge not. There's a few other scriptures I'd like to tell you about, but they're a babe. They can't say, I'm, I'm upholding. I'm scared to judge anyone. I want to be right with God. Now, come on. You need to grow. That's being a babe. I don't throw them out for that, but they need to grow. Or the other ones, I'm cutting them off. You better know. What about kindness, goodness, or grace, or meekness, or love, charity. Charity covers a multitude of sins. These saints live for eternity. It says in one Corinthians three and 12. I've got to finish. I'd love to go into a whole new, another sermon. Man, I'm not going into next week. I can be here for an hour. Be glad Hannah's in here because she would have started to go on and then I would have went, okay. Listen to me, please. Saints, I know we're dealing with a lot, but this is so, so important. This has already had to go to three messages. We're dealing with something dynamic here. Please give me a few minutes before we close here. It's very important. How do you recognize the spiritual person? It's how they are building on the foundation of Christ. That's what marks our carnal to spiritual. How you are building. Verse 12. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, that's the spiritual are building gold, silver, precious stones, or the carnal build wood, hay, stubble, like we said last week. Notice these three things that they're building. Gold, silver, precious stones. Gold always represents divinity or what is of God. Silver always represents God's redemptive work. What's being redeemed back. You know, in this house, whatever has been redeemed by the blood of the lamb, it can stand the fire. It can stand eternity. It's going to go into eternity. Also precious stones. That means granite or marble. It's not talking about the little precious stones, talking about massive, big stones, granite, marble, other big stones that they build a temple out of. You build a temple out of gold, silver, and precious stones. He's talking about the building of a temple, the house of God, and it's going to get tested by fire. If you build this temple out of wood, hay, stubble, it's going to get totally burnt up. But look what Paul is saying. Those that are spiritual are building with gold. Are you building with gold? See, there's a market going on to maturity. What you're building in your own life or in this church, we're building, we're using gold. I can literally hear this Sunday be operating, working, speaking, thinking, deciding, interacting with you, and it's gold, and it's going to go literally into eternity. It's going to last forever. Something of today, this day together in the house of God can be eternal. It will never come to an end. But there's going to be conversations of burn. It's hay, wood, stubble. There's entire relationships could be wood, hay, stubble. It's going to burn. Do you see these spiritual ones? They are living for eternity. It's not today. It's not what I get out of this. It's what I'm going to give. It says in verse 13, every man's work shall be made manifest. Notice that word work. Carnal Christians don't like the word work. Spiritual do. Your work. Oh, we're not into works. Of course not. Not in the foundation. Not for salvation. This isn't a salvation issue. Works are important. You meet any Christians and they say works don't matter. At best, you're dealing with someone carnal. Probably at worst, you're dealing with a reprobate, a sinner who's trying to claim to be a Christian. They hate works. I'm saved by grace. I know you are. What do you think I preach constantly, expound on, but we're dealing with works. You know, those that are spiritual are very conscious of works. Works are an important issue. Then you get these fly-by-nights come in and say, they're legalists. No, they're mature. They're spiritual. They have grown in the house of God. You're the baby. You're actually praising God. I don't need to worry about works. I'm saved by grace. You could get into heaven and find all of your works are going to get burnt by fire. You'll be left with nothing. And so it says here, the works should be made manifest. See that word manifest. It means to be made apparent, to shine forth, brought forth into the light. See on that day, and I'm thinking about spiritual people here. You may not get your award here. No one may see it here. It says on that day, your works, you've done spiritual works with the right heart, right motive, right words, right actions. You've done works. Nobody sees it. You've never been rewarded. I don't think Candice was even 1% rewarded here in her time. Absolutely not. I've watched it with great fascination. I know what she'd done. I know what she went through. She got no reward for her works here. I know where she's getting it. See on that day, see men don't see that here. But it says the works will be made manifest. How by? Fire. See last week with the carnal, fire's a bad thing. The fire's going to burn all your works up. All your carnal conversations, attitudes, decisions, it's all gone. You've got no reward. But see the spiritual, they may never have their works seen here, but the fire is going to manifest it. It goes on because it shall be revealed by fire. The word revealed means to take the cover off, to disclose, to remove things that hide it here. You know what? Here, your works may be covered, not seen. It says for the day shall declare it. That word declare means to make plain, clear, obvious to the mind. Haha, I see it. What is that day? It's a judgment seat of Christ when he's going to judge every Christian for rewards. Not for your sin, not for your salvation, but for rewards. See, salvations of God, you didn't save yourself. You don't get rewarded because you came and responded and got forgiven. He done that for you. It's a sovereign act of God's grace. But there's certain Christians haven't done much with that. But there are the spiritual. You see, if you don't care about works, you're not spiritual. Don't tell me you're spiritual. If you're not serving with the right heart, you're always sitting there going, do people notice me? Am I getting rewarded? Do I have it here? Is it acknowledged? Is it seen? Do you know you're living by the five senses? See how subtle this is? See to grow. You can do things if no one this side of eternity ever sees anything you do. And it's okay to be there since we can hurt because someone doesn't see things. You've got to grow. You've got to grow. And you can hurt. And if you're not careful, that could become an attitude of bitterness. They don't acknowledge it. What do you think a mature believer does? How much do they say, do and pour out? I'll never get seen this side of eternity. And so on that day, that day for the spiritual believer, those who have grown in Christ, those who have done works that no one has ever seen. You know what the Lord does? He takes the cover off the fire, actually removes everything. Now you see their works, their words, their attitudes, their reasons. They got falsely accused. Now it gets seen, it gets manifest. And if any man's work which he had built there upon here now in this world on this foundation, what have you built? What have you built? Is it going to sustain the fire? And if it abides, he shall receive a reward. Wages. Oh, we don't believe in wages. It's all by grace. No, this is talking about your works, your maturity, your wages. You say, I don't serve for wages. Then why is it all through the Bible about crowns and rewards? Oh, I just serve Christ for nothing. I'm looking for a crown. See how little new bunch in here, I'm going to get a reward for that. You think I'm in this for nothing? I'm not after your money. I'm not after your praise. I'm not after anything here, nothing here. I'm living for a certain day. I don't care what happens in this lifetime. I'm living for the master. I'm living for eternity. I'm living for a crown. And you know what I tell you, when I walk into the presence of God, let the fire of God reveal everything. There's going to be people broken with what they lose. There's going to be others praising because they went, I never realized I'd done so much, had so much. I didn't realize all this would come in. I had to live with a broken heart, limping, saying, Lord, I'm going to trust you through that. Now's your reward day. Saints of God, your crowning day isn't down here. It'll never. Some of you can get your reward here and that's all you'll get. You want it hard enough, you'll say, okay, you'll get it. You'll get your great day. You'll get your praise, your adoration. Some of those mega preachers, all the praise they're going to get is down here. God help them when they cross the veil. As soon as they breathe their last breath, they better enjoy what they have because it's all over. Will you stand with me? Thank you, Lord Jesus. Father, we praise you. We love you. We worship you. We thank you, God, that it's real what we're doing here in this house today, what we're doing in these weeks. Lord God, we're not merely giving sermons. We're not merely, Lord God, going through ritual or having meetings. Lord God, we know that we're caught up with something that's going to impact us throughout all of eternity, time without end. What we do now here matters. How we think, our words matter, our attitudes matter, our works matter. Lord God, I pray, raise up in this house spiritual saints. Help us individually to mature. Those who are newborn, new converts of God, help them to grow in the likeness to Christ. My God, I'm asking of you that you raise up a body, a church, and even impact all those online that follow us in different places that don't have churches. My God, raise up a people who are mature in their discernment of all things. Raise up people who are able to eat the meat of God's Word, who eat correctly. And Lord God, we ask of you that you have a people who see eternally. They're not living for now and the reward they get now, but they're living for an eternal, invisible, everlasting reward that can never be taken away from them. Lord God, I ask of you, raise up a mature body that it would delight you to come and to walk in their midst, that you would find satisfaction, that you would find joy. Lord God, that you're going to have hearts to commune with. Lord God, we pray for that conviction of your Holy Spirit. Sanctify us. Don't let us stay as babes or immature, but Lord God, let us grow into maturity in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Jesus' name.