Do turn with me once again to 1 Corinthians 3. What we are doing in this second session is really the second side of a two part series of messages that I am sharing with you today on the Lord Jesus Christ as a foundation. In the morning, we looked at the subject of laying the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we saw that clearly from 1 Corinthians 3 verse 10 and verse 11, where the Apostle Paul was clearly making the point that in order to lay the foundation of Jesus Christ, there was the need on one hand of God's grace upon him and upon the hearers and on the other there was need for human skill and he referred to himself as functioning as a skilled master builder and what we sought to do there was to try and understand something of this foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ and ultimately it is the person and work of Christ, the person and work of Christ. It's what we need for salvation, and as I hope we will see this evening, it's also what we need for our sanctification. We never need to graduate from that. The world may think we've become irrelevant to them. I can fully well assure you it's the way in which we can be most relevant to the world by Christ and Him crucified. Well, let's read that passage once again, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 10 to verse 15. The Bible says there, According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burnt up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." Well, clearly the Apostle Paul has transitioned from laying the foundation to building upon the foundation. And he hinted on it in the second part of verse 10 when he said, and someone else is building upon it. And then he added, let each one take care how he builds upon it. In other words, the Apostle Paul was conscious of the fact that as the one through whom the church in Corinth was established, He had done a solid job as far as the foundation is concerned. In other words, he preached the gospel. He preached it faithfully. He preached it accurately. And consequently, those that constituted the church's foundational membership would have been by and large truly regenerate souls, converted individuals who would have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And similarly, the initial discipleship work that the Apostle Paul had done was also based on Christ and Him crucified. And yet Paul was mindful of the fact that others had come to labor in the same place and what he was now seeing was not quite what he had left behind. And he was very concerned about it. And brethren, that's not something that remained with the first century church. It is true with all of us even today. There are many times when individuals can be genuinely converted to Christ. But then they begin to imbibe wrong teaching. Teachings from probably popular preachers and in the end they veer off entirely from that which ought to have been a very healthy walk with God growing in their sanctification that's one possibility another has to do with entire churches churches can be well established upon the teachings of sovereign grace upon the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ And then as they begin changing pastors and changing elders from one generation to the other, off they go at a tangent. And before you know it, Christ has to remove the lampstand. They become more of a synagogue of Satan than being the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. History is full of such examples. And that was Paul's concern here. It wasn't so much that perhaps there was an error in the foundation. He was sure as an expert builder, he had done a solid job. Rather, it was what was now happening. And that's what I want us to pause for a moment this evening and think about seriously. Where are we as individual believers and where are we as a congregation of God's people in terms of our own spiritual health? The question is not whether we got converted or not. I think we'd like to assume that and put it aside. The question is not even the basis on which the church was initially established. Again, we would like to assume that it was a good, solid, Christ-centered foundation. Rather, it is, where are we now? The Apostle Paul in verse 12 begins by making the point that when people come to Christ or when a church is started, in due season the ministry that they receive can really vary. He puts it this way in verse 12. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hair, straw, each one's work will become manifest. The apostle Paul continues in this passage of scripture clearly using picture language, imagery, because I'm sure you can say that he is trying to remain in the context of construction, However, as with spiritual truth, somewhere along the line, the picture that is being used begins to fail to convey the spiritual truth or spiritual reality that is being illustrated. And this is one of those situations. When the Apostle Paul speaks about building and using these six materials, I'm almost certain as you're sitting there, you're probably thinking, wow, we don't normally build with gold and silver and precious stones. Neither do we normally build with wood Well, I think here you do quite a bit of that, but hardly ever hay or straw. So what's the point that the Apostle Paul is making when he still seeks to maintain this illustration? The point is obvious. It is the fact that there is quality of varying degrees that can be put into the superstructure of our spiritual lives. Even when there has been a good, solid work done in the foundation, either conversion or the planting of the church. And often, It is because of worldliness. And that is what was happening in this particular case. I already illustrated it earlier this morning when I spoke in terms of the fact that the culture in which they were was a culture in which you thought of success in terms of which teachers you were following. Which philosophers you were following? Which orators you were following? That's the way in which you spoke in terms of progress or success or being on the right side. Well, that worldly carelessness was now allowed to permeate the individual lives of believers, to permeate the atmosphere of the church, and consequently, the worldliness became the air that they were breathing. They were not taking deliberate effort, and this is the point I want to make. They were not taking deliberate effort to think biblically. They were not doing so. It was the kind of casual atmosphere of simply thinking that we already know. Of course. Peter is the greater chap rather than Apollos. No, Apollos is the greater chap rather than Paul. No, Paul is the greater chap rather than everybody else. And yet, if you pause for a moment and think hard and think biblically, you soon begin to realize that all these people are nothing. Christ is all and in all. So, let's for a moment go beyond the illustration and let's capture what Paul is talking about. Because you see, the Christian life is not simply something where you begin with Christ, but then after that, it must be something else. No! A thousand times, no! It's Jesus from beginning to end. The Apostle Paul himself is really the best example of this. And let me give you a few illustrations. First of all, it is First Corinthians itself. Here was a church that was seriously divided. Divided about or around personalities. How did Paul resolve this matter? Did he come in and begin to say, well, actually, I'm the one who started this church. How dare you begin to pit other speakers against me, other teachers against me. This is my church. He didn't do that. You know what he does? He says, no more boasting about men. Open the rubbish can and throw all of us in it. Christ alone must remain supreme. You are Christ's and Christ is God's. Think also of the way in which he deals with the situation in Colossus. Let's quickly cross over to the book of Colossians and chapter 2. There were teachers that were in the church in Kolos who were beginning to pull the brethren to either Greek philosophies, asceticism, or they were pulling them in the direction of the Jewish laws and rules. Again, what was Paul's approach? Well, I'm sure you know, halfway through chapter 1, he deals with the preeminence of Christ. And if there is ever a passage in all the New Testament epistles where Jesus is made to shine with the brilliance of the noonday sun, it is here. as he is set apart as the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation by him all things are created in heaven and on earth visible invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities and so on he is made to appear all glorious well when it comes to chapter 2 listen to the way he puts it in verse 6 and verse 7 He says, therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, in other words, as that foundation has been laid in your life, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. He is saying there, essentially, just as the foundation of Christ was laid in your lives, The rest of your spiritual lives should be on Christ. That's all he's saying. And so from verse 8 downwards, he's now saying don't let other people take you away to anything else. It must be Christ and Christ and Christ for the rest of your earthly lives. You notice it by the time he comes back into chapter 3 and says, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. We can say the same thing in the book of Ephesians, when Paul is dealing with the issue of marriage. How should husbands and wives relate? He wasn't a married man but he was saturated with Christ and so he says, wives submit your husbands, notice, as the church submits to Christ He turns to husbands and he says, husbands love your wives as Christ loved always Christ. It's not, well, you know, in our culture women should be like this, in our culture men should be like this. No, no, no, no. It's Christ, Christ, Christ. You are to build your marriages on Christ. You are to build your family lives on Christ. You are to build your career lives on Christ. Everything is to be built on Christ. Now brethren, I could go on. The point I'm trying to make is you open any page from Romans chapter 1 all the way to Philemon if you want. Any page and you will notice Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ on literally every page as Paul is dealing with all kinds of different issues. Christ is the answer. Now, the problem is we are mentally lazy and we allow the pressure of our outside world to then begin to dictate. I remember on one occasion I was visiting the UK and a couple that were literally about to divorce. In fact, they've since divorced. I met with them very briefly and I met with the husband, yes. And as he was telling me what they were going through, I asked the question, haven't you sought counsel from your pastor? And the gentleman said, yes, we had. And I asked him what the pastor said. And the counsel he was given was, look, organize a candlelight supper with your wife. And in that romantic atmosphere, allow fresh emotions of affection to bring you together. And I'm thinking, that's the world. That's pragmatism. That's not what Paul says. Paul says, love your wife as Christ loved the church. That's what you ought to do. Look at the cross. See the mangled form of the Son of God. See the price that He has paid for His bride. and you could see how this guy closed his own heart in out of pride I remember him being a Zambian speaking about the tribe he comes from and saying but you know in our tribe we don't treat women like that they become silly or stupid or something and I'm saying he's lost it, he's lost it You don't move away from Christ concerning any issue in life. He is all in all. And part of our growth as individuals is learning to wrestle with whatever issue it might be from the perspective of the person and work of Christ. The person and work of Christ. I repeat. We are lazy. And we don't pray over these matters. We don't take time to do so. We don't turn to this book and say, okay, what does this book say concerning this issue? With the light of redemption showing that we don't. The Apostle Paul in dealing with our sanctification. In Romans 6, for instance, asks the question, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And he says, no, by all means. God forbid. Why? He says, don't you know that those of us who died with Christ have dealt with the sinful nature? Again, what is it doing? when we're dealing with the whole issue of wrestling with our fallen nature. It's Christ again. His redemption. What He has done on Calvary. Now, if we can get back to our text. When believers are being helped through regular biblical teaching to think through all issues of life. With Christ at the center, we are building their lives with gold, with silver, with precious stones. But when through spiritual and intellectual laziness, We allow the culture around to hijack our spiritual lives. We are beginning to build with pragmatism, with motivational speaking, with syncretism, and it is with wood, hay, and straw. That's what's happening. And that's the point that Paul was making clear to the Corinthians. That they are shifting from Christ to that which the world itself around them was dictating. And he was very concerned about it. Very concerned about it. Now, the reason why he was concerned was not because the church would close down and be empty. It was not because it doesn't work. Because that's pragmatism again. The reason why Paul was concerned about it is because there is a judgment day coming. Back to our text. He puts it this way, now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hair straw, here's the point, verse 13, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will taste what sort of work each one has done. You know, in the mind of Paul, he cared very little about opinions of one another in today's world. He cared very little, because he knew that ultimately there was a day that was coming where everything will be known as it really is. And God himself will be the one dealing with the revelation. He puts it this way in chapter 4. Chapter 4, he says this, this is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they must be faithful. Then he says, but with me it's a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. That's a powerful statement he's saying there. He's saying, you know what, I don't care what you think about me. In fact, I don't even care what I think about me. I throw you into the rubbish bin, I throw myself in there as well. There's one being about whom I'm concerned. He says in verse 4, For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I'm not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. Brethren, That's the issue. You see, we are too preoccupied with what people think about us, what the community thinks about us, whether we are the exciting church where everybody's having a great time. We lose sight of What does God think about us? And when you're asking, what does God think about us? The basis changes. Because God's value system is this, his own glory. That's his value system. In other words, have these sinners stopped living for sin, stopped living for themselves? Are they now living for God, for His honor, for His glory, in all things? Has that happened? If it hasn't happened, God is still displeased. His wrath is still bound to visit that place. In the same way, Is the church no longer thinking primarily about, are we happy? Is the church now primarily thinking in terms of, is God being glorified? Because that's what God will be interested in on the judgment day. My glory. My glory, my glory. The point is this, you can have a big, exciting church if you simply follow what people want. It was Dr. Lloyd-Jones, at the end of the Second World War, trying to rebuild his congregation that brought up the subject on one occasion, what should we do in order to rebuild what once was a flourishing church before the war and the bombs that fell on London. And the congregation, it was a Friday meeting, so they would be giving suggestions and so on, you know, sort of make the lights better or have extra musical activities in front and the usual pragmatic things that people often suggest. And there was one lady that was visiting who said in that meeting, I came once. and have been coming since." And she said, it's the preaching of the word, the Christ-centered, Christ-exalting preaching. And she said, you keep that up, and this place will be full. Lloyd-Jones said in his sort of usual dry humor, thank you, madam. That's the first kind word that has been spoken in this meeting tonight. And then he said, but I've got a good idea. We can fill up this whole place this coming Sunday. And I'll tell you how we can do it. We'll put up an advert in the newspaper saying that the preacher in the Westminster Chapel this coming Sunday will be preaching in swimming trunks. Yeah, they laughed. And then he sorted them out, as Lloyd-Jones would often do, to just make them realize that, brethren, our business is not primarily to simply fill pews. That's for the football stadiums, the rugby stadiums, whatever other places people are having entertainment. Our business is the glory of God. And God is going to be glorified where Christ is regularly preached, where Christ has the preeminence because He alone is able to arrest the sin in human hearts and bring us into a living relationship with God. And that's what the issue was here. So we can easily build a big and exciting church. But the question is, can that arrest sin? Can it? Can it enable people to handle the real ongoing trials of life in a God-honoring way? Can it do that? I'd like to challenge you a thousand times, no. and the judgment day will reveal it. That where Christ has not been pre-eminently proclaimed often there can be a facade of spirituality but inside are dead men's bones. True godliness, true holiness that glorifies God only grows from hearts that are saturated with the person and work of Christ. I love the way the Apostle Paul here is using words that suggest that what we are seeing may not necessarily be what is happening on the inside. Back to our text. He says this, each one's work will become manifest. I want you to notice that word manifest. For the day will disclose it. I want you to notice disclose. Because it will be revealed. Again, a third word there. by fire. Manifest, disclose, reveal, Greek uses different words there, but each word tends to refer to the fact that something is hidden, you can't see it now, and then it is disclosed as it really is. And it's important for us to realize that that's what's going to happen on the Judgment Day. On that day, everything will be seen from God's perspective. Our hearts, the motives of our hearts will also be laid bare. Brethren, it ought to cause us to tremble. How can a child of hell begin to live for the glory of God, genuinely so, even willing to be sacrificed, willing to be a doormat, that God might be glorified, that His people may be edified. How? When we are born so selfish and self-centered, how? Well, that day will reveal that where the atoning blood of Christ has washed human hearts, One of the greatest difficulties that the New Testament Church had was bringing Jews and Gentiles together. It was hard. Paul deals with it in 1 Corinthians. He also deals with it in the book of Romans. I want us to quickly peep at Romans for a moment. And I want you to notice how Christ is the answer even there. Romans 14. and Romans 15. Romans 14 and Romans 15. It says there at the beginning of chapter 14, as for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. And then it begins to talk about the different areas that were causing the rift. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables, and then he speaks about don't judge one another. He goes on to say in verse 5, one person eats one day, rather esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike, and so on. These were the issues. But notice when Paul comes to resolve it, he resolves it by bringing Jesus into the picture. I'll just quickly go to verse 9 to illustrate it. He says there, maybe let me begin from verse 8. For we live, if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's, and here it is. For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that we might He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. And in the end, he says this, that we are to accept one another the way in which the Lord in Christ accepted us. That's the way he concludes in chapter 15. And again, I want you to see this, that Christ has died. to bring about this transformation whereby on both sides of the argument, we all want to live for Christ. Not for ourselves, but for Christ. So if what I do causes you to stumble, I'll stop it for your sake. Why? Christ! Now you try that anywhere else in the world. Anywhere else. It's always me and myself and I and I must save this right and that and so on. That's the world we are in. Until Christ is preached, proclaimed, people come in and consequently As divided as society might be, they come in here and they find you have one stringed banjo you are playing. Christ. Christ. Christ. And consequently, there is a unity that is impossible anywhere else, and it is heart unity. Heart unity. One which, even on the judgment day, when the heart is exposed, We won't find a bunch of hypocrites who are going, why is he? No, but they'll find the people that love one another genuinely from the heart what Christ can do. Oh Brethren, that's the church that will be revealed on that final day to the glory of God. Everything else The devil loves that because he sees what's going on and he sees the hypocrisy, the stench, whether it is secret adulterous affairs, it is gossip, slander, whatever else it might be. He sees all that because the heart has not been dealt with by Christ. The judgment day will reveal So here's my point. Remember I said, where are we now? So that's the question I'm asking. Where are we now? Yes, we may have become converted a number of years ago, but where are we now? Are we in a healthy walk with Christ? Are we? a life that genuinely loves the Lord and loves His people? Genuinely so? That's only possible as we dwell upon Christ. Similarly as a church, what's your regular menu? What food, spiritual food are you dwelling on? Because again, if you are going to be a people that truly glorify God, not so much pretending on the outside when inside you are full of dead men's bones, but genuinely so, and a loving congregation, that's only possible as this pulpit dwells forth. Let me quickly end with the consequences. We've seen the building, we've seen the testing, and then the consequences. Verse 14 and 15. I won't dwell too long on that because the illustration makes the point very clear. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burnt up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Paul, in a sense, has touched on it already in verse 8, when he said this, in verse 8, He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. Now, President, surely, I hope you are like me. I hope you live every day of your life wanting that when all of life is over and you appear before God on the final day, that you will go past the judgment with something to show for your life. Why go through life with all the noise that the world makes, all the attention, and then on the day that it finally matters, you survive as though through fire. Everything burnt, everything lost. What an eternity! You can see where Paul is driving to. He's saying, Brethren, in Corinth, Don't you realize what's happening? You are reducing yourselves to eternal paupers. That's what you're doing. There's nothing to be gained over this fighting over personalities. Nothing whatsoever. Get back to true Christianity. Get back to Christ. Basically that's what he's saying. so that you may build that which will glorify God and on the day of judgment he will say well done good and faithful servant I can open that up but that should be enough because that's what he's saying that it's possible that you may be saved but on the judgment day pass through as though through fire. Nothing to show for a life lived. That's sad. So, I'm talking about building on the foundation of Jesus. And I want to repeat where I started, and it's this. It's possible to be saved or to have a church that starts on a good, solid basis. and to veer off along the way. The question I'm asking us tonight is, are we still on Christ? Or have we moved on to something else? Whatever that something else might be. So that Jesus is, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the A, B, C. But now we're in the X, Y, Z. We've moved on. That's a loss, certain loss. May God help us to continue where we began, Christ and Him crucified. For my own growth in grace, I don't want some secret formula of successful Christian living. Keep it to yourself. I want Christ. For the well-being and health of the church, again, spare me the modern fags that are being printed out through the Christian press. Give me Christ. Let God's people be built up on Christ and Christ and I know that that's where genuine godliness, genuine holiness, genuine devotion to God, lives that are for God and for others will truly grow. And oh, I make the same appeal to all of us here. Let's not just lay the foundation, but let's also build on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Oh God, our Heavenly Father, we are in a world that thinks that being clever and wise is following their blindness. But oh, as the Apostle Paul so much appeals to the brethren in Corinth, May it also be applicable to us, O Lord, that we may be fools in the eyes of the world. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. O Lord, help us to follow you. the counsel of your word, that in our individual lives, in our marriages, in raising our children, in our involvement in the life of the church, our involvement in the community, in our careers, everywhere, that we might build upon Christ. And oh, that your spirit may work in our hearts to love our Savior and through that love to serve you for the good of the world in which we are and for the glory of your name. For Christ's sake we pray, Amen.