I'll begin the message, go to God in prayer. I just received this this morning that Brother Moose wants to thank the congregation for the cards and the prayers concerning his surgery and his healing. And if you would continue to pray for him and the congregation there where he preaches, pray for them.

I ask your prayers for me this morning. when we have these snow days and they can't get out. I have a message that's been waiting over a week, and it's been a struggle. It's been a struggle not to meddle or tinker, because it could, I imagine I could fill this book if I did this last week, just keep going, but I desire the message this morning that the Spirit of God would give us a rightful understanding of preachers.

And the things mentioned in this text, I surely myself have been guilty of exalting men, putting them in places that they do not belong, giving honor to men rather than God, I long that God would keep our eyes fixed on Him. Fixed. So easily our eyes are moved. Some trinket over here, some flashy thing over here, and our flesh will go and take. I pray that God would keep us fixed on Christ.

So I asked your prayers for me this morning. I want to preach this but without him I can't do it. I just can't do it. Without him you can't hear it. It's that simple. More and more aware of my dependence on him. Pray for those men who are preaching in other places. Pray that God would give them the same that we are desiring this morning. Pray for our families. Those who have no interest in the things of Christ. Breaks my heart. Breaks my heart to see men run to hell as though it were heaven. and run from Christ as though he were hell. What a ruined condition man is. What an utterly ruined state. Yet if God had not had mercy on me, I'd be running in the same direction as them. May God open their eyes to see and believe.

Pray for those that are sick. I'm so thankful the Lord has blessed Gene. We've asked God for mercy. And he's had mercy. How many times have we sought for healing and got it and then quickly As quickly as we got it, we forgot about it. Forgot to give thanks, forgot to give praise. May God help us to be the most thankful people. Should we not be? Should we not be the most thankful people on the face of this earth? I'm sure you don't murmur, but I do. God help us not to murmur. Let me not talk of the sovereignty of God and then complain of my lot in life. It is totally inconsistent with grace, isn't it? Totally inconsistent. May God help us on this.

And so let's pray that God give us a word from Him today. Let's go to Him in prayer.

Our most gracious Father, thank you. Thank you for your electing love. Thank you for sending Christ and redeeming grace Thank you for raising Him from the dead for our justification and ascending Him to the throne of glory where He now rules. It is our love and our desire to cast ourselves before Him, to cling to Him, to consider Him, to look to I pray this day You would take our eyes off of everything else and put it on Him. That You would show us, Father, according to Your Word, Your design, Your purpose, Your means of saving sinners. And in the end, let all the glory belong to You. Let all the glory and praise be put upon its rightful place, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has made us righteous by his righteousness, who has atoned for our sins by his death, and who has sent the Spirit into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Pray, Father, that you would take our minds off of the earthly wisdom of our flesh and fix them upon the Word of God. Fix them upon Christ. Help those that are suffering, help those that are in great pain and sorrow, as only you can do. And forgive us, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. I'm entitled to this message, The Rightful Place and Message of Preachers. The Rightful Place and the Rightful Message of Preachers.

Now, the apostle begins this chapter, he says, 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 you were not able to bear it, neither are you yet now able." Now what does he mean by this? I have fed you with milk. He's talking about everything that went before, everything at the beginning of this letter until this moment. The apostle was feeding this congregation not with meat but with milk, rudimentary basic doctrine that every believer in Christ knows and has experienced. It's milk.

In the beginning he begins with this trouble that they had, this difficulty that they had of exalting men. Some would say I'm of Paulus, some of Peter, and some of Paul. And he said this is a trouble, this is a problem. And so Paul begins to deal with this division, this strife among the church, by not demoting preachers, but rather showing them the necessity of preachers. The necessity of preachers. He said, I was sent of God for one purpose, to preach the gospel. Verse 17 of chapter 1, For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel. And then later in chapter, in verse 21 of verse, chapter 1, he tells us why. Because to the world preaching is foolishness, but to us who believe It's the power of God. Isn't that so? You that believe, isn't this a basic principle? That you know it was the gospel that God used to quicken your soul. You know that. These are not debatable, these are just elementary principles. It's milk. It's milk.

And he says, why preaching? Because it is the means that God has chosen. It pleased God, verse 21 of chapter 1. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them from that belief. This is a rudimentary principle. And then why this means? Why specifically preaching? Because it gives no glory to man. Preaching gives no glory to man. Why? Because there is no power in the preacher and there is no power in the hearer. Salvation is of the Lord. That's why he uses this in chapter 1. Look, he says in verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence. That's why preaching. But of him are you in Christ Jesus. You say, I'm of Paul, I'm of Paulus, I'm of Cephas. Wait a second, did Paul put you in Christ? Then why are you praising Paul? Did Apollos make Christ to be your righteousness, wisdom, sanctification? No, God did. Therefore, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The basic rudimentary principle is milk. This is milk.

And then in chapter two, he shows their experience of it. He said, remember how I came to you? Remember how you heard? He said, when I came to you, my determination was what? To preach Jesus Christ, Him crucified. That's what he says in verse, Two, I determined not to know anything among you except what? Jesus Christ, whom you crucified. So what preachers are necessary, right? It's the means that God receive all the glory.

And now then you learn this, that the preacher has only one message. It's rudimentary. This is basic. Jesus Christ, him crucified. Now then listen, that message to the world, Paul says, is a mystery. We preach the wisdom of God in what? A mystery. Oh, man, it's a mystery. To who? To those that are lost, it's a mystery. How you, Mitch, how you could sit here and listen to this over and over again is a mystery to them. They don't understand why you're here. They don't understand this. Man, they'd rather be anywhere else but here, listening to this message again and again and again. To them, it is a mystery.

But you know who hid this mystery? God did. It's a hidden mystery of God, Paul says. And no man knows it except what? The Spirit revealed it. See where Paul's getting at? He's again deflecting all the glory. None of the glory of this belongs to us. He says, but the Spirit, look at that in verse 10, He said, but God hath revealed it unto us by His Spirit. And He declares the truth of man's depravity. He said in verse 14, the natural man receiveth not the things of God for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them because he is spiritually condemned.

This that I just preached to you is the most basic and rudimentary doctrine. It's the first thing we learned, the very first thing. When the Spirit of God taught us, He taught us by a preacher, isn't that right? Some man came preaching gospel to you, you heard it many times and it didn't affect you until when? Until the Spirit of God came. So then the question is, What then? What glory belongs to the preacher? What did the preacher have to do with this? Nothing. Nothing.

So Paul says, I fed you with milk and not with meat, but I want you to notice this when he's talking about your carnal, he's not. He's talking to believers. He says, Are you not, carnal, babes in Christ? He said, You know, when I came to you and I preached this stuff to you, you were babes in Christ. Now, I've gone for a little while, and now that I'm hearing all this strife and contention about preachers, and he says, You know what? I perceive this. You're still babes. You've not grown. You still need to hear the rudimentary principles of these things. You're babes. So he's talking to believers.

You get this idea of false religion. They'll say, well, you know, you got a guy who comes in, makes a profession of faith, and he goes away, and he never comes back. He doesn't have any interest in the things of God living in the flesh. You know what they say? Oh, he's just a carnal Christian. No, he's lost. Don't get that confused. These people had not abandoned the gospel. They had not abandoned the gospel, they had not sloughed it off. What they did was, is they took the man that preached and exalted him above the message.

Now I want this to be an application, here's the application, let this be a warning to us not to attend to our own wisdom of things. This is, we're prone to it. You and I have the same flesh that these believers had to exalt men rather than Christ. It is our tendency. I'll just ask this. Do you have a favorite preacher? It don't have to be me. It doesn't matter. You ever thought about that? I really like to hear so-and-so. Why? Who the heck is so-and-so? What does he have to do with it whatsoever? I like the way he speaks. Is this not carnal? Do you think the way that a man speaks has anything to do with this? That's carnal! Well, I can understand him better. It seems like you're the problem and not the preacher. Why? Because you've exalted the man or you have based the man based on his gifts. Who of us have not done it? Now, I'm talking to you, but I can understand that very clearly. This is the carnality. We are to be warned against earthly wisdom attending to our own reason. And what this does is that it causes division, it causes strife, it causes an interruption in the worship of God. That's what it does.

Go to Hebrews chapter 2. Again, I'm making this application here about this carnal way of carnal thinking. Look at Hebrews chapter 2. Listen to what Paul says about this. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to what? To the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. You see, the natural reasoning is to move on from the gospel. Well, I've already learned that. I want to go on. Go on to where? What are you going to go on to? Anything else is less than that. If you move from that, you have moved to a lesser thing. Therefore, Paul says, let us take a more earnest heed to what? What we've already heard, the gospel. Don't move from it.

Don't look at it, but I put it in the bulletin Don mentioned about considering him. This has an idea of examining him with great intensity. analyzing it, weighing it out. You know, one thing about this gospel is you'll never come to an end of it. We ought to give more earnest heed to Christ and not less. The world has it backwards. Once they believe, once you grow spiritually, you move on to what? Morality and holy living and, you know, good marriage and Good finances. My God, that's earthly wisdom. What do we move on to? A better understanding of Christ and Him crucified. That's what I want a better understanding of. Why? Because all my life and hope is in that. It's not in my morality. It's not in politics. It's not in the things of the world. My hope is in Him. And so what do I want to know? I want to know more about him.

Have you found out that your mind and heart are like broken cisterns? Now, it's been a while since we've been together. Do you remember what I preached last time I was here? Don't worry. I had to look it up myself. Our minds leak. And when you get out of here, how much of this are you going to remember? So what do we need to do? We need to give a more earnest heed to it, not less. This is the means that God has chosen both to save sinners and feed his sheep. The preaching of the gospel.

This is why Paul says in Hebrews 10, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. what as a manner some is. There's a manner of men, just believers, just forsaking. We are not to forsake the worship of God. Many have put this world above the worship of God. Isn't that carnal? Well, I've got a job. Doesn't everybody else here? People got work, and yet you still have, oh, people want a reason, and they'll find one. If you want a reason not to be here, you'll find one. There's plenty of reasons not to be here, but they're all carnal. They're all carnal.

What reason could we give to miss the worship of God? What is it? I understand we had, everybody snowed in. That's not logic. That's just, you can't. God shuts in, and a lot of times God shuts people in. You don't get to, you want to, you desire to, but you can't. We're talking about a constant, perpetual, habitual forsaking of the worship of God. You know why? Because you're carnal. I mean, that's just it. You set the things of the world and the things of the flesh and the reason of the flesh above what God said. What did God say? Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. Isn't that clear? But I want you to see this. These people in this chapter were not on that end of the spectrum. They were on the other. They were faithful. They were faithful to attend. What was their problem? Their carnality was not setting the world above the worship of God, but rather setting the men of God above the Word of God.

Look at this in verse 4. He said, For while one saith, I am of Paul, another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Is this not carnal reasoning? Some guy, he heard Paul, and Paul was the man God used. And there's an attachment there. When God uses a man, And you hear the gospel by him. I know this. There is a spiritual attachment. Paul said, we have not many fathers. There's a connection there. And so he comes to another man, and this other guy, he has a connection to Apollos. The Lord used Apollos for his conversion. And you know what they do? They go up to each other and they say, you know, man, I like Apollos, but you know what, Paul, man, he's so much better. The other guy gets offended. He said, well, you know, Paul's pretty good, but you know, Paulus, he's really a gifted preacher. He can talk. You know, Paul's got a stutter, and he stammers, but Paulus is very clear. So they start arguing among each other, who's the better preacher?

These people, they set men above. And so what Paul is going to do here is he's going to set preachers in the right position. Now listen, preachers are never to be exalted above the message and the God they preach ever. He's going to tell us this. What are preachers? Nothing. That's it. Nothing. We're nothing. We're vessels, instruments of God. but we have no power in ourselves. None of this, you can speak like Apollos, and it'd have no effect unless God make it effectual. So he's gonna put them in the right place. But he also understands this, that preachers are not to be put underfoot either. Because that's the next reaction, isn't it? To take one and say, well, we've exalted preachers too much. Now then, what we're gonna do? We're gonna put them down. We're gonna put them under our foot. He said, no, that's not their right place either. And then he's going to show us the right message. He's going to warn preachers about what we preach. About what we preach. So let's see these things.

Long introduction, I know, okay? The ministers of God, okay? As we have seen, God has chosen by the preaching of the gospel to save sinners, and he has chosen the appointed means of men to preach it.

Look at 2 Corinthians chapter I believe it is. Look at this. He says in verse 6, let's go to verse 5. He said, For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake, for God. who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. You see this? God has chosen to put this treasure of the gospel into a clay pot. Clay pot! That's me! Just a clay pot! Nothing great about a pot. Nothing great about the clay. Just like you, as God shined in your heart, He shined in my heart.

But He gave me the excellency of this treasure to expound it to you, listen, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. If you hear anything, it's not me. If you believe anything in the Word of God, it's not me. It's not how I said it. It's not what I said. Power belongs to God and not to us.

God has chosen these weak vessels and yet because of our old corrupt nature, believers are tempted to exalt the vessel instead of the treasure that we've been given. Through the excellency of the power of God. to lift up the preacher rather than God that sent him.

So then Paul here puts the minister in his proper place. Look back at your text now. In verse 5 he says, Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but slaves? Ministers. That's all I am to you. All I am is a servant of God to deliver God's word to you. and I can't do anything else. I don't have the power to make it effectual to your heart, no matter how I say it, no matter the mannerisms or gifts that I have, none of that has any effect.

I'll give you an illustration of this. When he preached, John Edwards preached that sinners in the hands of any God, I think that's who it was, Edwards. When I read that message, I could imagine him thundering. I could imagine him in the pulpit. And that's what I did when I first read it. I go, wow, that must have been an exciting message. But I read this about that Edwards was nearsighted. He couldn't even see. And so he was reading his message with his face down like this. He didn't know what was going on outside. Why? The excellency of the power was not of Edwards, it was of God. And so it is every time we preach, every time we preach the excellency of the power, if it has any effect on you, is of God.

So then how could you ever exalt a man? How could we ever set one of God's servants above another? It's carnal. It's carnal. So ministers then are called of God. Remember, Paul was called of God to be an apostle. In Ephesians, Paul tells us this in Ephesians 4 and 11, he said he gave gifts unto men, some apostles. That's not me. That's not anyone in this generation. Now, ever since the apostles died, there are no more apostles. You hear a man say, I'm an apostle. Turn around and walk away. Don't even don't even engage. That guy doesn't have a clue. No more apostles. God gave apostles. Paul was an apostle. He gave some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, teachers. Now, what were all these men for? For the edifying of the saints. for the work of the ministry. That's it. They're just workers. They're just workers. They're just here. We're just here to edify you, to preach the word to you. Why? Because that's what we were sent of God to do. We were sent of God to preach, to be faithful.

The work of the ministers We are called of God to do it. We don't call ourselves to do this. I was speaking to a man last night about this. Some guy had said that he felt like the Lord was calling him to do something. And the guy asked me, well, is that true? I don't know. You got me. I ain't got a clue whether God called a man to do something or not. I tell him every every day I want to know. You want me to do this? I don't want to be here if you don't want me to be if you hadn't called me to this, I don't want to do it. And so the God calls men and then he equips them, he gives them gifts. Look what he look what Paul says now he's talking about. He makes an analogy first of a plant. He said in verse 6, I planted a polished water and God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything nor he that watereth, but God that gives the increase. He that planteth and he that watereth are one. Every preacher is one. There's no better, worse. Why? Because we all have the same message. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his labor. For we are labors together with God. You are God's husbandry. You are God's building.

Now he switches analogy. And isn't that plain the analogy? You take back then, they didn't really plant a seed. They threw it. They cast it out. Paul said, I cast out a seed. Apollos comes along and he just waters it. Who gave life to the seed? I didn't make the seed. It isn't my seed. It's his seed. I didn't give you life. God gave you life. Neither did Apollos. We're just instruments.

Now he switches to the analogy of a builder and he says, according to the grace which is given me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon." Now, I've looked at that before, and a lot of commentators think when he says, he said, according to the grace of God which is given me as a wise master builder. You know, the master builder there is not referencing himself. God gave him a gift according to the wise master builder, which is God. God is the wise master builder, and he is the one that gave Paul the gift wherewith he laid the foundation.

Which is what? The gospel we have here, isn't it? The foundation that he laid basically was expounding the foundation that was already laid. Did Paul say anything really that was new? No. This foundation which was Christ was laid in eternity by God. What Paul did as a builder was simply reveal it. That's all he was given to do. Here's the foundation. And what is the foundation? The foundation is Christ.

And so what we take from this is every minister that's called is gifted. In some capacity have some gifts. They differ. Some men have great gifts. Is that not so? To deny that would also be a lie. I don't want to glory in men, but I also don't want to deny what is true. God gave some men great gifts. And some men he gave small gifts. But what does the gift of the minister have to do with the work of the Spirit? Does the one with great gifts have more advantage than the one with small gifts? Does his gift somehow impact this foundation or make it more sturdy, more strong? No. Why? Because we all have the same message.

I like what Spurgeon's grandfather said. He said, my grandson may preach the gospel better than I can. but he does not have a better gospel. So what do the gifts of men have to do with it? Nothing. Nothing. And so ministers are called, ministers are gifted, and ministers are to be faithful to preach the gospel of God's grace.

Look at chapter four. Look at chapter four, and look what Paul says of preachers here. He said, let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. You hear religion talk about stewardship, right? They got whole seminars on stewardship. You know this is the only time it's mentioned? There's no mention of being a steward with money. Yet they talk about it all the time. You need to be a good steward with money. You'd be a good steward with your time. You'd be a good steward of this. The only time that they talk about stewardship is this.

And what are we stewards of? Now, what was a steward? A steward was the highest slave in the house. He's still a slave, but he was gifted with the master's most important things. And he said, let men count of us as stewards, servants, To what? To distribute what our Master has given us. Stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of a steward that a man be found faithful.

What are ministers to be faithful to do? Preach the Word. Isn't that what he told Timothy in 2 Timothy 5? He says, I charge you. I charge you by the living God. Listen. Preach the Word. Be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and with all doctrine. Do it when it's popular and do it when it's not popular. Preach the word. We have to be faithful stewards of the word.

Anyone who is called and gifted must preach the gospel of God's grace. Every time we meet, you should expect me to hold Christ forth. You should expect it, and if I don't, you should be disappointed. Christ is all our message. Christ is the sum and substance of all that we preach. Christ is everything. We preach the election of God's grace. We preach the perfect redemption of Jesus Christ. Why? Because this is what the Spirit uses. We preach it with all that we have, all that we've been gifted to give it to you. We'll do it. I desire everyone to hear this message. I want everyone to believe on Him. We preach Christ. We set forth Christ.

Look at Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. And look at verse 25. Paul says, Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which was given me for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which had been hid from the ages from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known, to whom God would make known the riches of His glory, of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

You see, that's our ministry, to preach Christ, to magnify Christ. Is there any sinner that needs Christ? Is there any sinner that needs mercy, forgiveness, pardon with God? I'm going to point you to the only one that can save you. I'll point you to Christ. I can't do nothing for you. And let me give you a hint. You can't do nothing for yourself. The only hope for you is if Christ in mercy reaches down His hand and by His grace gives you life. Then when you hear this message, you'll rejoice. You'll rejoice. You'll believe.

And so ministers, they're called of God, they're sent of God, they're sent to preach the word, they're gifted with whatever talents they have. But listen, this is our message, verse 11 of your text. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid. This is our text. This is our hope, that Christ is the foundation.

Now who laid this foundation? Isaiah chapter 28. Thus saith the Lord, I have laid in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone. Who is that? That is Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is the foundation upon which all the church is built. So what do we as preachers do? We just tell you. That's all we can do. We can't do anything else.

But now then, I want you to see the other end of this. Ministers are not to be put under foot. They're not to be exalted, but they're not to be put under foot. In 1 Timothy 5.17 it says, Let elders that rule be counted worthy of double honor, especially those that labor in the Word. Preachers are to be esteemed, not exalted. Esteemed, but not exalted. The mission of the church for the preacher is to care for the preacher's needs. That's what the church does. That's what people in the congregation are to do. They esteem the preacher by taking care of those other things so that he might give himself to the study and prayer and preaching of the gospel. That's a simple relationship, isn't it?

But I'm going to tell you what you can do more than giving me any carnal thing. For a pastor, the greatest gift that a congregation can give is to be faithful. I don't think there's any greater gift than to see God working on the hearts of his people to be faithful to attend his message. I don't think there's anything more encouraging. You can give me a million dollars. I'd much rather see you. I'd much rather hug you. Keep your money. I don't care.

but they're to take care of the pastors to esteem them and worthy of double honor. Why? Because we are ambassadors for Christ.

I remember this. I was first starting out preaching. I got an invitation. First time I'd been invited anywhere. I was excited. It was amazing. Somebody wanted me to come preach to them. And I said, this is great. So I drove six and a half hours And there were only eight people in this little group, eight people, and they were watching Brother Don on DVD at the time. They were faithful to do that. And they asked me, they said, come up and preach to us. You know, we'd love to have you come and preach. And I come up there, and only three were there. I go, okay, well, you know, I'm sure something happened. And I preached, and I went away, and then they asked me to come back. And I came back and it was the same three. And the reason they didn't come, it was deer season. I think I came during deer season. They say, well, we got deer season, you know. But every time I went up there, they didn't care to come. But every time Don went there, all of them showed up. What were they doing? They weren't esteeming the message, they were esteeming the man. God keep us from such carnal things.

And what is the message? Now, I'm gonna have to move quickly. The message now. The message. Everyone called and gifted to preach the gospel has one message. One gospel. When you come to hear, what do you come to hear? Who do you come to hear? Have you ever invited somebody and said, man, I'd like you to come hear my pastor? I know what you mean. But think about what you said. Who cares if it's me? Who cares if I invite, if I'm gone and I ask Brother Glenn to come on up and he, he preaches to you. What does that matter? Come hear the word. Come hear of Christ. Come hear the gospel. Why? Because that's what God's men are here to preach. We want you to hear His voice.

Why? Jesus said this, The hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Whose voice do you want to hear? I want to hear His voice. When I'm preaching, I want you to hear Him. And I don't want you just to hear of Him. I want you to hear Him. Is this not His word? It is His word. And when I read this, I am not reading my word. I am reading His word.

Now preachers are necessary, as I've said. How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach as if they'd be sinners? Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But they that preach only preach that Jesus Christ is the foundation for the souls of men. When Jesus said this, upon this rock I have built my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Who's he talking about? He's talking about himself. He's the foundation. There is nothing in this world sure. You found that out? That there is nothing sure. Everything can turn on a moment. In a moment, everything could change. Listen to me. There's one thing that never changes. And that's this foundation. Jesus Christ is a sure foundation. This is what we preach. Trust Him. Take all of your faith and all of your hope and you put it on him. Don't leave nothing for yourself. And definitely don't put it on the preacher. It's got to be on him. This is our message. He is our foundation. He is the rock of ages upon which God builds his church. He is that tried stone. He is that precious cornerstone.

What do we trust? We trust that He is all our righteousness. Isn't that what you trust? When I say rest on this foundation, you're resting all your righteousness on Him. You don't reserve any of it for yourself. There's no cooperative effort here. My salvation is all on Him. I leave none for myself. All my redemption is in Him. His blood alone atoned for all my sins. And God was so completely satisfied with that offering that He raised Him from the dead and set Him on the throne. And I know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ will call every one that He died for and every one of them will believe on Him and every one of them will rest their soul upon Him

Now, does any of that depend upon the preacher? No, we're just instruments that God uses. And this is our message, Christ is all.

Now then, how a warning to us, and I got to be, man, knew the introduction was long, that was a problem. He warns preachers now about how to build on this foundation. He gives us these building materials. Look at this, real quickly. He said, Other foundation, verse 11, can lay, no man can lay that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. He gives us six building materials, three good and three bad.

What does this mean? What is the gold, silver, and precious stones? It's very simply this. This is the doctrine of the Word of God. I remember when Paul was talking to those pastors, he said, you know, when I leave, those wolves are going to come in. And he told those pastors, he said this, be faithful to preach the Word. Be faithful to preach the Word. Don't move from it. Don't move from it.

This is what the gold and the silver, the election of God's grace. Don't move from it. That's gold. That's precious. That's not an aside. You don't say election and then just move on. No, that's the gold. My salvation is rooted in the will of God. That's not rooted in anything else. That's gold. Oh, the precious stones of Jesus Christ. Oh, the silver which speaks of redemption. That's his redemptive work. And he bought us with his own blood. Precious stones, the spirit of God moving on us, the preaching of the word. These are precious doctrines. Don't move from them. Don't move. Paul said, I think Titus, he said, don't move from sound. Don't move from it. That's what we build upon this. We preach those things that exalt and adorn Christ.

But notice this wood, hay and stubble. What's this? Everything that doesn't everything outside of that. I mean, there was a I know this and I'm gonna I'm just gonna close my nose because I got more. This church has experience in this. This church was founded by a man who was a very faithful gospel preacher, a very wonderfully talented man of God, faithful. But when he got older, he moved from precious stones and silver and gold to the wood, hay, and stubble of politics, and it almost destroyed this church. Now the man himself was a man of God, a man called of God, a man gifted of God, a man used of God. And yet the warning is, do not move from these precious things to the things of the world.

Morality, isn't that morality? People say morality. Do you realize that morality today is not morality 100 years ago? Why? It changes. Morality changes with the culture, doesn't it? What is that but stubble? Isn't that stubble? Finances. You're not going to take it with you anyway. What is it? What does it really matter? So they move from the things of precious things of Christ to wood, hay, and stubble. You know what happens to those things? They just burn up. They burn up.

And so as a pastor, I'm warned to be careful what I put on this foundation. Why? Because you are the temple of God. You are the temple of God. You are the temple of God and the Spirit of God resides in you. I need to be careful what I say to you. I do not want to hurt you. I do not want to hinder you as false religion does. False religion hinders and God says those that hinder the temple, those who defile the temple, I'll destroy them. That's what false religion does. They hinder the temple. They hinder God's people.

But in all this, We are warned not to be carnal, not to think of preachers above what they are. They are called of God. We are sent with the gospel of God. We are ministers and ambassadors of Christ. But in truth, in this matter of salvation, we have no part. We plant, we water, we build. We have no power. And know this. You are. Christ, all things are yours, Paul says, the last part of this chapter, all things are yours. Don't you know that that all things are yours? Are you suffering? Well, that's yours. Are you afflicted? It's yours. Are you in joy? Well, it's yours. All things are intended for your good, aren't they? All things work together for good. What does a preacher have to do with that? Nothing. All things are yours. I'm yours. Why? Because you belong to Christ. Is that not the most wonderful thing in the world, that you belong to Him? You're His. And Christ is God's. That's double surety. That's what Christ said in John 10, isn't it? No man can pluck them out of my hand, and the Father which gave them greater than me, greater than all, no man can pluck them out of my Father's hand.

May God help us not to be carnal. May God help us to think with the spiritual mind and not with human reasoning. Serve God. Thank God for the pastor or the preacher that you have, pray for him. But know this, he's nothing. Don't exalt him, exalt Christ.

I pray God will bless this to you. Let's stand and be dismissed and pray. Holy Father, thank you for the blessings you poured out on us. I pray for your spirit to take the word and apply it. Keep us from the carnal flesh and thoughts of this old man of sin. I pray that you would give us grace to discern the things of Christ and always look to him. Always be thankful for the gift of salvation that you've given us through him. Forgive us and lead us. We pray these things in Jesus' name.