So once again with the help of
God I would like you to turn with me to the chapter that we
read together, 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and the text you'll
find in verse 11. For other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus. As we look at the church of Corinth,
we see that they had various problems, various sins had crept
in and Paul had to deal with those people that were involved
in writing this letter of instruction to the church as to how they
should deal with those various fractions that had come in. as we saw in the reading, the
church had been divided. It had been rallying around various
ministers of the word. One says, I'm from Paul. Some
say, I'm from Apollos. The other says, I'm from Cephas
or Peter. And so there was this rallying
around the different ministers of the word. And as we look at
the church, the true church, We see that even today it is
the case people have their favourite ministers and there are some
ministers that have great followings and the church gets split up
over various ministers and over various styles and over various
secondary doctrines. And so Paul was seeking to bring
unity to the church, to remind them of who these ministers are. He says that they are just servants,
ministers of God. The word translated as the minister
or servant is that which is used as of a household slave. That which a person in their
culture would have conducted household chores. And he says
that's what the ministers are. They are working for God. They are God's servants. They
are God's slaves. He has called them from darkness
to light. He has separated them in Christ
Jesus for the work of the ministry. He has anointed them and gifted
them for the edification of the saints and they are to preach
the word. Their goal is not to gather a
following Their goal is not to make themselves famous. Their
goal is not to self-edify, but their goal is to proclaim the
word of God and to rightly divide the word of God so that the saints
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the believers of the Lord Jesus Christ
may grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
And as they minister the word, the spirit accompanying the word
feeds the sheep of the Lord Jesus, feeds the people of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And others are brought into a
saving knowledge of the truth. Paul says, when I came to you,
I didn't come with great words. I didn't come with great knowledge of man's wisdom. He
says I didn't want to know anything else among you except Jesus Christ
and him crucified. He says that is the foundation
that I wanted to lay I didn't want to show you how clever I
was. I didn't want to show you what
a good speaker I was. I didn't want to draw a great
following behind me. I wanted to lay the foundation
of the Lord Jesus Christ and I wanted the church to be established
upon the truth of Christ Jesus, that Jesus Christ is the central
point of the message of the gospel that Jesus Christ is the foundation
stone of the gospel and that the whole church is founded upon
the Lord Jesus Christ is not founded upon the ministers. Paul says I am a wise master
builder, I am just a labourer, I am just a preaching, I am just
proclaiming the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. I am sweating
and laboring for the advancement of the gospel but I'm not speaking
about myself, I'm speaking about another. I am proclaiming the
truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, the natural man
does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him. He says that to the Greeks, the
preaching of the cross is foolishness. It's a stumbling block to them.
They want great knowledge. They want great wisdom. They
want intellect and soundness of words. But the gospel, it's
too simple. The preaching of Christ, it is
too simple for them to grasp. And so those who have that desire
for great intellect and knowledge, he says, the preaching of the
cross of Christ, it is foolishness to them. The natural man cannot
receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. is why the church is constantly
mocked by the people of the world. They cannot receive the Lord
Jesus Christ. They cannot receive the simplicity
of the gospel. They cannot acknowledge that
they must be brought down to nothing and to lose their own
intellect, their own works. and to be brought down to trust
in a man who died upon the cross and rose again the third day
for their salvation. In the back of their minds, they're
constantly thinking, you know, I can achieve something. I can
gain a foothold to heaven. I can work out my own salvation. I don't need the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe he sets me a good example. Maybe I can follow the way that
he lived and be nice to people and show compassion to people
but I don't need to die with him. I don't need to trust him
at the cross for my sin. It's foolishness that a man would
die and rise again the third day. Well that is the foundation
of the Christian faith. That is the foundation of the
gospel. There is no other foundation
than any man can lay and is laid and that is the Lord Jesus Christ
and the whole church is founded upon this truth. that Jesus Christ
is the rock by which the church is founded upon. You remember
right back in Isaiah it was prophesied that this rock would come, this
foundation stone would come. In Isaiah 61 it says, sorry, Isaiah 28 verse 16 it says, Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation
stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste or be ashamed. Judgment also will I lay to the
line and righteousness to the plummet and the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies and the waters shall overlap the hiding
place. And so that was the prophecy
that was spoken concerning the Lord Jesus Christ that he would
come and that God was going to lay in Zion, lay in the church,
lay in Jerusalem a foundation stone, a tried, a tested a stone,
a precious cornerstone, a strong stable foundation that whoever
trusted in this foundation would not be ashamed. Remember the parable that the
Lord Jesus Christ spoke Matthew chapter, sorry I forgot
the marking. Matthew 7, verse 24, Jesus spoke
about the wise man and the foolish man who built their house. One man built his house upon
the rock and the other man built his house upon the sand. Jesus
says, not everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, will enter into
heaven, but he that does the will of my Father that is in
heaven. And he gives the parable of these
two men. Two men built a house. Therefore, whosoever hears these
sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise
man which built his house upon a rock. And the rains descended
and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon the house
and it fell not for it was founded upon the rock. And that rock
is the Lord Jesus Christ. As we saw in the chapter that
we read, there is no other foundation that can be laid other than that
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophecy concerning him is
that he is a sure foundation, that he is the cornerstone of
the building and those who trust in him will not be ashamed. And the wise man, he dug down
in the ground. and he dug down and he founded
his house upon the rock. He heard the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus says whoever hears these
sayings of mine I will liken him to a wise man. What were
the Greeks? They said this is all foolishness.
Those who used man's intellect, they said this is foolishness. But Jesus says the wise man,
the wise man digs down. He hears the sayings of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He understands that there's a
judgment coming. He understands there's a storm
coming and he listens to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ
and he digs down deep and he grounds his faith, his hope.
upon that stone, that foundation that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture tells us that faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The scripture
tells us that there are many that hear the word but the word
as it enters in their mind is not mixed with faith, it doesn't
move them, they don't act upon it. and begin to build their life
upon sand. Those who hear the word of God,
hear the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, and act upon that word,
they act in faith, they believe and trust that word, they dig
down, they lay aside their works, they lay aside their religion,
they lay aside their own understanding. and they dig down and they anchor
their faith upon the rock that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The deepest foundation that has
ever been dug or drilled is 130 metres deep, a piling foundation
for one of these big tower blocks. And the reason why they have
to go so deep is because the surface soil is unsuitable. And so they must go down and
down and down and down until they hit rock. The deepest foundation
I ever dug was three meters. Mass filled with concrete. Costs
thousands of pounds. The foundation that has been
laid for the church is the Lord Jesus Christ and it must be excavated
to. You must dig down. You must lose
sight of everything to do with self and put it aside. What is it that you're trusting
in? Is it your religion? Do you think
that by attending church that God is somehow going to be pleased
with you? Do you think that it's by how
you look? By what you say? By where you
go? By helping people? That's not digging down. That
is, building upon sand. And Jesus says, the man that
built upon the sand his house, it fell down. There must be a searching for
the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ, he was
a costly foundation. He says, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life. He says that God's word, it is
truth. We live in a world filled with
lies, truth that is constantly changing. And yet God's word
is the revealed truth. It is unchanged by time. It is
an eternal truth. The Bible tells us that heaven
and earth is going to fade away and pass away. At God's word
it's going to remain. Everything that God has said
is unchanged and will be unchanged. It is a lasting truth. The scripture
tells us that this truth has to be searched for. Seek and
you will find. When you're digging a foundation
you must search for that right solid ground. And as you dig
down you dig down you dig down and there you find it. Sometimes
if you're digging foundations up in East Dean you see the top
chalk is dirty it's contaminated and you have to clear it off
and you have to scrape through that contaminated soil that contaminated
chalk until you come to pure white rock and the digger can't
dig anymore it's scraping along the top and there you know The
building inspector is going to be happy with that. He'll give
it the okay. It may have cost you more by
removing the contaminated soil but it won't last. It won't be
acceptable. It will fail. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he
is the costly foundation stone. Why is he costly? He's costly
because he was in heaven. He was ever in heaven with the
Father before the foundation of the world. The scripture tells
us all the things were made by the Lord Jesus Christ and without
him nothing was made. He left that glorious place and
put on a human body, lived under the law with sinners. The Bible
tells us that this man eats with sinners. He's the friend of tax
collectors and sinners. But that wasn't the cost. The
most costly part to this foundation was Christ being crucified upon
the cross, was him being rejected by the Father. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He quotes the psalm, surrounded
by bulls, surrounded by those despisers, those haters. And
yet there upon the cross, Christ bore the sin, the punishment
for sin for his people. And there he became a costly
rock, a costly foundation by which the whole church rests
upon. Christ dug very deep to bear
the sins of his people. The scripture tells us he despised
the shame. There in the Garden of Gethsemane
we see how he sweat great drops of blood. He dug deep to secure a salvation
for his people. and he is the only foundation
by which we can rest upon. No other religion secures a salvation
that has been secured by God himself. Every other religion
is a religion of work seeking to obtain the favour of God by
my goodness. Christianity does not rest on
my goodness. does not rest on my ability,
it rests on Jesus Christ and him alone. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground will fail on
that day of judgment. So we saw the man when the storm came. When the storm came, the man
whose house was grounded upon the rock, it stayed, it was secure. But the man's house who was built
upon the sand, it fell down. And the scripture says, and great
was the fall of it. What is that storm? If you remember,
Noah endured a storm. Noah was told by God, you create
an ark for the saving of your house. And a storm was going
to come. A worldwide flood was going to
be poured out in judgment upon this world. And everybody who
was outside of that ark, their house fell. They died. They experienced the judgment
of God. those in the ark that they were
safe, their foundation was secure. The scripture tells us that there
is another judgment coming, a final judgment. There's the warnings
throughout the scripture that God is not lying, that he is
not joking, he has done it before and he will do it again and this
next judgment is going to be by fire And if we are building upon the
sand, then this judgment will knock our house down. We will
fall under that judgment, not just for time, but for eternity. If we are trusting anything else
other than the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, then we will
be knocked flat. We will be found guilty before
a holy God. It is only those who will be
founded upon the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ, the precious
stone, the precious foundation. It is only them who will be able
to stand in the presence of a holy God. And so Paul says, yes, there
are very many preachers But are they preaching the right message? Are they preaching Jesus Christ
and Him crucified? If they are, then they are working
together with God. Because the scripture says that
we are labourers together with Him. labourers together with God,
ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. God doesn't need
ministers but God has chosen to use the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise. God has chosen this means by
which his gospel may advance and that his church may be fed. by the foolishness of preaching. I have planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the increase. I can't save anybody. I cannot
even make anybody grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God must work. by his Holy Spirit that he has
promised to give and to pour out to his people. He has chosen to use labourers,
servants, to advance his kingdom. God gives the increase. Are we on this foundation? If we are on this foundation
how are we building on this foundation? Ultimately this verse speaks
about the ministry. As you examine the ministry,
if you're in the ministry One of the highest callings that
a man can be called into is the ministry of the word of God. Because we are dealing with people and
their eternal state. King Charles and the government,
they're concerned about this country. They're concerned hopefully
that it functions, that they get out of debt, that things
grow and prosper. But they're not concerned where
people go when they die. The ministry of the Word of God
is concerned about where people go when they die. People's eternal
destiny is at stake. if a minister preaches outside
this foundation. The foundation shapes the building. It sets the boundaries for where
the building will be built. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
only the foundation, but he is the cornerstone of the building.
Therefore, he sets the parameters. You cannot go beyond Lord Jesus
Christ. We cannot come with our own ideas,
our own thoughts, our own intellect as to how to advance this kingdom
quicker. I have planted a polish water,
God gave the inquiries. There is the key, we might say. Paul says, how are you building
upon this foundation? Because how we build upon the
foundation is ultimately going to be put to the test. The wise
man built his house upon the rock. It was founded upon the
rock. The judgment came and that house
did not fall. The scripture tells us here that
the ministry of the word of God will be put through the fire,
will be put through the test. Gold, silver, or precious stones. The foundation is the base, the
start of the building. The apostles laid that foundation,
Christ. They set the parameters, they
set the borders. Every man's work will be tested
on that day. Now if any man build upon this
foundation gold, silver, precious stones. This gold, silver and
precious stones are those things which are mentioned of heaven.
Remember heaven is spoken about as having pearls, having precious
stones as foundations and having gold We can call it heavenly
truth. Those who preach the truth of
the word are building upon Christ. Preach the word, the scripture
says. As we preach the word, the apostle Paul says, God gives
the increase. The scripture tells us that the
church is a building made up of living stones, lively stones,
that when believers, when people hear the word of God, it enters
into their hearts and they come to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,
they are added to that spiritual building. They are a living stone. And that church may grow suddenly
in revival when God pours out his spirit and multitudes are
gathered in at one moment but more often than not this church
is built slowly by slowly by men and women living Christian lives shining
as lights in a dark place faithfully witnessing for the Lord Jesus
Christ or by the ministry of the word preaching the truth
in an environment that is twisted by lies and darkness. These precious stones could be souls of people who
had been won for the Lord Jesus Christ. To be honest I've been
struggling with this. It can't be doctrine because
doctrine, what we believe, is not a thing to be put through
the fire. There are people who or of the
church who believe many, many things. As here he says, one of Paul,
one of Apollos, one of Peter. They're grounded upon the truth.
They believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. They may be
under a ministry that doesn't believe in rightly dividing the
word. They're grounded upon the truth.
They believe and trust wholeheartedly in the Lord Jesus Christ as their
saviour. And that is what matters. If
you think of the thief on the cross, he wasn't baptised, probably never ever read a Bible, never been in a worship service, Never had communion. His only hope was Jesus Christ. The only thing that he had to
rest in was that Jesus Christ said to him, today you will be
with me in paradise. That was his foundation. That
was all that mattered when he stood before God. So I think the church, the visible
church, is made up of true believers and it's made up of nominal Christians. People who may have professed
faith in Christ but they don't truly trust Christ, they're trusting
in their own works. And I think it's these that are
going to be passed through the fire and consumed. You see, you may have a massive
congregation The church may have grown rapidly. But it may be because you've
compromised. Compromised on truth. You've
brought in gimmicks. You've brought in means of entertainment. You've made it easy for people
to accept Christ. But the work ultimately going
to be placed through the fire to see what type it is. If it's
a true child of God founded on Christ Jesus they're going to
pass through. If it's a nominal believer whose
hope is founded in themselves, in their church going, in their
religious life, in their good works, then they're going to
fall like that house. Their works won't save them,
will come crashing down like wood and hay and stubble. but also how are we building
as individual Christians upon this foundation? Our salvation
is secure in Christ Jesus. Has that made us live then a
worldly life? Has that made us pursue after
materialism? Yes, we're secure in Jesus. Jesus
has my salvation. Now I'm just going to live as
I want to live. Or are we living for glory? Treasures in heaven, Jesus says,
they're secure. Everything that this world has
is passing and fleeting and rusting away. How are we as believers
building on this foundation of Christ Jesus? Is our treasure secure in heaven
or is our heart set here upon this earth against the wood and
the hay and the stubble. I thought that to make you smile,
of those three little pigs who built their houses. One was straw, One was wood and
one was brick. And along came the wolf and said
that he was going to blow those houses down. And he blew down
the hay and he blew down the wood, but he couldn't blow down
that brick house. And the Bible says, that the
fire will come to try every man's work to see what sort it is. Everything that we have and have
ever done is going to be put to the test and by fire. If you have your life here now
and God was going to put a match to it what would be left? House would go. Car would go. Insurance policies would go.
Pension would go. Family would go. Religion would go. Clothes would
go. What would be left? I remember at
school when you did that science experiment where you poured salt
into the crucible thing and heated it up and it all bubbles and
bubbles and bubbles away until you're left with salt again.
What would happen to our lives if the Lord did that to us? If
he put us under the fire and boiled us all down, what would
be left? Would it be the foundation of
Christ? Or would we find that our foundation
would crumble, would be brought to nothing, that we find that
everything that we had, we had built upon the sand. We trusted in ourselves, we heard
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we acted upon those words,
but we didn't trust those words. We didn't dig down deep to the
foundation and the foundation that no other man can lay, which
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Is our religion just an external
show? Or are we anchored in the truth
of God's word, anchored upon the Lord Jesus Christ, resting
upon the Lord Jesus Christ as our only hope of salvation? Are we pointing to the man in
the middle, the Lord Jesus? This is him. He's my hope. Not my belief, not my faith,
but Jesus Christ. He's the one. that saved me. If it's visual,
then it will crumble. If it's founded upon the rock
and then built up from the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, then it
will last and it will stand the storm of judgment. Because God will see his son
in us. May the Lord enable us to examine
and test our own work to see what it is. Is our hope just
an experience that we had or is it truly living faith gripping
hold of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we resting upon him as our
foundation stone? for other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. May the Lord add
his blessing. Amen. Let's sing our final hymn, hymn
number 143. 143. Rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy riven side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Cleanse
me from its guilt and power. Hymn 143, tune 505. ? Which is dead for me ? ? Let
me hide myself in thee ? ? Let the water and the blood ? ? From
thy riverside withdraw ? ? Be of sin the double cure ? ? And be from it filled again ?
? Now that I have all my hands
? ? Can fulfill my Lord's demands ? ? Good-bye, dear blue, where's
my blue ? Earth, my tears for ever flow, All for sin were not
at all, Thou, the Saviour of evermore. ? In my hand I pray ? ? Simply
to thy cross I pray ? ? Naked come to thee for dress ? ? Thou
best look to thee for grace ? Thou light to the fountain fly, Wash
me, Saviour, all my life. ? Till my eye-strings break in
two ? ? When I soar through tracks unknown ? ? See me on thy judgment
throne ? ? Rock of Ages, cleft for me ? ? Let me hide Now may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with you each
now and for evermore. Amen.