day for a believer. All right,
let's read First Corinthians chapter three, verse one. And I, brethren, could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto
babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with
meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet
now are you able. For you're yet carnal, for whereas
there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are you
not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I'm of Paul,
and another, I'm of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then
is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man? I've planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one. And every man
shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For
we're laborers together with God. You're God's husbandry. You're God's building. According
to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master
builder, I've laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.
Let every man take heed how he buildeth 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 hath built thereupon, 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
you're 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 you are. Let no man deceive himself. If
any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him
become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this
world is foolishness with God. For it's 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's. I'm so glad to have Brother Clay
with us this morning. I wanted to have him speak for
us while I was here, but I know his plate was full with what
he was dealing with, and I didn't want to add to it. We love him. He'll be back in October, Lord
willing, to preach for us at our conference. Looking forward
to it. Now if you will, turn back with
me again to my text in 1 Corinthians 3. This was my first text as I entered
as your pastor back in November 2008. Very first message I preached
to you after moving here. almost 16 years ago. And I told
you then, and I want to affirm it again, that my hope and desire
in coming here is to comfort God's people. I don't want to
be a trouble. That's not my desire. Sometimes I make myself a trouble. Forgive me for it. But my purpose
in coming here is not to be a trouble, but to be a comfort, to help promote peace, patience, assurance, And I hope my presence here has
helped us to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the
bond of peace. I hope so. I hope so. I hope I have in some degree
helped you to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the benefits of the
gospel ministry. This is what you're not going
to get out there by yourself. God has means. He said, I've
ordained them. I'm going to use them. Why do
we always want to run contrary to what God wills? It's foolishness. These are the benefits of the
gospel ministry. And I cannot, with Paul, say
that I'm a wise master builder. I looked at that for a long time.
I'm not even sure how he could say that. But he did. And he said it in the Spirit. He said, I am a wise master builder. But I can say this, I'm a fellow
laborer with God. That's my hope. And in this chapter,
Paul tells us that we are God's husbandry and we are God's building. He gives the ministry of the
gospel a two-fold type and figure. It is as a gardener. That's what
he looked at him. He said, you are God's husbandry. We don't use that term much today.
What is a husband man? He's a master gardener. That's what he is. God is a master
gardener. I love the garden. I love planting
stuff. Don't you? Plant it. It comes up. Boy, you
can pick your fresh green beans or broccoli or whatever it is.
I can just think about it and almost taste it. Fresh ear of
corn, pop that thing off of that. Oh, that's so good. And especially
tomatoes. I know I'm not the only one in
here that likes tomatoes. My soul. I'd wait on that first
tomato. Most of the time, I can't wait.
I pick it when it's pink. But he said, my father is the
husband man. Not a husband man, the husband
man. He's the master gardener. His
husbandry is the glory and fruit of the vine. He chose the vine. He planted the vine. And he grafts
in the branches. My father is the husband man. It's his garden. Isn't that what
he tells us over there in John 15? He dictates the terms, he
determines the time, he decides the ways. Oh, what's my part? What's your part? We're fellow
laborers with God. Paul wants these folks to understand
that, what a privilege it is. Think of that, fellow laborers
with God. Paul said in verse 6 of my text,
I have planted. What did he plant? He planted what he was given. He planted the seed. What seed? Christ. Christ. Precious seed, promised seed,
divine seed. Not corruptible seed, but incorruptible
by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And this
is the Word which by the Gospels preached unto you. This is precious
seed. I don't even know if I could
get it in my head, but he's got one seed. He don't have a handful
of butter beans and peas and corn and all that and just throw
it out and see what comes up. He's got one seed, Christ. Isn't
that what Paul said? I just keep planting that one
seed, Christ. Plant it, here's another one.
Plant it, here's another one. Plant it, here's another one. We preach Christ. We don't preach
ourselves, we preach Christ Jesus, the Lord. Fellow laborers, with God. Paul planted gospel seed, he
preached Christ. Our Lord said this, And Paul
pointed that out. He said he's not talking about
seeds as of many, but thy seed, which is Christ. That's the seed. And then he says this, Apollos
watered. He didn't flood the garden. He
didn't go out there with a barrel and just throw it out in the
garden. He watered. worked with a guy, and everything
he planted died. And I said, well, what are you
doing wrong? He said, well, my wife helps
me. And he said, first comes the
drought, and then comes the flood. She won't water it until it's
almost dry, and then she does. A polish didn't flood the garden. If you grow a garden, you'll
soon learn there's a way to water and a way not to water. You can
do more damage watering than if you didn't water at all. He
said, I planted the seed. He didn't wash the seed out of
the ground. He didn't ground it. He didn't
turn the soil into mud. He just moistened it. Just moistened
it. And then wonder wanders. A little
sprout begins to poke through the dirt. I used to go out and
move the dirt a little bit. I want to see that. I want to
see if it's growing. I've got to see that. Boy, wonder
of wonders. You put in that old dry seed,
put it in the ground, cover it up, and just moisten it a little
bit. And boy, before you know it,
here comes that little green spout. It begins to break through. Oh, how it swells and reaches
for the sun. Grows up out of the dirt to produce
the fruit that God intended it to produce. If it bears no fruit, our Lord
said, He purges it. The master gardener grafted in
that branch, but it's not producing fruit. He's kind of laying there. Does he cut it all and throw
it away? No. No, he purges it. It goes out there with them trimmers.
Trims it back. Purges it. He trims it back.
He cuts something off of it. Takes away whatever's hindering
it. And he said, I'm the vine. This is a garden that just has
one vine. One vine. Christ is the vine.
That's what he said, isn't it? I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing. He got the picture? Master gardener. This is God. He planted a garden
east of Eden, didn't he? This is God's garden. He's the
master gardener. It's his vine. We're the branches. We're grafted in. It's a root
be holy, so are the branches. Everything we have comes from
Him. That's what He's telling us.
You're God's husbandry. And then He says this, you're
God's building. David wanted to build God a house.
God said, you can't build me a house. Think about it. In me you live and move and have
your being. This whole universe is in God.
God's not out here floating around in the universe. The universe
is in God. We can't even comprehend the
universe. How are we going to comprehend God? David said, I'm
going to build you a house. I don't have any need of a house,
David. What house is going to contain him? Oh, what house could accommodate
God? But God's going to build such
a house. He's going to build such a house and He's going to
abide in it. What do you say? How's He going to do it? Well,
you're God's building. You're His building. Now, I've
been a builder I'm the son of a builder. I've been around building
all my life. I mean, from the time I was tiny,
I was sitting out there by the sand pile. My dad would take
that sand and mix up that mortar and lay in brick or lay block
or whatever he was doing. And I can look at a structure
and pretty much tell you what's wrong with it and what's right
about it without ever going in it. I know building. And in this chapter, Paul tells
us four things about building and being a fellow laborer with
God that we need to know. First of all, as an apostle and
writer of scripture, as a gospel minister, he said, I'm a wise
master builder. No one but an apostle could say
that. He knew. He knew what that office
meant. And he didn't look to himself
and stick his thumbs in his overalls and swell up with pride like
Nebuchadnezzar did looking down off of that great garden that
he built. But the wise master builder,
God made him a master builder. And he said, I've laid the foundation. If there is a fault that develops
down the road, it usually comes from the foundation. I'm building
my foundation right now. Luke brought his class over,
and that's the first thing he told them. Whatever's wrong here,
it's going to be wrong right on out the top. You know, I'll
cover it up. You get it out of square here,
it's going to be out of square there. You get it out of level
here, it's going to be out of level there. And you can doll a house up and
put the gingerbread on it and sell it every day, but it soon
shows the flaws of a bad foundation. If it's out of square or out
of plumb or whatever it is, it's gonna show up. The foundation's
the most important part of the building. And that's what he
tells you. To have a good foundation, where
do you start? Excavation. Excavation. Getting rid of the overburden.
The sinner must first be stripped. Before God will clothe you, he's
going to strip you. Before he lays a foundation,
he's going to strip you. He's going to uncover the good
ground. Fully exposed. Nothing left hidden. Stripped
of all his potential. There's no potential in human
nature. None righteous, none that understandeth, none that
seeketh, they altogether become unprofitable. None good, no,
not one. What have you gotten, Paul said,
that you haven't received? And if you received it, why do
you brag on it like you did? Do you think faith is born of
man? It's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. The goodness of God. Well, I
repented. Yeah, you did. Yeah, you did. But the goodness of God led you
there. There's nothing now or in the
future that God can't approve of that's generated from our
old nature. That which is flesh is flesh.
And the flesh and the spirit are contrary. God excavates the
sinner's potential. He exposes some harmful overburden,
self-righteousness, pride, envy, self-will. All has to be dug
up, hauled out. It's of no use in God's building.
And then thirdly, he strips us of our wisdom. He says, my thoughts
are not your thoughts. Well, I thought. Yeah, he did. But your thoughts are not his
thoughts. Been there and done that, ain't you? My ways are not your ways. None
that understand it. He said, lean not on your own
understanding. Quit doing it if that's what
you're doing. Stop. Oh, how the disciples mourned
and were confused and didn't know which way to go until the
Lord exposed their ignorance. and gave them some understanding.
Listen to the Apostle Paul. He begins this letter to the
Corinthians and here's what he tells them. He quotes this scripture,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. What you gonna do with
it? Throw it away. I'm gonna destroy
it. The wisdom of the wise. And I'll
bring to nothing the understanding of the proof. The guy, he can
figure everything out. He can throw a puzzle down, he
can put it together, and two out. He's prudent, he's good,
he's talented. I bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. And then he tells us this, for
after that in the wisdom of God, that's what we seek to know,
ain't it? After that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom
knew not God. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them from sin. Sinner must be exposed as
ignorant of God. Well, where do we learn such
things? Listen to this, 1 John 5.20. John just keeps telling
us, and we know, we know, we know. How do you know? God taught
us. And we know that the Son of God
hath come and given to us an understanding, that we may know
Him that's true, that we're in Him that's true. This is the
true God and eternal life. It begins with excavation. God
begins to strip the sinner. He strips him of his wisdom,
and then fourthly, God strips us of worldly religion. He's
going to bring the dozer into that. He's going to shove it
all over you. Worldly religion. I think I can safely say that
any religion recognized, commended by the world, is not of God.
1 John 4, 5, They are of the world,
therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them. We
are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. He that is not of God, heareth not us. That's how we know the
Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error. God shows us the difference. Religion. I've heard people say
this and it just breaks my heart when I hear them say it. Well,
my son moved off to college. Well, is he going to church anywhere?
Oh, he goes down to First Baptist Church. I know they don't preach
things, but it's a step in the right direction. No, it ain't. No, it ain't. Religion is not
necessarily a step in the right direction. Paul said to be followers
together of him and mark them with walks so, as you have us
for examples, for many walk of whom I've told you often and
now tell you even weeping that they're enemies of the cross
of Christ. The spirit of antichrist is not the boogeyman, it's worldly
religion. And it's anti-Christ. It's not
anti-church. It's not anti-social. It's not
anti-works. It's anti-Christ. They'll tolerate
everything else. And worldly religion is not going
to disappear. It has to be dug up and shoved
off out of the site where God's going to build. I've laid the foundation, Paul
said. When the excavation's finished,
The overburden is removed, the foundation must be laid. Now
watch this, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 11. Other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. He's the foundation. I've heard
it said all my life, and I've often said it myself, and there's
some truth in it, that the foundation of faith is the Word of God.
Strictly speaking, that's not so. Christ is the foundation, He
just told you that. But it's true in this sense,
this is the Word which by the Gospels preached unto you. I
can't know Christ apart from the Word of God. The Word of
God tells me who He is, why He came, what He did, where He's
at. But the Jews, the rebellious
Jews knew the Word of God, but they didn't know God. And they
did not know Christ. It is the message of Holy Scripture
that God builds His house upon. Peter said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Living God. He said, Flesh and blood did
not reveal that to you, Peter, my Father which is in heaven. Upon this rock will I build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
What is he talking about? He is talking about the revelation
of Jesus Christ in the Word of God. Understanding. Salvation
stands on and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fully supported by Him. Held together by Him. Kept in
perfection by Him. He said, The foundation of God
standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are
His. And that word knoweth has to do with contact. Contact. It has to do with a relationship. The foundation and the house
become one. God builds a house, He fashions
it to that foundation, and it's won. None but His own can be built
on this foundation. Gospel truth is revealed in the
heart by the Spirit of God. It's preached in a pure revelation,
but it must be revealed in you. Paul said, when it pleased God.
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me. And there's a world of difference
between in you and to you. To you is what you hear and read. In you is what you love and need
and long for. To you is what you've been told
from a pulpit. In you is where the understanding
is born and over that which the heart burns within. Didn't our hearts burn within
us, he said as he opened to us the scriptures. I'm going to give you a math
lesson. Two and two is four. I use it every day. Use it every
day. Absolutely convinced of it. Ain't
nobody here going to argue with me. Two plus two is four. You
know it. I use it every day. It's a practical
value to me, but it don't make my heart burn. And you can know all the facts,
all the biblical facts, but I tell you when he reveals
himself in you, your heart will burn. Obama was listening to
some messages I preached out of Genesis. And she said, there's
an excitement in your voice. Oh, you better believe me. I get excited, don't you, Gloria? I get, man, the Lord opened something
to me. Didn't our heart burn within
us as he opened to us the scriptures? There's a difference in there,
to you and in you. There's a difference. The revelation
of Christ. I preach it to you every week.
The revelation of Christ. I do it as purely as I know how
to do it. I'm going to tell you who He
is. I'm going to point you to Him. But the Holy Spirit reveals Him
in you. The Word of God is in cold, dry litter. Paul said, killeth. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. The letter killeth. The Spirit giveth
life. Paul said, my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and power. The grace of God brings that
bring us salvation is demonstrated in the hearts and minds of them
that believe, and thereby they're convinced of the truth. He demonstrates that grace in
you. He graciously saves you. Now
you know something about grace. But you can read about grace
and study grace all you want to, but you don't know grace
until He is gracious. The foundation must be laid.
And thirdly, a house shall be built. Peter said, We come to
him as a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God and precious, and as lively stones were built up a spiritual
house. God builds his house. And in Christ, when all the buildings
fitly frame together, it grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
And in him we're built together for a habitation of God through
the Spirit. We're fellow laborers with God,
doing what? Being used of God to erect his
house. Whatever we're enabled to do
is to this end. There's no other reason for us
to be left in this world class. We're as fit for heaven as we're
ever going to be in Christ. Aren't we? If I'm fully dependent
on Christ, and Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and
He said I'm seated with Him, I'm as ready for heaven as I'm
ever going to get. So why does He leave me here?
Is He punishing me? No. No. He's leaving me here as a fellow
laborer with him. What a privilege. Listen to this. They were about
to build the tabernacle. Now, I love the book of Exodus. All the figures and types there.
But listen to this. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts,
saying, Behold, the man whose name is Branch. He shall grow
up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord. Now the grace of God has given
us the opportunity to be labors together with Him. Now that quote
was from Zechariah, not from Exodus. In His garden and on
His house, we're fellow labors with Him. Does that excite you? Boy, it does me. That excites
me. Doing something that nobody else
can do. Performing a work that I can't
perform, but doing it anyway. Huh? Speak unto them. Here's what
he said. He's going to build a tabernacle. He said, Speak
unto them that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit
of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate
him. Bezalel, I have filled with the
Spirit of God in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge,
and in all manner of workmanship, and Ahissamoth of the tribe of
Dan, and in the hearts of all them that are wise-hearted, I
put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded them.
He gave them wisdom to build his house, exactly as he told
them how to do it. They couldn't do it. He had to
gift them with the spirit of wisdom. They didn't have that
wisdom. He had to gift them with a will
because they weren't willing. And he said, they're going to
build this tabernacle for me. They're going to build the Ark
of the Testament. the mercy seat, all the furniture
of the tabernacle, the altar, the labor, and all the rest,
everything pertaining to this building of God, God gifted men
to be fellow laborers with Him. Does He still do that? Absolutely. And what a picture it is. Where
God is purposed to build His house, He begins with excavation,
and when the ground's uncovered, And solid ground, he digs down
to the rock, which is Christ, a foundation is laid. And when
the foundation is laid, a house is going to be built. And the
last thing I know about this building, when the house is built,
it's going to be dry. I'm going to build it. We'll
see. We'll see. The rain's coming. Two men built a house. One of
them built on rock, the other one built on sand. And they're
both fine. Both lived in them. Enjoyed them.
Here's my house. I got out. Then the rains come. And the wind. And the house on
sand disappeared. The house on rock stayed put.
The day's gonna declare it, isn't it? What day? The day of trial. The Day of Trial. Is He trying
to prove to you that you are the house of God? No, He's proving
that this is His house. And it's of His making, of His
wisdom. He's going to prove it. Who's
He going to prove it to? Everybody. He's going to prove
it to the world, He's going to prove it to you, He's going to
prove it to everybody. This is my house. And I'm going to storm
it. I'm going to rain on it. I'm
going to set it on fire. And when it's all done, my house
is still going to be there. That's my house. My house. The day of trial tells the story
of the house. What day is he talking about?
The day of trial? He's talking about every day.
My house has to stand the test of time. Your spiritual house
has to stand... These all died, in fact. Their
house went all the way to the end, didn't it? It's going to have to stand the
day of persecution. And what day? The last day. The last day. I'm not talking
about judgment day, I'm talking about your last day. If the earthly
house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God. How'd
we get that? He built it. We have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Oh, Paul said
it. The foundation's been laid. The
foundation's been laid. The house is going to be erected.
Boy, be careful how you build on it. Be careful how you build. Don't start getting... I've been
building all my life, and I start building, and somebody come along
and never build anything, and they'll start saying, well, why
don't you do it this way? Why don't you just stand still
and watch for a few minutes, and you'll learn why. There's
a reason. There's a reason. But ain't that
what we do as new believers? Why don't we do it this way? Why don't we organize it this
way? Be careful how you build. Be
careful how you build. Thank you.