me to 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
The title of my message this morning
is Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones. I think all of us may
be prone to think that the churches that are listed or named in the
New Testament were churches which did not have any problems. we
know that that's not true. In fact, several of the letters,
the New Testament letters, were written specifically to answer
and to deal with certain problems. For instance, the letter of Galatians. It was written to churches of
Galatia, and it had to do with the fact that men had come among
those believers Jewish men had come among them, the Gentile
believers, and they were teaching that in order for a person to
be saved, he had to come under the law of Moses, had to be circumcised
and become under the law to keep the law of Moses. And we see
here in this church at Corinth, in this Third chapter, the apostle
Paul tells them that there were divisions and they were carnal. Years ago, there was this theory
of a carnal Christian. A carnal Christian. A Christian,
they said, a man just accepted Jesus and then he lived like
the devil. He's just carnal. That's not
what a carnal Christian is. Not according to the word of
God. The Apostle Paul said these people were carnal because they
were divided over these men, the divisions. They were guilty
of envying. And they had strife and divisions. Are you not carnal? You walk
as men. In other words, you walk as men,
lost men, men of the world. God's people are not to walk
like that. God's people who are saved by
the grace of God are to exhibit grace, live grace, not only believe
in grace, but live grace, be gracious, be kind, be long-suffering,
be filled with the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace. Paul
said, you're walking like men of the world, being divided over
these different preachers, and he was one of them. Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Just a voice,
just a man, that's all he is. God's the one that does the saving.
He's not the preacher. He's not the man that preaches, it's
the message that he brings. It's the gospel that is the power
of God unto salvation. I encourage all of us always
to keep that in mind. Listen to what a man says. Pay
more attention to what he says than how he says it. Some people
are just taken up with the demeanor or the way a man delivers his
message and they are all enthralled with that man. Listen to his
message. Hear what he says. That's what's
all important. Paul declares that he, by the
grace of God, as a wise master builder, had laid the foundation
of the church at Corinth. Now we know that God laid the
foundation, the scripture says that in Isaiah chapter 28 and
verse 16. God laid the foundation of the
church, the foundation in Zion, and that foundation is Christ. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. But
ministerially, the apostle Paul is the one who had brought the
gospel to Corinth, and this church was raised up, and it was built
upon the foundation of Christ. And Paul warns men who were now
preaching there, take heed, take heed how you build upon this
foundation. Men may build with gold, Silver,
or precious stones, or wood, hay, and stubble. And I want
to speak to us today about building. A minister must build with gold. He must build with silver. He
must build with precious stones. And I recognize that those terms
refer to the gospel, all the truth of the word of God. But
I want to take these three terms, gold, silver, and precious stones,
as we find them in the tabernacle of old. Because we know that
the tabernacle that God gave Moses instructions to raise up
in the wilderness is a type, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. So a faithful, a faithful minister
must build, first of all, with gold. Inside the tabernacle,
everything, all the articles, were made with gold. The mercy
seat was pure gold. The candlestick or candle holder,
it was pure gold. The table of showbread, the altar
of incense, and the Ark of the Covenant, they were made of wood
overlaid with gold. You've heard this, you know this
is true. The wood, it was incorruptible wood, it speaks to us of his
sinless person, but the gold of his deity. The two materials
together represent the one person, God and man, the God-man, Jesus
Christ. He's not two persons, he's one
person, but he has two natures. He's fully God, and he's fully
man. A faithful minister of the gospel,
he must build with gold. That is, he must speak about
God Almighty. When Paul turned over just a
few pages to chapter eight, 1 Corinthians chapter eight, Corinth was a
wicked city like every city. City has wicked men and women
living in it. It's a wicked city. And Corinth was a wicked city.
They never heard the gospel. They never had the gospel there.
And like most pagans, they were guilty of worshiping many gods. And here in chapter eight, in
verse four, as concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that
are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is
nothing in the world, and there is none other god but one. For though there be that are
called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods
many and lords many, but to us there is but one God, the Father
of whom are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ
by whom are all things, and we by Him. A faithful minister of
the gospel, he must build with gold. That is, he must speak
about God. Not any God. There are many gods
in this world. The apostle said that was true
at Carth, and it's true today. Men make up their own god. Rather
than to come to the word of God and hear God as he's defined
and pictured and revealed to us in the word of God, They just
make up their own God. And many times they'll say, well,
my God would never do that. My God wouldn't do that. And
they're telling the truth. Their God wouldn't. But the question
is, is their God the God of the Bible? Now, we know there's one
God. Those verses there that we read
in chapter eight tell us that. We know that's true. There's
not room for another God. God is omnipresent. He fills
all space. There's no room for another God.
There's one God and one mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. And yet we know that God exists
in a trinity of persons. There's a father, there's a son,
and there's a Holy Spirit, and they're all equal. They're all
equal. It's not like God, the Father's
here, and the Son's here, and the Holy Spirit's here. No, they're
God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. They're all equal. They're all
eternal. Everything that's true of one
is true of the other. Now it was the Son of God who
became incarnate. We realize that. But God exists
in a trinity of persons. If you notice back in our text
here, in chapter three, When the apostle says, you are the
temple of God, verse 16, know you not that you are the temple
of God? How is it that a believer, how
is it that a Christian is the temple of God? Because God, the
Holy Spirit, lives in that person. And the Holy Spirit is God. That's how believers are the
temple of God. The doctrine of the Trinity is
a truth that I believe and I preach, not because I understand it fully,
of course not. God is infinite, and we at our
very best are finite creatures. But I believe it because it's
revealed here in the Word of God. I can show you in the Scriptures
where the Father is God Almighty, and the Son is God Almighty,
and the Holy Spirit is God. I mean, we have verses of Scripture
which tell us this. That's the reason we believe
it. And we must preach it. If we're building with gold,
we must preach the truth about God, that He is a trinity of
persons. That's something that many people,
many of the so-called wise, the learned of this world, they stumble
at this truth. Explain that to me. Oh, I can't
explain that to you. Neither can anyone else. But
I know it's so. How do you know it's so? Because
the Bible tells me it's so. That's how I know, because God
tells us that about himself. A man builds with gold, let a
man build with gold, speaking to us about the names of God.
God has a number of names, and these names all reveal something
else about him to us. One of his names is El, E-L,
El, which reveals unto us that he is the mighty one. The first
name of God that we find in the Bible in Genesis chapter one
is Elohim, which tells us that he's a powerful one. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. He's a powerful one, spoke
the worlds into existence. God said, let there be light,
or as it reads in the text, light be, and light was. God spoke. Elohim. Adonai, that's
translated Lord in the Old Testament. Only the first letter is capitalized. Lord, Adonai, he's the sovereign
one, the almighty ruler. And El Shaddai, that name tells
us that he's the all-sufficient one, that he can supply all of
our needs, no matter what they are. We look to him. He's the
Exalted One. And then Yahweh, or as we normally
say, Jehovah, He's the God of grace. He's the God of all grace.
He's a covenant God. He's a faithful God to His promises,
to His covenant. Let a man speak to us of God
the Father. You know, not everyone has a
good father. I'm talking about a human father.
Some people have had fathers that were, they were very cruel,
very harsh. That's not the God, the father of the
Bible. Don't ever think that the father,
if you had a father like that, that that's the father we're
talking about, the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. His
father, he's very kind. He's full of compassion. He's
love. God is love. Talk to us about the name of
God the Son, now that He is the eternal Son of God. And about
God the Holy Spirit. Speak to us of that name. Man
wants to build on this foundation. Let him build with gold. Let
him speak about God. Talk about God, the true God
of the Bible. about the attributes or the characteristics
of God. We need to hear that the God
that we worship, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that he knows everything. He never learns anything. We
use that term omniscient. He knows all things. And God's everywhere. He's omniscient. Or omnipresent, rather. He's
omnipresent. He's everywhere. Parents used
to teach their children these things. And we must teach our
children these things. When you are away from your parents,
they can't see you, but you know this, God sees you. God knows
you. God knows everything about you.
All of your thoughts, all of your words, all of your actions. We need to tell the truth about
God's sovereignty. God is not some weak being like
so many people like to think of him, you know, a grandfather
type of figure. He's sitting in the heavens in
a rocking chair wringing his hands, you know, just hoping
everything's going to work out all right. No. God works all
things, not most things, but all things after the counsel
of His will. What comes to pass in time comes
to pass because it's ordained of God from all eternity. God has a people in this world
that He has chosen. And His choice was not based
upon foreseen action of men. His choice was based upon His
sovereign will. God has a people in this world
that he loves with an everlasting love. All things work together for
good to his people. You know, when you go through
a trial, and all of God's people go through trials and difficulties,
isn't it a comfort to know that whatever it is, this is part
of the all things? Right? Whatever it is, this is
part of the all things that are working together for good to
them that love God, to those who are the called according
to His purpose. What a comfort to know that nothing
happens in the life of a child of God that God does not know
and has not ordained. And God is able to bring good
out of evil. I just love that so much about
God, don't you? He's the only one who can. He
can bring good out of evil. And we have many illustrations
in the Bible where he has done that. Joseph's brother sold him
into slavery. That was evil, wicked. And yet
God brought good out of that. God saved that old family of
Jacob. out of that evil deed that his
brothers did, selling him into slavery. And in the providence
of God, he comes to rule over Egypt, or be second in command
over Egypt. Have all the storehouses filled
with wheat, and who gives the order to unlock the door and
give people supplies? Joseph. God brings many times
good out of evil. We heard a message this past
Friday night on Philemon, from Philemon. When I hear a message
on Philemon and when I read that short story in the Word of God
about Onesimus going away, he did something wrong and he ran
away. And I see parents who have raised
their children in the house of God where the gospel was preached,
and then they go away. And I remind myself, I pray that
this is the case. Sometimes people have to go away
to come back. You know what I'm saying? People
have to go away to come back. Onesimus. What he did was wrong. He ran away, yes. But in the
providence of God, he ran to where he heard the gospel. The
prodigal son, he took his inheritance and ran away and he wasted all
of his money, but in the providence of God, he ended up in the hog
pen. That was the best thing that
could happen to him, because he came to himself and he said,
how many hired servants in my father's house? have food to
eat, and here I am trying to fill my belly with what the hogs
eat. And so he goes home. Brother Scott Richardson was
preaching from that one time, and he said, if anywhere in the
Bible it looks like God gets in a hurry, it's in that parable
of the prodigal son. The father, if he represents
God the father, Now he's looking out, and he sees that prodigal
son. Nobody else recognized him. He
was in rags. He sure didn't come back like
he went away, did he? Oh, he went away dressed, as
they say, to the nines. He came back like a beggar. And the father ran, put his arms
around him, and kissed him, clothed him with the best robe, put sandals
on his feet and a ring on his finger. Sometimes men must go
away to come back. Must preach the truth about God,
gold, pure gold. If a man doesn't preach the sovereignty
of God, the truth about God's electing grace, Then he's building
with wood, hay, and stubble. And it's going to all be burned
up, going to be tried by fire. And only those men that build
with gold, silver, and precious stone are going to hear their
master one day say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. The second thing is silver. It's
built with silver. Well, I want you to turn back
to Exodus chapter 38. What does this mean, to build
with silver? We might say that silver was
the foundation of the tabernacle. In Exodus chapter 38, beginning with verse 25, The silver of them that were
numbered of the congregation was 100 talents and 1,703 score
and 15 shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary. Rebecca for every man that is
half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary for everyone
that went to be numbered. Every Israelite, every man, male
Israelite above 20 years of age, and there were 600, 603,550 men. They had to pay a ransom price, a redemption
price. And it was a half shekel. The
rich is a man's got a bag full of silver. Here's a man over
here. He has two or three pennies in
his pocket. Well, the rich man ought to pay
more. No, no. They both paid the same, a half
a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. And that money
was silver. And they brought all this silver,
those that were numbered. It was redemption money. It was
atonement money. And they melted that down and
made I won't say plaques of silver. And when the tabernacle was set
up, that went down on the ground. The tabernacle was actually on
dirt, a dirt floor. But around the corners, around
the sides rather, where these boards stood up, the boards were
covered with gold, but on the bottom of the boards they had
some kind of a mortise, made of silver and these silver plates
that were laid on the ground, they had connections so those
boards fit into them. You men who are familiar with
carpentry, you know about a mortise and that's the way they were
made. And you might say that the temple
or the sanctuary, the tabernacle rather, the foundation of it
was silver. That's what gave that thing shape
and stability there. Preach about the Christ of the
cross, the crucifixion, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
we're going to build with silver, we must preach the atoning work
of Jesus Christ, Christ in Him crucified. People say, well,
I believe Christ is a good example. If that's all he were, he's not
a savior. We believe, we know he's a good
example, but he's more than that. He's much more than that. He's the precious blood. He's
the death, his death to save his people. Preach about the
redemption that is in Christ. In Psalm 49, the scripture says,
they that trust in their wealth, and there are people who trust
in their wealth, they've got plenty of money, they boast themselves
in the multitude of their riches. Listen, none of them, I don't
care how much money you have, none of them can by any means
redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. Money won't do it. Gold, silver,
won't do it. No, it takes something much more
precious. That verse goes on to say, for
the redemption of their soul is precious. The only thing that
will redeem a sinner, that will atone for a sinner's transgressions
and sins, is the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank God for his blood. His blood, the Son of God, that
cleanseth from all sin. Charles Spurgeon, in a message
on redemption, said this. I want to read it to you. Some
rejoice in a redemption which does not redeem. For the general
redemption by which all men are supposed to be redeemed leaves
multitudes in bondage, and they go to hell despite this kind
of redemption. Therefore, do we preach a particular
and special redemption of God's own chosen and believing people. These are effectually and really
ransomed, and the precious price paid for them has set them free. Neither shall any plague of vengeance
smite them. For the redemption money has
procured them eternal deliverance. Redemption, the price of the
blood of Jesus Christ. We preach a particular redemption. God chose his people, and Christ
died for his people, and God the Holy Spirit applies that
salvation to his people. What an encouragement to preach,
right? What an encouragement to preach. I'm just as sure as
I'm standing in this pulpit today that God chose the people. And I'm equally sure that Christ
redeemed those people. And I'm just as sure that God
the Holy Spirit's going to reveal to those people whom God chose
and Christ redeemed, He's going to reveal to them their need.
Somewhere, from the cradle to the grave, somewhere God's going
to cross their path. They're going to be made to know
they have a need. They're guilty of sin. And one
day they must stand before God Almighty. Who's going to answer for our
sin? Going to call a lawyer? Call a bailsman? Try to bail
yourself out of that? Oh no, that's not going to happen. You need an advocate. You need
a savior. And there's only one. Scripture
says, all that the father giveth me shall come to me. I believe
that. I do. I don't believe that one
that God gave to his son and that eternal covenant of grace
is going to be lost. But that's not the end of that
verse, is it? And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Him that cometh to me. That's
the reason we preach and admonish people. Be ye reconciled unto
God. Look to Christ. Believe in him. Trust him. Just a few words about
the precious stones. A faithful minister must build
with precious stones. Now in the tabernacle, we know
that the precious stones were upon the breastplate of the high
priest. This is, I'd like to say these
three things about these precious stones. And I want you to remember
we're talking about believers, about God's children. These precious
stones, there was 12 of them, because they represented the
12 tribes of Israel. Now, God didn't say, well, just
take those 12 stones, big stones, no doubt, diamonds and rubies
and all various sapphires, the precious stones, just take them
and just put them on that breastplate. No, God said, put them on there
in this order. Three per row, four rows. In other words, God placed those
stones himself where he wanted them to be on that breastplate.
And I believe we need to remind God's children, preach the truth
that God has placed you where you are on purpose, not by accident,
on purpose. There's nothing in the life of
a child of God that happens by accident. And we should learn,
and notice I said learn. We should learn that all things work together
for our good and to rest in his eternal purpose. I said learn
because that's what Paul said. I have learned. When he first
became a Christian, I doubt that he knew this, but he learned
it. I've learned, he said, in whatsoever state I am. If I'm
preaching on Mars Hill, and don't you know as a preacher he loved
to be there, preaching the gospel, or if I'm in the prison in Rome. I've learned in whatsoever state
I am therewith to be content. I'm not here by accident. I'm
here where God has directed me. The second thing about these
stones, they're carried on the heart, put on the breastplate
to remind us that God's people are always on the heart of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's our great high priest. There's
never a time he's not thinking of you. He's not watching over
you. He's not caring for you if you're one of his children.
And the third thing, these stones were precious. And in the sight
of God, every one of his children are precious, precious. When we look, I said this I think
in a message recently at a funeral, but when we look in the mirror,
when we take the word of God, I'm talking about believers,
we look into this mirror, we don't see anything precious.
We really don't. But when God looks at his people,
they're precious. They're precious. How could they
not be precious? Not in themselves, but how could
they not be precious saying that God gave his son to deliver them,
to save them? They're precious in his sight. Well, by the grace of God, that's
what I want to do. I want to build, the foundation
is laid. We continue laying that foundation,
but Christ is the foundation. You must be built upon Christ.
But by the grace of God, as long as I am able to preach, I want
to build with gold, silver, and precious stones. I don't want
to be building with wood, hay, and stubble. It may look good
for a while until the judgment, until it's tried by fire. And
then it ain't going to look too good. It really isn't. We're to be faithful. May the
Lord bless His word. I want us to sing that hymn that
I called out a while ago now, 318. Got it right this time. 318, I need thee every hour.