Building on a Spiritual Foundation

Will you turn with me again this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We're going to read together, follow with me through this text. So we come to part nine in this series and I want to deal with this is my title, Preacher Builders. Over these three weeks we've dealt with carnal builders from this chapter, then spiritual builders. Now we're going to deal with preacher builders. Read them from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 in verse 1. 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 ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos? But ministers by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave to every man. I 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 are labors together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. 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 thereon, he shall receive reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. Yet so is by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. And then just jumping down to the end of this chapter, the last two verses, verse 22, 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's is God's. Missed one scripture, verse 21. Therefore let no man glory in men, for all things are yours. Let's pray together. Father, we love you. We worship you. We're so grateful for the word of God that encourages us and that corrects us. It's a light shining on a dark world. So often we can get confused and our own thinking pulled in different directions. The flesh rages against the spirit and the spirit strives against the flesh. And Lord God, we realize there is a war that not only goes on in our world, not only in our mind, but in the inner man of the heart. There is a war waging for spiritual dominance. And father, we do pray that you wash us, that you sanctify us, that you encourage us even this morning to rise up and to fight the good fight of faith. Father, thank you for this foundation that is Jesus Christ, an eternal foundation of God, a foundation that's going to carry us out of time into eternity, into glory, into reward, and to bless without end. Lord God, thank you. There's a day as we build on this foundation, Lord God, that this corruptible shall put on incorruption, that this mortal flesh shall put on immortality, that these eyes that see through a glass darkly shall see openly and behold the face of our Lord and our Savior. We cry out even this morning, come Lord Jesus, we desire your appearing, we desire your coming. My God, the whole of creation groaneth, nor God, we within ourself are groaning and travailing and longing. My God, we're not satisfied where we are, but we know there has to be more than this, and Lord God, we desire, O God, to see Christ in all his glory and his majesty and make us ready for that day, O God. Nor God, help us not to live for time, nor God, for what is visible, what is now, but O God, to lift up our heads and to look away to our timeless Christ, to one that's seated at the right hand of the Father, above all power and all dominion, in Jesus' mighty name. We love you. Bless your sheep this morning. Bless this flock, O God. You're the great shepherd of the sheep. You're the one that cares for each one individually. You call us by name. You know our individual names, and you call us by that name. Nor God, you know our needs, and nor God, you lead us, and we have a desire to follow you this morning, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. Preacher builders, again, reading verse 11, we've been dealing with foundations. It says there, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. What is this foundation? It is Christ. It is salvation. It is redemption in Christ. It's a forgiveness of sins. That's what our foundation is. It is a person and all he provides for you. The foundation is salvation. But once you're saved, once you're in Christ, a babe in Christ, then you begin to build. Everybody builds. You may be a babe, a newborn Christian, but you're building. You might be a very mature believer in Christ, but you're building. You may well be called to ministry and to preach. You are building. Once you know you're saved, and the foundation is done, or you're in the church, and you know there's a solid, real foundation in that church, then we are building. I want to tell you, I am a farmer. I am a soldier. I am a preacher, but I'm also a builder. You maybe didn't know I was a builder. You may not ask me to build in your house. You wouldn't want me to build anything in your house for you. I promise you. But I assure you, I can help you with this building work that is spiritual, eternal, and according to God's Word. I can do a lot to help you if you listen, if you so desire it. Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, and I say unto you that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We see that it is Christ who builds his church. He is ultimately the sovereign one who builds the church himself. It's not accidental. Getting saved, getting gathered, beginning to get built as a dwelling place for God, a church being formed, a real church, is not an accident. It's not primarily a preacher that does that or circumstance or people who do that. The Bible says Christ will build his church. And listen, if Christ is involved in that work, if he is the ultimate builder, the great builder in this entire building work, he is the foundation. He's also the door. He's everything, absolutely everything. He's going to be the capstone when it's finished. But do you know what? He's also the builder. He is the sovereign, supernatural builder. And if he builds the church, what does he say? The gates of hell shall not prevail. The gates is the place where plans are made. It's the gates of a city where leadership meet. They decide things. They work out strategies, strategems, plans. Do you know when it says the gates of hell shall not prevail? It's all about hell, the devil, the demonic, making plans, deciding how to come against the church or individual Christians. What does Jesus say? If I build the church, the church that I am building, what I actually build or I'm involved in, the gates of hell, the plans of hell shall not prevail against it. The word prevail means to overpower with great force. And so we see that we live in a spiritual world. You and I in the church, you get so caught up with the natural. He said this, they've done this. We're doing this. I'm going to do this. But see outside of this, if only you had eyes to see, we are living in an entirely spiritual world. Christ is building. Christ is active right here, right now, this morning in your lives, building a church. And your building doesn't mean just salvation. You see, you could be saved, but you're not building and you're not part of that building. Once you get born again, the building work, we get built together. If you only think as an individual, I'm saved. I'm in the kingdom. I don't need preachers. I don't need church. You have no understanding of the plan of God. At best, you're carnal. At best, you're a babe. If you think it's only about getting saved, there is more. There is a building. And in order to build, there's got to be other people. You've got to be built together with others. There's a plan. What does Christ do? I will build my church. A church isn't an individual. Two people meeting in Starbucks isn't a church. No matter how much they say, we are the church. No, at best, you're part of the church. Going for a coffee with your friends casually is not you being church. You can't do that alone. You can't do that as a few people. Oh, it's glorious what you do. Your fellowship could be beautiful, but you are not the church. It's all the members gathering together at the same time in the same place to do the same thing. That's the church. That's what it actually is. And so we see that the promise is given. The promise isn't given to just anyone. The gates of hell will not prevail against you. Or the gates of hell won't prevail against any church. See younger believers, they see churches fall apart, a church split, some famous preacher fall into sin. And they go, how could that happen? How could the devil do that? Listen carefully to what Jesus promised. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Not which is built on Christ. The gates of hell cannot prevail or get the victory over. If the devil gets victory over it, it was never built by his hand. You know what it shows? It was carnality. Let's come to our message this morning as we continue. And we dealt much with this chapter over the past two weeks, but I want to go a bit further. What is the context of 1 Corinthians chapter 3? What is the context? We read of the foundation, the building work. We read of those that not just in a state of growth. We're actually seeing in 1 Corinthians, we're seeing full grown two groups. Those who are carnal who are still babes and those who are spiritual. That means they've both gone through. He's showing you the end result here. Then you see fire. You see a certain day where everything gets tested by fire. What is he talking about? We need to go to other scriptures. We compare scripture with scripture, spiritual with spiritual. That's how the spirit of God teaches through a preacher the wisdom of God. You compare. It's not dreams, not visions. All those things are good if they're of the spirit of God, but that doesn't teach you. That is not how this Holy Spirit teaches. The Holy Spirit teaches through ministering the word of God and comparing it. Let me give you the context of 1 Corinthians 3 by taking you to certain other scriptures very briefly before I point certain things out here. Paul writing again in Romans 14 and 10, this is what he says, but why does thou judge thy brother? Someone reborn again in the church. Why are you judging them? It's talking about a wrong kind of judgment here because we're meant to judge one another. They that are spiritual judge all things, but here it's talking about a wrong critical judgment and you have no evidence, no biblical basis for it. Why does thou set up not thy brother? He's nothing for we shall all talk about believers. We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Then listen to what it says in 2 Corinthians 5 and 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Why? That every one may receive the things done on his body according to that he has done, whether it be good or whether it be bad. Do you know what this says? The judgment seat of Christ where time meets eternity for the genuine Christian who's building on a solid foundation. This is the hour everything gets dealt with, revealed for what it is. Shown the motives, the words, the attitudes, the reason for your decision. Everything gets revealed at this point. It is where time meets eternity. Some people in the church only live for time, only for now, only what they see. But there are others who have learned by growth, maturity, experience. They're actually living for the unseen world for eternity. They don't make decisions for now. They make decisions that have no benefit for the next 30 years, but it will eternally. That's maturity. See, children don't think like that. They're saved. They're on the rock. They're on Christ, but they don't see beyond themselves. You need to grow into this. It comes with time and study of the word of God. And so here in Romans 14 and 2 Corinthians 5, it talks about the judgment seat of Christ. A judgment seat that Christ is going to sit on and you are going to appear before. You are going to stand there alone before Christ. It's called the judgment seat. Very sobering. But what does this mean? The word judgment that's used there is the Greek word bima, and I'm not being smart about words. You need to know this word. This is a vital Greek word to know. Bima seat. See, there's another word for throne. It's called thronas. It means a judgment where you're going to get dealt with for your criminal acts, but that isn't what it's talking about here. See, if you go back in history, you find the bima seat in the ancient Roman empire. It came out of the Greek world. Every local town and city in the Greek world had a judgment seat called thronas. It was for crimes, criminal acts, breaking the law. That was a thronas. It was in every single town across the Greek world. They all had a thronas to deal with sin. But I'm talking about the bima, not the thronas. And it's so important you see this. 1 Corinthians 3 is talking about the bima seat. Not the thronas. But there was another judgment seat called the bima. But it was initially only found in one city in the entire Greek world, only one in Athens. There was no other bimas anywhere else, only in Athens. And do you know why it was only there? It was for the Olympic games. The Olympics were held every four years for a period of 1,200 years. And there was only one bima seat. And then after time, they created three bima seats. And then there were other bima seats in imitation of this. But really, there was only one bima seat in the entire Grecian Roman world, one bima seat. And you know what it was the focus of was the entire Olympics. People trained from all over the empire, all over the Greek world. They would train four years for the Olympics. This isn't a modern thing. This is an ancient thing. And you know, after all the races, all the competitions, all the runs, all the years of training, all the competitiveness of people from many nations and many cultures, and when all the races were over and all the fights were fought, do you know what happened? There was the bima seat. After you poured yourself out and done your best or, on the reverse, neglected, you would stand before the bima seat. Everyone would stand before the bima seat. And that's where rewards were given. That's what the bima seat is. So when Paul talks about all of us Christians in the church, all of us that have Christ as a foundation, we shall all stand before the bima seat. He's talking about a real event. It's the judgment seat of Christ. It's where Christ will be. It's a one-off event. It has never happened yet. It's not going to happen in stages. It's not going to happen in different generations. It's a one-off, once-for-all time event, the bima seat, and Christ is going to be there. It's when every Christian has lived their life. Every Christian has run their race. Every Christian has finished the course. When Jesus comes back again, then we're going to have a bima seat. And you know what? After Athens, one of the three places they put the bima seat was Corinth. The city of Corinth was only one of three places in the Greek world that had a bima seat. And as I said, Rory took a photograph of it. I was there in Corinth some years ago when I was a teenager. It was remarkable to go there and to see those things. Do you know what? There's a bima seat to go to. Paul also writes in 1 Corinthians 9, this is what he said. He says that we all run in a race. The Christian runs in a race. See the word race that he uses there. See this terminology of the Olympics, the bima seat, of things from culture, Paul used them in a spiritual sense. And so he says, we all run on a race, verse 24. The word race there is the Greek word stadia, where we get our word stadium. It was concerning the Olympics. We are in a race. And he moves further. In fact, this stadium was a 200 meter sprint. That's what Paul is talking about. He's thinking of a 200 meter sprint and he likens it to the run, the life of a Christian. And he says, those who run on this race, strive for the mastery. That's the Greek word agonism. It means to train for the Olympics. These are the words they use. So he says, if you're in this stadium, in this race, do you know what you do? You go through agony, agonisium, use that are in sports. I'm telling you, you know, in the army running up hills, our sergeant always said, no pain, no gain. Those muscles aren't burning. You haven't even started to do anything. If you're going to train for the Olympics, there's going to be some agony as you desire to buffet this body. Paul goes on to say in verse 25, about someone who runs in this race has to be temperate. That means self-controlled. You know, in ancient Greece, you'd get these worldly men. They wouldn't, as they're trained for the Olympics, they wouldn't even sleep with their wife or sleep around or touch alcohol. These are men in an immoral world. But do you know what they're doing? They're saying, I'm running for a goal. I'm dedicated. I have something I'm running for. I am so aware of that day, that beam of sight. This dominated their life, their decisions. You know, some Christians have no vision of the beam of sight. And they go, it doesn't matter whether I read my Bible. It doesn't matter why I make a decision. You have no vision of the beam of sight because when you catch a glimpse of the beam of sight, you want to live in the light of that day. Oh, the hardships, the running, the training, the agony, the being temperate and all things. You know why it's for? It's not for today. It's not for what you think of me. It's for that day when I stand before the beam of sight. It is an extraordinary thing. And so Paul says in verse 26 as well, he says, we fight. Again, this is the term in the Olympics for boxing, for boxing. So he's taken all these things. And then finally in verse 25, he talks about the crown, which is the Stephanos. It's not a king's crown or a queen's crown. The Stephanos was that laurel wreath that was laid on the head at the Olympics. That's the crown you run for. It's the crown of reward, the crown of achievement. You know what? To get there, you had to buffet your body. You had to control your mind. You had to make certain decisions now. And it says in verse 27, it says, I do all of this lest I be a cast away. Look at the context. He's not talking about salvation or the foundation. Paul says, I buffet my body. Why? Lest I be a cast away. This particular verse, there's other verses that talk about being cast away from Christ. This isn't talking about that. This is talking about the Olympics. It's talking about rewards. It's talking about actually achieving something as a Christian. And he says, if you don't buffet your body, body, get out of bed. Read your Bible. Oh, I'm too busy. No, you're not. Speak to yourself. I don't have time to pray. Oh, I can't do that. Get a grip, saints of God. Oh, I can't pray because a baby. I can't because of marriage, because of work. Come on. You need to get a vision of the Bema Seat. Don't you realize all of that is going to be dealt at the Bema Seat? Don't you like these Olympic runners? They ran for a natural, physical crown of this world. You're running for a spiritual, eternal crown. And you know, Paul says, I am a preacher. I'm a preacher. I'm an apostle. I'm a teacher of the Gentiles. I buffet my body. You know, when I balked for a very short time, no one from my regiment volunteered for light heavyweight. So I was stupid enough. I said, Sarge, I'll do it. What a disaster. I had to go up against Tiny and what was the other guy? I forget his name. Buster or something like that. I went, these are the two guys I'm in the semifinals against. Who got me to volunteer? I went and stupidly volunteered. But the guy training me, he would buffet. I don't know whether he was right or not, but he said, you just stand there and let me punch your stomach. This is good for you. There's good training. You know what every Christian ought to be doing is buffeting the body. You're disciplining the body. This is something that's gone out of the church. Oh, I'm saved by grace. Oh, don't make me feel insecure. Don't talk about good deeds. I'm not under law. That's legalism. Sick to death of it. You know what? Grow up. That's baby talk. That's childish. You know, those who are in Christ, we're going on to perfection. We want to be conformed to the image of the son. I want to get in the boxing match. I want to get in the running race. I want to be through in the javelin. I want to be caught up in this. I don't want my life to be a waste. I don't want to stand at the behemoth's seat. Just pass by. Pass by. What did you do for the Lord? You live for yourself. Oh, I had to work. I had to put food on the table. Yeah, yeah, we all do that. That's basic elementary. But what did you do for the Lord? That was for you. That's for your own benefits, your basic daily. But what did you do for the Lord? So you can see the New Testament. It deals with these things. Lest I be a cast away, disqualified from receiving rewards. James says in James 3 verse 1, my brethren, be not many masters. The word masters there means teachers or instructors in the church. Don't be many. Can you imagine a man of God, the half brother of Jesus Christ? Mary wasn't a perpetual virgin. She had several other children by Joseph. And this is one of them. James actually says don't be many masters. Speaking of the church, don't many of you want to be teachers? Who ever heard of such a theology or such a sermon? I'm telling you in this church, you don't want to be a teacher and preacher. Many of you here sitting here do not want to be standing teaching others. Why would he say that? Listen carefully. Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. Whoever stands up here, brother Suf, beware. All of you beware. Whether it's children's work, preaching here, Lord's table, evangelism, don't be many teachers. Knowing that we shall receive a greater condemnation. No talking about hell. The word condemnation does not mean that. The word judgment there, krino, means a greater judgment, a decision, a scrutinizing. It's talking about that day, the beam of sight. Do you realize those who teach others in the church, oh the Bible says this, you need to know this. Don't you know the judgment I'm going to come under? Don't you realize how scrutinized I'm going to be? Not now, not here today. At the judgment seat, do you realize how that fire is going to come? And search out, and I will come under a greater decision, a greater scrutinizing. Imagine if you knew a certain NCT center where you go to get your card checked every year or every two years, and you had a choice between two. This one over here has the most stringent scrutinizing pharisee of an inspector that you can get in the whole nation. And this one over here, it's just your average scrutiny. Which one are you going to go to? Do you realize the beam of sight? Everyone will not just be scrutinized in the same way. Preachers are going to be at the forefront. They are going to get scrutinized in a greater way than anyone. You know what, that makes me tremble. Leonard Ravenhill, that great preacher, you know what, talking about the judgment seat of Christ, he said, and he's a holy man, a sanctified man, an on fire man who served God, effectually impacted the church of his generation. Do you know what he said? He said, I tremble at the thought of standing at the judgment seat of Christ. Yet the church is filled with casual Christians who go, oh, I'm under grace. I don't worry. I'm fine. I'm saved. I'm not worrying about that. That's not about salvation. That's about rewards. It's the Olympics. Imagine turning up to box at the Olympics. You've never trained. Four years, you've never trained. Oh, I've known all about it. I read books about it. I listened sermons on boxing, but you never prepared. You're not out training. Can you imagine the 200-meter sprint and you're an expert. You watch every race. You know everyone who's coming. You know it all. You never go out of your door. No, I had to get, do you know, I'm not an early morning person. You need to understand. Oh, my legs start to hurt when I try to speed up more than a sprint. You need to understand. Don't forget the Olympics. Forget it. Is it okay if I talk to the mature about here? You know, you don't mind. Let's come to 1 Corinthians 3. We're dealing with preachers here this morning. We've dealt with the carnal, those who should have grown up. They've never got beyond being babes in Christ, in the church of God. Then we dealt with the spiritual, those who have grown into maturity. What they build is very different. One builds for eternity. The other builds only for time, and it perishes. If you build for here, make your decisions for here, it's going to perish. You make your decisions for eternity, you may not see your reward here. Can you imagine someone, the beginning of 200 meters, you stop after a meter. Where's my reward? You haven't done anything yet. Why would you look for your reward when the race isn't finished? Christians say, oh, I've lived for a year, two years, three years. Where's all the reward? Why isn't everyone singing my praise? You're not finished yet. Why would you want the reward and the praise? Stop and say, well, I'm not going to move any further. I'm going to stand right here at the 100 meter point. Well, I'll tell you, you'll lose your crown. You know what? You're all focused now. Now I want my reward. You could be missing a glorious reward because you're so consumed with yourself now. Let me give you five points here. Although it's to preachers, I mean, we're dealing with the same chapter. It's for everyone, but I want to home in on preachers. All of us need to understand preachers. Number one, when we come to preachers and this issue of building, this is the first thing I see in this chapter, diversity of vision. Paul is writing here, writing to the Corinthian church. He was there for a year and a half preaching, ministering. Now he's writing one letter and he'll write a second letter. But look at this. In talking about preachers building on the foundation, Paul had a vision of the church, the real church, but it was a diverse vision. It's one vision. It's a God-given vision of the church, but it's very diverse. Let me explain this. First of all, you see them as a family, verse one to verse four. You're actually seeing Paul as a man ministering to his family. What does he deal with in verse one to four? Carnal babes. So in his family, in his house, in the church of Corinth, he sees an entire church like a family. That isn't just something I talk about. I often say we're a family here. This isn't just a church. It's a family. I'm not using something sentimental. It's biblical. Paul writes a few chapters later in chapter 4, 15, for though you have 10,000 teachers or instructors in Christ, you have not many fathers. A spiritual father in the church is different than a Bible teacher. A Bible teacher imparts information, but a spiritual father births, watches over, provides. There's not many fathers. In the body of Christ, I want to tell you, for 10,000 teachers, you'll get one father in the body of Christ. There's very few of a mature standing, and many of them have died. It's hard to find fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. Now listen to this that he says in 1 Thessalonians 2 and 7, but we were gentle among you, talking of the apostles, even as a nurse cherisheth her children, so being affectionately desirous of you. Now Paul's likening himself to a nursing mother. Do you see that? There's nothing strange about this. He says, look at that woman caring for that baby. You're seeing a preacher. You're seeing Paul the apostle ministering to the Corinthians or some other Gentile church, and so you see this ministry. Paul sees the church as a family, and there are carnal babes. Isn't it hard in your home? Imagine a spiritual home, and here's babes. They've been there 40 years, and they're still not mature. You can preach to them, stand on your head and preach to them, jump up and down and shout. You can spend hours, hold their hand, phone them every day, and still they won't get it. Still they won't grow. Do you know how hard that is for a preacher to pour himself out year after year, 10 years, and go, I'm not sure if they heard one message? Oh, I know they've got the foundations. I know the foundation's there, but going on to maturity, I'm not sure they've got it. Do you know what it's like to carry that? But Paul did. He knew there are some babes in the church, and there's others who have heard. They've gone on to maturity, but I've got to treat them all the same. I've got to be gracious and kind, never give up. Be patient with them. They're not patient with each other. They may not be kind to each other. They may look down at each other or judge each other, but I'm not going to do that. I'm looking to raise up the body. And you know, at the end of the day, they're born again. They're saved. They're in the house of God. We don't throw out the carnal. We don't throw out people who don't grow. We look after them more. We care for them more. We pray for them more. We don't say, I'm only going to pray for the spiritual ones. Absolutely not. Far from it, the reverse, if anything. And so Paul has a diverse vision. He is looking here in this chapter, thinking of the Bemis seed. And this is the focus. I'm going to stand before the Bemis seed. So I'm trying to keep this family together. I'm trying to raise up children. I'm feeding them, feeding some on meat, some on milk. But you know what? I know the Bemis seed of Christ is coming. There is a judgment day and I'm designed to bring a family to spiritual maturity. Every real preacher has a diverse vision. First of all, to bring an entire spiritual family to maturity in Christ. A preacher who has no concept of that doesn't understand the Bemis seed. He is living for now. He is living for himself, but he isn't preaching to say, I want to present each one perfect in Christ Jesus at his coming. Not only a family, there's also a field. And verse five to nine, it talks about these preachers, Paul, Apollos, and others. One plants seeds. This is a preacher's job. The seed of the word of God. That is the job of a preacher. This is his vision. I'm going to stand at the Bemis seed. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to be faithful, sowing seeds. That's what preaching the word. Do you know what I'm doing this morning in your life, in your heart? I'm planting seeds. Sadly, some of those seeds will get lost. The files of the air will come. But others, it's going to take root. And you won't see it today or tomorrow or next week. Maybe not next month. But in a year's time, these sprouts come up. Oh, look, some of the seeds survived. And then you start getting fruit out of that. So Paul here is saying, some preachers have planted. Others go and water the seeds. You don't keep picking the seed up. You don't force the seed to grow. You've just got to water it now. You don't see anything. You know how hard it is to be a preacher, where you go, the seed is in there. I know it is. But you can't see anything for a year or two years. And initially, maybe it's only small. Will it live? Will it die? Will it grow? What's it going to look like? Will it survive the elements? You know what? I've got to water it. I've got to water it. I've got to believe there's power in that seed of the Word of God. And then he says in verse 9 about you are God's husbandry. That's field. It means a cultivated field. Not a field that's been left there. It's a field that's been worked over, plowed, turned over, planted, watered, cared for. You, the church, why am I doing all of this? The Bema Seed. The Bema Seed that day. Why do you think I'm sowing, watering, caring, watching, waiting, protecting, digging up all the weeds? Why do you think we do that? It's not for today. It's not for your enjoyment, not for your nice Christian life the next 10 years. It's for the Bema Seed. My eyes. Why do I keep preaching? Why don't I grow impatient or discouraged? Because my eyes are on the Bema Seed. This is an eternal work. And then thirdly, a building in verse 10 to verse 17. He's dealing with a building. He talks about us that build. Who specifically is that? The preachers. It says there, how he buildeth. It's not building. Preacher, it's not enough to build. How do you build? You could say, oh, I'm building. That's not the question. How are you building? We read of Paul laying the foundation. He's not talking about the worldwide church. He's talking about the church at Corinth. When I went there, there's no Christians, no spirit-filled believers, no function in church, no elders. There's nothing. And I, Paul, went in and laid a foundation. See, we're building a house. I laid the foundation. He deals with the material. And in verse 16, he talks about the temple of God. This is what we're actually building. So our first point, you can see the diversity of vision in a preacher. A preacher also sees you as an army. He also sees you in many other aspects. This is the mind, the heart of a preacher. You know what? In all these different, it takes all of those different visions to understand the church, sometimes as a family, sometimes as a field, sometimes as a building, sometimes as an army, sometimes as the bride of Christ, and many other examples. A preacher has many different visions of the church. You know why? He says, all I'm seeking to do is bring forth something, so on that day, there's a reward. I, as a preacher, say to God, God, help me. My reward could hinge on you sitting in this room at the behemoth seat. I want to pour myself out. I want to study well. I want to preach well. I want to pray well. I want to watch over you well. I want to warn you well. I want to encourage you well, and yet I know my imperfection. I, better than anyone in this church, can mark the things that I neglect or the things I desire to do that I don't in fullness get to do. I know them all better than anyone that'll walk in this church. You want to know my faults? Just come speak to me. You won't see my faults. You won't even get high on the list. I know when I'm not satisfied, but since I'm looking at the behemoth seat, and I go, one of these days, I'm going to have a rest. One of these days, I'm going to sleep an eternal rest, an eternal sleep in the presence of God, but I'm laboring. I'm sweating. I'm fighting. I'm buffeting my body. Like Paul, a preacher has to buffet his body, lest he lose the reward of his ministry. Number two, there's diversity of ministry. Look at this for a moment. In verse five, we read about Paul, and we read about Apollos. The people in the church are saying, I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. Down in verse 22, we read about Cephas. It's a name for Peter. So, look at this. This is a problem in the Corinth church. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and 12, this is what it says. Now, this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul. I am of Apollos. I am of Cephas. And then the really spiritual ones, what do they say? I'm of Christ. I don't follow a man. I'm after Christ. You're as carnal as the others. You still have the same issue. Paul says, is Christ divided? You're seeing different preachers, and you don't realize there's really only one ministry from Christ. There is one Christ. What's my point? Diversity of ministry. Every preacher knows there's a diversity of ministry. Men are different. Styles are different. Lengths of preaching are different. Personality is different. You know what? You need to understand. You need to learn it well here. There's not only one style of ministry in the church. There's not only one gift. You know, some churches you go to, they're trying to make everyone a pastor. And with that, they've got a concept in their mind of what a pastor is. So, they go, you have to be a pastor if you're a preacher, and you need to look like this. The apostles in the New Testament had no such vision. They believed in diversity of ministry. Paul is not like Apollos. Apollos is not like Paul. And you know what? In the church, then when carnality comes in, they start going, well, I like that kind of preaching, and I like that, and I judge according to this way. He preaches too long. He preaches too short. He preaches too loud. He preaches too quiet. Never been accused of that, I want to tell you. You get all of this going on. Do you know what you've got there? And these people think, I'm spiritual. I know how to judge. No, you don't. It's carnality. You're judging the wrong things. How do you judge a preacher? Do you know how to judge a preacher? You judge on his character, his character. How does he conduct his marriage? What's his attitude towards money or towards alcohol? Does he get angry quickly and easily? That's how you judge a preacher. See, most people who make comments about preachers, they're not talking about that, not at all, not at all. They don't know anything about the character. I don't like him. Why? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They've got a reason for everything. What about the character? You sat down with the 22 qualifications and scrutinized that man, you've got the right to do that. See anything listed there? You can come scrutinize me. You can come ask about it. Brother Keith, are you easily angered? Just stick around a bit. Some people say, I don't want to ask you a question. I don't want to offend you. You're not going to offend me by asking a question. Are you serious? I wouldn't be here. Even when you're wrong or you mess up, even when I hurt inside, you won't even see that. You know why? I'm bigger than that. I'm here for your good, not my own protection. A preacher who's protecting himself in the pulpit shouldn't be in the pulpit. He's here to lay his life down, not to be a doormat, but to pour himself out, to go the way of the cross. I will take a bullet for you. Listen to me. I mean, if a wolf comes here, I'm going to meet him at the door. You won't need to deal with the wolf. You ought not to be dealing with the wolf. You don't send sheep out. Can you imagine the preachers saying, let's send a herd of sheep out against the wolf. After all, they are more. Sheep aren't meant to challenge a wolf. Absolutely not. Get a real shepherd, one shepherd, only a shepherd. He might be as small as David, as unarmed as David. Are you kidding that slingshot in the hand of God? A real shepherd can deal with a lamb, a wolf, any enemy and any devour of the sheep. He can deal with it. And so here's Paul talking about different ministries. Yous are saying that you build around certain styles of ministry. What about character? What about the message? Yes, come and test me. Am I preaching the truth? Have you tested what I'm preaching by the word of God? You're meant to. You're meant to. Please come and correct me when I get it wrong. Come and talk to me. Don't go home, sit around the dinner table. You got this wrong and that wrong and that wrong. That's childish. I won't get offended if you come and speak to me. Maybe you'll learn something because either I'm wrong, you're wrong, maybe both of us are wrong, but maybe I could learn something. You could sit at home with your children there, criticize it. Do you know right across the church world, it's notorious for my lifetime, 40, 50 years, the parents are in church. Where's your kids? Where's your kids? They're not in church. I wonder why. You know, church lag become a thing in the home. They talk about it, criticize it. Parents, be careful how you talk in front of your kids. You could kill the work of God, preachers, ministry, complain, criticize, and then you're trying to get them to church and then they end up on drugs or they end up somewhere. And you go, oh, I wonder why that happened. I tried my best. No, you didn't. No, you didn't. Husband, keep some things for that bedroom. And I mean talk. Some conversations you never have or with a young Christian. So Paul sees a diversity of ministry. No one single man can do all of the ministry. No way. We are looking at different preachers, different men. We are looking for that fullness of Christ to come. I listened to different preachers. You know, certain men are pristine on certain subjects. I learned from them. Do you think I've stopped learning? I'm learning more now than I ever did. I'm reading more, thinking more, looking more. I feel like a child only beginning. Some people are saved a year ago. I'm the finished product. I know it all. God help you. You're in for, either you're going to be stuck in that carnal state or you're in for a very big shock. Number three, diversity and unity. So amongst preachers in the church, there is diversity, but there's also unity. That's what marks real preachers. When I find a real preacher, you know, I find a real preacher in the free Presbyterians in Northern Ireland. One of them, great teacher of the word. He'd become a friend. I messaged him and said, your message has helped me. Doesn't believe in tongues, not baptized in the Holy Ghost. Doesn't believe in the nine gifts of the spirit. He'd become a good friend. He prayed for this church. One of the few preachers prayed for this church. Prayed, prayed, prayed, believed God, stood with me, encouraged me. We don't even believe the same in everything, but he's a man of God, a holy man of God who walked with God to stand day. I'm telling you, I believe in the unity. I don't ignore, I don't say, oh, let's just ignore differences. I don't do that, but that's a man of God. I couldn't lace his shoes. I've got a high regard for him. So there's diversity and unity. Paul says with these different preachers, verse five, who are we? Who is Apollos? Who's Paul? Are we not just ministers through whom you have believed? Ministry is not the issue, but genuine salvation. Don't you know it's God who saves? Don't you know this work is of God? We're only preachers. We do it in perfect light. I'm going to wait till the baby's sick. Everything I do is going to get tested by fire. Every single sermon, I tremble at that. And in these days more, because I don't have the thinking capability, the time that I had when Candice was even here. It's harder for me to preach now, and I tremble more. Oh God, have mercy upon me. Diversity of ministry, then diversity in unity. Why did he say there's no competition? Different ministries, different preachers. I contend against heretics. When we teach the organic church, you don't need leaders, you don't need buildings. I contend against that foolishness. We don't believe that Jesus bore the wrath of God. That's heresy. So I contend against heresy all the time. That's why very few men walk with me. But I tell you what, I've got this beautiful unity with real members. I once had an old friend. He was a Plymouth Brethren. All the rest had died. He was the last member of that Plymouth Brethren church. He was up near 90 years old. His name was Basil Wolfe. You never forget a name like that. I tell you, every time I met him, I'd be out evangelizing. First time we were evangelizing in Kelso in Scotland. And we had preached a bunch of young, on fire, zealous souls. And he was standing at the edge of the crowd with what I found out later was his daughter. It looked like his wife. And he just stood there staring. Well, as soon as I finished preaching, I'd done a wee circuit in round, got to him with a gospel tract. Can I give you a gospel tract, sir? Just smiled at me. Said, not many listen to you, son, are there? He drew me right out. And then he started to testify. He said, do you know I can remember days in this square where you're standing preaching, where we preached as young men and you had 400 people fall under the conviction of the Holy Ghost and fall on their knees, repenting in this Scottish country time. Him and me headed up. He says, did you ever think of joining the Plymouth Brethren? I never had the heart to tell him that it was a Pentecostal, but you know what? Every time I saw him, he'd be walking over the road. I'd see him coming. And that big hand went out and he smiled and he grabbed and he started, he'd hold onto my hand, start quoting the scripture. And he had a fuss, sayeth the Lord. I'm telling you, there's people who theologically don't believe in things that they walk in the power of the Holy Ghost. He was one of the great Christians that I met in my life. Always overflowing. Every morning, meet him in the shop, the high street, wherever. And he is absolutely oozing Christ. He is overflowing. He always had a scripture in season. Always a word for me that warmed my heart. What a man. I'm going to see him very soon. He might've been the last of his breed, but he was impacting this young guy that would go on to touch others. And so we see this beautiful unity of the body of Christ. No man has the right to claim increase in this. What does Paul say? One sows the seed, one waters it. Who gives the increase? God. God. If you're born again, who can claim you as their own? I don't care if you sat in a meeting and got born again through me. I cannot claim you. I plant the seed. I water it. It is God that gives the increase. I can't make you produce fruit. It is the work of God. There's diversity in unity. Different preachers, different ministries, different giftings. But you know what, if we've got any sense, we're working in unity. Brother, you sow the seed. I'll water it. I'll watch over it. You do the job of evangelism, and I'll pastor the flock. You've got to understand all of this. Number four, diversity within the message, not diversity of the message. Because there's only one message, one gospel. It is simple, clear, unchanging. You must be born again. Someone has asked before, why do you preach that you must be born again? Because you must be born again. Jesus said it. You won't see the kingdom of God. It's a biblical word used all through Scripture. John kept talking about those born of God. It's everywhere when you begin looking for it. But again, people don't look these days. Diversity within the message. In chapter two, verse one, when Paul got to Corinth, he says, and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or with wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. How did he come unto them? The first time he walked into that city. For I determined, he was a mature man, preacher. I determined to know, not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He didn't say to preach nothing but Christ, but to know nothing but Christ. This is bigger than your message. This encompasses your whole life, your fellowship, your talk, your thinking, your decisions, everything. Paul says, when I come to Corinth, you're not going to know anything. You won't have any friendship with me outside of Christ. Everything is going to be Christ. Oh yes, we might talk about something that's incidental, but my whole reason for being here is Christ. And you know what? That is the foundation, Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and fear and a much trembling. When you study the life of Paul, you see there's diversity in the message. Paul has given the gospel, the word of God to preach to Corinthians. But as you study what he says to them, what he deals with, how do you preach Christ? Because we're to preach Christ. That is my message, the person of Christ. But you need to understand the message of Christ has certain things within it. Just listen for a second. Within that, he deals with salvation. Christ is the foundation. He also deals with immaturity. This is part of preaching. It's part of ministry within the church. We don't just deal with salvation, how to get you saved, how to be born again, how to be forgiven. Also in the message, I'm going to deal with immaturity. Oh, but Brother Keith, you're not going to judge. You're not going to judge us. How will I know how to feed you if I don't recognize you as a babe? How would I do that? And how would I feed you with meat if I can't recognize who's mature? How would I do that? Imagine me taking Yasmina out of the hands of Hannah and saying, hey, don't worry, I'll feed her today. You would see an alarmed Hannah. I want to tell you, she'd try to hide it, she'd try to be discreet, she'd think about her words, but her face would give it away. You know that. It would be written all over her face, horror of horror, Malcolmson, feed my baby. I think we need to talk about this. I think she would say, preacher, I think you need to stay within your colon and leave feeding to me. That's what I think she would say if she was wise. Do you know what? If you can't judge and discern who you're feeding, you feed them. I am meant to judge you, not criticize you, not tear you down. I want to go, is this person saved? Do they need born again? Are they stuck somewhere? Are they saved and stuck? Are they saved and sanctified? Are they insecure, doubting their salvation? Or do they have a false security saying, oh, I'm great, I'm fine? Whenever there's serious things in their life, I've got to know that. I've got to know how to feed the babies, the young adults, the mature. I've got to know that. And so Paul, within the message, he deals with immaturity. He also deals with perfection. Oh no, we just preach the gospel. We preach, you must be born again. What about perfection? What about going on to maturity? No real preacher can be satisfied just with the ABC. You know why? I'm going to stand at the behemoth seat. I want maturity in this church. I want a field that's growing fruit. Who would work on a field for years and then 10 years and not see anything growing up? What farmer would do that in this area? You'll say they're mad. They work, they work, they sow, they sow, nothing ever grows. Would you be satisfied with that? Absolutely not. He deals in verse three with division, division in the body of Christ. This is the diversity within the message. We're preaching the one message, but sometimes I have to deal with disunity, sometimes with perfection, sometimes maturity, sometimes you need to be born again. In verse seven, he deals with sinfulness. Any one of you destroy the temple of God, God will destroy you. It's not the preachers, but everyone. Preacher, preacher online who may watch us, you destroy the body of Christ, you destroy the temple, God will destroy you. See, just recently in America, there are preachers of great notoriety and fame and influence being caught out in sexual sin, adultery, immorality, all manners of things, and they cover their sin. They've covered it for decades. Oh, not too well, but the people around them never exposed it. You know what? Those men have just destroyed the temple of God. What's God going to do with it? He'll destroy you. Do you not think a preacher who after years gains a place of influence and is unfaithful to his wife, do you realize what damage that does to young believers? Are those saved through him? That's why there's such a high standard. Paul has to deal with it. You mess with this church, God will mess with you. You know what? Can I warn you? And it's not, you can do whatever you want. Don't you dare ever split this church because you may find something coming knocking at your door that you would not like. You need to be very careful. You see, my eyes are on Bema. That affects all my decisions. You go, why do you act and do what you do? Because of the Bema seat. I'm not living just for you. Of course I do it for you. I love you all. But do you know what? I would never stay here in Limerick for you. Never. I'm doing it for the king. I'm doing it for the master. He put me here. I cannot leave here unless he gave the order. I'm running for the Bema seat and I am going to have fruit. He deals with ministry. You do need to hear, you know some preachers never preach about preachers because they say, well, you aren't preachers. Paul preached to the church about preachers. You need to know, here, let me give you all the qualifications of me and then you can test me and judge me. Some preachers are scared to do that. I can't preach that to the congregation. They'll come looking at my marriage. They'll come when I'm sitting there talking foolish and silly and playing around and wasting my time and I haven't even bothered to put a message together. Every preacher's message will be tested by fire. Every single sermon. I ought to keep a preacher awake at night. So he teaches them about ministry. He also deals with works in verse 13. Every man's work. Too many in the church say, oh, works aren't an issue. Just whether you're saved by grace, I'm under grace. And they think being under grace, God doesn't look at works. The entire chapter's about that day at the Bema seat where your work since you got saved, not before, you're forgiven. Can I remind you, you don't go to the Bema seat if you're not saved. No sinner goes to the Bema seat. If you're not saved here today and you're trembling at the thought of this Bema seat, oh no, it's far worse for you. This is actually the good judgment. Your judgment if you don't get to the Bema seat is real bad. And also he deals with rewards. But fifth and finally, let me finish. The diversity of rewards. Thinking of a preacher, a preacher has to minister. Look at the field. He's got a diversity of vision of what the church is. A diversity of ministry. He works with other brothers and sisters. And by the way, I'm not promoting free Presbyterianism or Plymouth Brethrenism, okay? I believe what I believe. But I'm telling you, when I find good men, I don't go in titles. I see the full body of Christ in a marvelous way. Point five here is we close diversities of rewards. Look at verse three with me. Every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it. It doesn't get declared until then. Do you know there's great preachers in the church with great reputations, large congregations, big influence, and they look very good today, but they won't on that day. That day will reveal everything. On that day, there's some little unknown shepherds despised, rejected, neglected, and it seems like it's a small field. They are going to be seen for what they really are. Saints of God, I'm telling you this is a very real thing because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work on what sort it is. The fire at the judgment seat of Christ will reveal everything, everything of your work since you got saved, every motive behind why you've done anything. You know, you sit with someone and you say a certain word to get a response or to give an impression to make yourself look better. Or you haven't been reading your Bible, but you put the Bible out when Jimmy Jones is coming in the room because you're giving the impression I've just been reading my Bible. That'll never get dealt with in this lifetime unless your brother or sister says stop that, or a preacher does. But it will get revealed on that day. You really think that's what you're living for? They walk in and go, oh, how spiritually have you been reading your Bible? Big thing, dust on it. Don't you realize it all gets dealt with on that day? See the motives get dealt with. The words get dealt with. Oh, I can act like an Egypt talking with all them things coming to church and act dead spiritual. No, you can't. Oh, I don't know anything about how you speak. I don't know what you watch on the internet. I don't know any of that. I haven't got a clue. I don't need to know and I don't want to know. But God does and it's going to get revealed by fire. Everything is going to come under fire. This is very real sense of God. Not hell fire. It's not purgatory. It's not destroying you. You don't go through the fire. It doesn't say you. It's your works, your words, your motives, your decisions, your labors. Every preacher's work is going to come under the fire. I tremble at that thought and believe me, I work hard and labor over every message. I stand before God wrestling, studying, preparing and I tremble at my laziness, at my neglect, at my casualness. That isn't legalism. I'm just, I want to be approved on that day. I'm running for a crown. It's not for you. I don't, you know, you know nothing about me really. God knows everything and the fire will reveal it. I've worked with thousands of preachers over the years and I, your hair would stand on end if I start to tell you what I've encountered. I would rather be laboring in a bunch of same drug addicts, new agers, Catholic idolaters, a bunch like you, drug addicts, drug sellers, criminals and everything else in between than with most of the preachers I've ever mixed with. Because you wouldn't want to know what I know and I, believe me, I know an awful lot. It says everything will be tried by fire. Fire shall try their works. The word try means testing, means to examine, to inspect, scrutinize, investigate everything from your time on earth while you're in your physical body, only during your Christian life, not when you're a sinner. Fire, it's an action of Christ. This is God testing your works. All your works during your Christian life are going to come under his fire. It's Christ doing this. It's the judgment seat of Christ. He will search them out. He reveals them. He burns everything away. We're told his eyes are eyes of fire. Hebrews 13, our God is a consuming fire. Do you tremble in the presence of a holy God? Do you have any reality of a holy God? He's my Abba, my daddy. That's almost destroyed the church. I know he's my Abba, my spirit, the Holy Spirit in me cries out, Abba Father. But where's the fear of God? Where's the reality of this? Where's the awareness of the judgment seat of Christ of every sermon, every attitude, every decision? That's why I take it so seriously. That's why I interact with every single one of you. That's why if I ever wrong you and know it, I'll come in and apologize to you. You know why? That's not for you. That's for the judgment seat of Christ. I've had preachers lie in the things they've done to me. I've got their emails on record, but it's recorded in heaven. And literally they've wronged me, lied, done things. And in emails, they've turned around and said, you've done this. I tremble. There's one preacher, he was like a brother to me, so close to me, intimate with me. And the last time I ever wrote an email to him, last communication, said, brother, I don't want you to leave this to the judgment seat. But I tried to labor with you. Candice was shocked when she heard it. So she wrote to him, said, brother, you're lying. And not just in one situation, many situations. And I wrote to him and said, I'm not going to address this anymore. And this is going to be left to the judgment seat of Christ. And if you want to leave it to them, go ahead. But I said, I actually care about you so much. I do not want you to go there without dealing with this. And it's not for my sake. You've already damaged me. You can't repair that. You can't fix that. But I'm thinking of you, because I know how serious it is for you as a preacher. You may find that you only get into heaven by fire, by the skin of your teeth. These things can burn. Is what you're doing for Christ, and you do it for Christ, it's in the church, can it burn? Or is it eternal? They represent things of this earth, like wood, hay stubble. It's going to burn. It's of this earth. Gold and silver and precious stones, they won't burn. This is all about future reward, not about now, not about time, not about this Christian life. If you get it in your head that I need to be rewarded in this lifetime, you'll miss out on so much. Can I tell you, until my breathing day, I'll never get the reward of what I've served for. Never. I'm not even looking for it. Well, God's going to vindicate me. I've never once said it. Men have harmed me in the left and right. Never once said, Lord, you vindicate me. You judge them. I leave that in God's hands. Because you know what? If they don't repent and get right with him, they will get judged. And some people who think they're Christians will get cast into hell. What a terrible thing. Not in this lifetime or in this body. What did Peter say? Or Jesus answering Peter? Sorry, Peter saying to Jesus, Matthew 19, 27. Then answered Peter and said unto him, behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. Peter's talking about now we heard the call of God, ministry. I left my successful job, fishing. Why? For you. You called me to preach. I left that. I went out to serve you. It hasn't been easy. So Peter says, we forsook all and we followed thee. What shall we have there for? You say you shouldn't serve God for anything. Who told you that? There is a reward. Do you think I've done all of this for nothing? Say, oh Lord, just as long as I'm a humble servant, I don't want anything. I'm running for a crown. I'm running for a good reward. You want to get to the beam of seat lazy by the skin of your teeth. And that sort of person never knows if they're in or out. God helped the sinners. Casual Christians are always insecure. So how did Jesus answer him? And Jesus said unto him, I say unto you that he which has followed me in the regeneration. In other words, when the world gets changed, when the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Peter, the fisherman is going to sit judging the entirety of the nation of Israel. Can you imagine that? And again, Jesus said in chapter 19, 29, and everyone that has forsaken homes, our brethren, our sisters, our father, our mother, our wife, our children, our lands for my sake shall receive a hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life. One last scriptures we close one Peter chapter 4, 17 for the time has come. The judgment must begin at the house of God. It's talking about now here on earth in time. There's a time where God says, no, it's the time. It's not all to be blessed in the church. There's times where God comes to clean his church up. And you know what he says? It's time for judgment, not just waiting to the judgment seat, not waiting to eternity. There's an hour where judgment must begin in the house of God. When does he do that? Before he judges the world. Do you think judgments come into the world to sinners? Are you looking and saying, oh God, come and judge this world. Don't you realize that God will judge his house first? That's where judgment begins. I'll tell you when God is about to judge the world, you'll see the greatest judgment. God's dealing with issues in the house of God, exposing preachers who've sat committing sexual sin for 30 years, preaching to others how they should live. When the cover gets taken off and they get exposed person after person after person. I want to tell you preachers at the minute better be trembling because I see the hand of God, God dealing, revealing, uncovering things that have sat on dealt with and people knew about it. That tells me it's a time of judgment. But God helped the sinners after that. Listen to what Peter says. Judgment begins with us. If judgment begins with us in the house of God, what shall the end of them that obey not the gospel of God be? Talking about sinners. I've been preaching to preachers and all Christians in these three messages about a judgment, abhemasy, everything tested by fire, sitting in judgment before Christ of them sin. Let's go back to 2023. This is at some point in the future and eternity when you're in a new spiritual body. He says, let's just go back to 2023 December. You go, oh no Lord, I'm under grace. You can't bring anything up. I'm in the grace not works. You don't care about works Lord. No, no, no. I told you my word. Let's go back and look at your words, your attitude, what you did for me. Oh, but Lord, I didn't know enough. I couldn't do that. You understand Lord. No, I don't. But what about sinners then? That makes me to tremble. What about if you're here and you're not saved this morning, there's coming a judgment. Peter says, and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? If God is going to do that with me, if Jesus Christ who died is going to do that with me, what's he going to do with the sinner? Do you realize he's going to pour out wrath and judgment and execution on that day? There is a hell, but that's not the end. Do you think hell was eternal? Do you know a sinner who dies today immediately goes to hell? Instantly, a place of torment, place of fire. But then at the judgment, you get a new resurrection body. You get resurrected out of hell. You then have a new body and you stand in judgment before Christ and the books are opened. What you did, what you said, what you decided. You can bluff everyone, your husband, your children, your neighbors, not Christ. Everything gets revealed. It's all written. It's all recorded. Open the books. Go back to them. And every mouth will be stopped because he's a righteous, gracious, holy God, but not in that day. And then these resurrected sinners get cast into the lake of fire. Hell gets cast into the lake of fire. And every sinner, depart from me into everlasting fire. Depart from me. And those words will ring eternally in your ears. Depart from me. I didn't know you. I never knew you in any way at any time. Depart from me. Saints, I'm a preacher who's running for the beam of seat, seeking to reach souls for Christ, to build up the body of Christ, to build a temple, cultivate a field, to look after a family. And by God's grace, I'll do everything in my power for you to make heaven, for you to be ready to meet Jesus, to be in that foundation, not only to be saved on that foundation, but to grow into maturity where you'll have something to be rewarded in that day. Wouldn't it be glorious, stand at the beam of seat, to go, we ran well. I've got someone very precious to me who's gone ahead, just ahead of me. I saw her cross the line. She finished before me. I watched her zoom down that track as if there's only way I can describe it. It's like those races where someone's further back in the race, but that last hundred meters, they come zooming up, pass everyone and cross the line. That's what happened to me. I watched Candice come zooming up and I watched her literally stretch her neck over the finish line. And I could almost hear, well done, my good and faithful servant. Her race is finished. Mine isn't. I've been pleading for a year. Please Lord, let me finish well. It's not enough to start well. I'm saying she finished so well. She ran so well with courage and pleading. So I don't feel very good at the moment. I'm saying, please Lord, do something. Let me run this last stretch really good and then go to be with you. Will you pray with me this morning? Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, we love you. We praise you, O God. We magnify you in this room this morning. Lord God, let your presence be so sweet upon us. Our precious Lord and Savior, we love you this morning. Help us not to have our eyes on things of this world, on things that are going to perish, things that are short term, things that are carnal, things that are of no consequence, things that truly cannot satisfy. To give joy or pleasure or satisfaction for a moment, then it's gone. Lord God, I pray, let the power of your Holy Spirit come right now. That decisions will be made right now in this meeting concerning eternity. In Jesus' name.