(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

. Well, good evening, everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your song books and turn to song number 12. Song number 12 in your song books. We'll sing Blessed Redeemer. And if you would stand, we'll sing song number 12. Up Calvary's mountain, one dreadful morn, while Christ my Savior, weary and worn, facing for sinners death on the cross, that he might save them from endless loss. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer, seems now I see him on Calvary's tree, wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading, blind and unheeding, dying for me. Father, forgive them, the city pray, eaten while his lifeblood flowed fast away, praying for sinners while in such woe. No one but Jesus, ever loved so. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer, seems now I see him on Calvary's tree, wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading, blind and unheeding, dying for me. Oh, how I love him, Savior and friend, how can my praises ever find end? Through years unnumbered on heaven's shore, my tongue shall praise him forevermore. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer, seems now I see him on Calvary's tree, wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading, blind and unheeding, dying for me. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank you, God, for another night that we can gather in your house and hear your word preached. I pray, Lord, that you just fill our pastor with your power and spirit, for it's in Jesus' name we ask all of it. Amen. You may be seated, and turn in your song books just one page over to page number 13. Page number 13, we'll sing, Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone? page number 13. Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free? No, there's a cross for everyone, and there's a cross for me. The consecrated cross I'll bear, till death shall set me free, and then go home, my crown to wear, for there's a crown for me. Upon the crystal pavement down at Jesus' pierced feet, joyful outcasts my golden crown, and his dear name repeat, O precious cross, O glorious crown, O resurrection day, ye angels from the stars, come down and bear my soul away. Amen. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening. Amen. I don't know what's up with that bridge construction, but they're just closing down the interstate anytime they want to. But I know there was a wreck on 79 South there all day today, but I don't know if that's where that happened, or if it was somewhere else, but that being said, I know Brother Anthony's kind of stuck in it right now, so we'll see. If he doesn't make it in, I'll just read the chapter for tonight. But just some general church announcements here. We have all our service times are the same here, so nothing different as far as that goes. As far as the soul winning time, our Sunday soul winning time at 1 p.m. is going to be as usual, and then our regional soul winning times there shown on Tuesday and Wednesday. And so the big thing is that we have the retreat that's coming up, so that is next week. So that's going to be Thursday, check-in is whenever the cabin's ready, but basically around 3 o'clock. I just sent the WhatsApp, the address, so it's Canadian Valley Resort. You can take a look at all that, but that'll be Thursday, so that's the 23rd. If you have any questions about it, let me know. But definitely excited about it. We've been working together, Brother Dave and I, and trying to get everything organized. And I'll say this, this was like the perfect timing to ordain a deacon, because I don't know how I was going to get any of this stuff done. He's been running around like a chicken with his head cut off, just getting all this stuff done between the retreat, the new building, everything that's going on with that. And so I've just been kind of telling him, here do this, do this, do this. And so it's been working out really well. But definitely we still have a lot more work to do when it comes to getting the church building ready to go. But I'll keep you up to date on that. But as far as I know, they're still planning on getting everything good to go by October 1st. So we'll find out when that true date is, and then we'll figure out when we're going to be moving everything over there. But that being said, that's definitely exciting. And our Bible memory for the month is Galatians chapter 5, and our verse memory for the week is 1 John 5.5, who is he that believeth, who is he that ever cometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. And so a good verse to have memorized. And then tonight we're going to be continuing our study through 1st Corinthians. And so we're going to be going through 1st Corinthians chapter 3. Like I said, if Brother Anthony makes it in by the time we get done with the next song, then he can read. But if not, I'll go ahead and read that chapter, and then we'll get into the Bible study. That's all I can think about for announcements. Just general search announcements, we have the offering box in the back there, and the mother-baby rooms are in the back. The main mother-baby room is behind the bookshelf there. And so that should be it for announcements. So Brother Dave will come and sing one more song. And then I think I saw Brother Anthony coming in, so if he gets in in time, he'll read. All right, take your songbooks again and turn to song number 15. Song number 15 in your songbooks, we'll sing Lead Me to Calvary, song number 15. Lest I forget thine agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary, Show me the tomb where thou wast laid, Tenderly mourned and wept, Angels in roams of light arrayed, It's thee whilst thou slant, Lest I forget gethsemane, Lest I forget thine agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary, Let me like merry through the gloom, Come with a gift to thee, Show to me now the empty tomb, Lead me to Calvary, Lest I forget gethsemane, Lest I forget thine agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary, May I be willing, Lord, to bear, Daily my cross for thee, Even thy cup of grief to share, Thou hast borne all for me, Lest I forget gethsemane, Lest I forget thine agony, Lest I forget thy love for me, Lead me to Calvary, Corinthians chapter 3, the Bible reads, 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 believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have 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 laborers 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 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 ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye 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 is 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, and Christ is God's. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for safely bringing us here to gather and continue this study in 1 Corinthians. I pray God that you would be with Pastor Robinson, fill him with your Holy Spirit, and help us all to be edified. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. So you're there in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and we're starting off here coming out of chapter 2. If you remember, the Bible's talking about the fact that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, and it says that there are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because he is spiritually discerned, but we which are spiritual judgeth all things. Then it goes on in chapter 3 here, in verse 1, it says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying in 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? So I love the beginning of this. This is why a lot of people, you know, obviously, which is a true case, obviously, with 1 Corinthians, is that they were a very carnal church, meaning that they, the very onset here is the fact that in chapter 1 they were saying that I was baptized of Paul, I was baptized of Apollos, and they were basically trying to make clicks with who they were baptized with, or have more clout depending on who baptized them. And he's stating that that's a carnal thing, because you're basically stating that you're looking to a man to validate, or, you know, later on it talks about letters of commendation in 2 Corinthians, and the fact that you're wanting this, you know, person to basically show how spiritual you are, okay? And the thing that I love about this passage is it debunks a false doctrine out there that there's no such thing as a carnal Christian, okay? Now this is something that there's a false teacher out there named Paul Washer, okay? Paul Washer teaches, first of all, that you have to repent of your sins to be saved, which is a false doctrine. But he also has been, you know, at least in my eyes, been famous for saying that there's no such thing as a carnal Christian. Now, what do you do with this passage right here? Because he says, but as, you know, he basically can't speak unto them as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. So you can't say that these people aren't saved. He's stating that these are babes in Christ, okay? Now, even later on it says, in verse 3, it says, For ye are yet carnal, okay? For ye are yet carnal. Then he asks kind of a rhetorical question, are you not carnal and walk as men when you say that I am of Paul and I am of Apollos? So this idea that a Christian can't be carnal or walk as men or walk in the flesh, I mean, you can't say that that's not true because the Corinthians were told that that's what they're doing. Now go to 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 2. So there's nothing wrong with being a babe in Christ because obviously we all started that way. There's nothing wrong with being a baby. The problem is when you stay a baby. The idea is that you need to grow out of that. You need to grow and mature and basically learn more than what a baby would know. The thing that makes them carnal is the fact that they shouldn't be babes anymore. They should be more mature and they should know more than what they do. And basically it's more so inexcusable that they're still babes in Christ. And that's why he's calling them carnal because obviously they're attaching themselves to fleshly things. Later on we're going to get into sins that they were committing in the church or basically that someone committed in the church and they weren't dealing with it and all that. But in verse 1, so 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 1, it says, So he's stating to those that are, you know, obviously he's talking to strangers throughout Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, right, and all those and 1 Peter, right. But he's saying as newborn babes, you need to desire that sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. So there's nothing wrong with being a babe in Christ. We all started there and there's some that are in this church that are babes in Christ. We should have everything in between, right. We should have, obviously the pastor shouldn't be a babe in Christ. The elder or the bishop of the church should not be a novice, right. You don't want someone up here that's never read through the Bible, doesn't know what he's talking about to start preaching to you. But in a church you should have all realms or all facets from babes to elders in the faith, if you will, when it comes to knowledge. And that shows a growing church, right, because you have new believers, you know, people that are just getting into church and then you have people that have been in church for a long time or they've been reading their Bibles for a long time and you have everything in between. And there's nothing wrong with that. The difference is that if you've been saved for 20 years and you're still a babe in Christ, there's something wrong with that, right. And notice what it says in Hebrews chapter 5. Go to Hebrews chapter 5. Unless there's a lot of people that get saved and they never get past that stage of being a babe in Christ. Just fact, okay. That if you think about the ten lepers that Jesus healed, how many came back and thanked God for being healed? One. All ten were healed, but only one gave thanks. And if you want an idea of a percentage of those that get saved that actually serve the Lord, that actually go past being a babe in Christ and actually do what they should be doing for God, there's a good marker. I'm sorry, 10%, not 1%. 10% doesn't seem that great. Well, it's not. But it's just facts. It's just the way it is. Now in Hebrews chapter 5, verse 12 here. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 12, it says, For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God. and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. So who's he talking to? He's talking to people that went for the time, meaning like by now you should be teaching others. But you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God. The next chapter he gets into the fact that the foundations, which is repentance from dead works and faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms and laying on of hands, and he goes down this list of things that are like the first principles, and he's stating that you need to learn that. You need to learn the foundations before you get off into what he was talking about with getting into Melchizedek and getting into deeper doctrines. He's basically saying you're dull of hearing because you know what? You can't hear that because you need to get the milk. And notice what he says here in verse 13. It says, For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised and discern both good and evil. So notice that at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 3, what does he state to them? That I can't speak unto you as a spiritual, right? Because you're being carnal and you're as babes. You're as babes in Christ in the fact that you know what? You need milk and not meat. I can't feed you meat. I've got to feed you the milk. In chapter 2, he's talking about how the Spirit searches the deep things, yea, searches all things, yea, the deep things of God, and how we can know all the mysteries of God because we have the Spirit of God in us. You know, the anointing which ye have received with him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, as it hath taught you, you shall abide in him. We have the unction from the Holy One, and we can know all things. But he's stating to them, I can't speak to you about those deep things. I can't speak to you about those spiritual things because you're carnal. Because you're over here arguing who baptized you, right? And I need to give you milk. That's basically saying I need to give you milk. And in Hebrews chapter 5, he's stating that, you know what, you need milk and not strong meat. And notice that the strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age. And notice that it's not just the fact that they've read a lot. It's the fact that why can't they handle strong meat? It says strong meat belongeth to them who are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. You know what? You want to know a lot about the Bible. You don't want to have a lot of wisdom. You need to start using what you've got. The problem is that a lot of people or a lot of Christians, they don't use the milk that they know. And then they want to know all these deep truths. It's funny because you get those people that are like, what is the book of Enoch? What do you think about the book of Enoch? It's like, have you read the whole Bible? Well, I haven't read the whole Bible, but what do you think about the book of Enoch? It's like, well, read through the Bible first and then talk to me about the book of Enoch, which is a fraud, by the way. But at the same time, you're going to talk to me about all these extra biblical books, but then you haven't even read through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. You haven't read Joshua, Judges, Ruth. You haven't read through the Kings. You haven't read through Psalms. You haven't made it through the proverb of the day. That's the thing is that first of all, obviously the Bible is all you need for everything that we believe, for all faith and practice. The King James Bible is what we use. At the same time, you know what? You need to use what you got, use what you know, and God will give you more as you go. Another verse on being carnal, or Paul talking about being carnal, is in Romans chapter 7. Go to Romans chapter 7 and verse 14. Obviously, I'm not condoning being carnal, but the fact is is to say that you can't be carnal as a Christian is ridiculous. It's not biblical because in 1 Corinthians 3, he calls them babes in Christ and he calls them carnal at the same time. That means they're saved and carnal. Paul here is going to state that he's carnal. So is Paul not saved when he's writing Romans chapter 7 here? Notice what it says here. In Romans chapter 7 verse 14, it says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now is that present tense, past tense, future tense? What is that? That's present tense. Yeah, that's present tense. I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now here's the key. Here's what he's going to be talking about here. It says in verse 18, For I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. The chapter ends with the fact that he's saying, you know, in the inward man, you know, I delight after the law of God. But there's something else that's fighting against this. It's the law of my members, you know. It's the law of sin that's in my members that's fighting against that. So he's like, with my mind, I started the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. And he says, oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? So we all as Christians still have that carnal nature. We still have the flesh because if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But at the same time, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. And so the thing is that what he's stating here is that you're carnal and you're walking as men. You know what that means? They're not walking in the spirit. They're not walking, they're not making manifest the sons of God. They're not showing the light of the world that's in them. They're covering it under a bushel, and they're being carnal. And that is, that can happen. Listen, salvation is by grace through faith. It's not by works. And you know what? It's not about reforming your life. It's not about turning from any type of sin. It's about believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you get saved, your soul is perfected but your flesh is still there. And technically, you can be carnal the rest of your life and still be saved. Now that's not what God wants. And obviously it's rebuked over and over and over again. But at the same time, that is possible. Now, I believe the Corinthians got things right after this letter because I believe in the second epistle, he's kind of addressing like, hey, you did what you, you know. Basically, he's commending them for getting things right. But at the same time, there are people that will get saved and may not ever do anything. They may never get into church. They may never read their Bible. That's a shame. Don't get me wrong. It's a shame. Because we need every last person that's saved to get into the fight, to get into church. And they would be very wise to do so. But that's just not the way things work. We know that's not the way things work. We know that even in the book of Acts in chapter 1, how many people were there in that room, you know, when it was Peter and he was talking about how many people were there? A hundred and twenty. But yet there were thousands and upon thousands of people that were hearing Jesus preach before that. And we just know that it's few that end up actually doing the work. It's few that end up being in the fight. And you know what? That's just the way it's always been. It's the way it always will be. But I love the beginning of this chapter because it just shows us, yeah, we can be carnal. And you know what? The Bible also says in 1 Corinthians 10 that wherefore let him that thinketh he stand to take heed less default. If someone thinks that they can't be carnal, then they're just setting themselves up to fail. If they think, oh, I'm past that. I'm saved. I can never be carnal again. Well, you're just setting yourself up to fall into sin. But if you realize that you can be carnal, that you can fall back into that sin, that you can walk in the flesh any time, any day, then you know what you should do? You should be setting up guards and saying, you know what? I could fall. I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen. And that's what we need to do. Now, go to 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 5. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 5. The Bible says here, Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave to every man? I love this verse. Now, he's setting up something. He's getting into another teaching here, dealing with soul winning and our part in that. And obviously, God's part in that and all that. But I love this because he states that we're ministers by whom ye believe. So, basically, we served you so that, you know, basically, we're the ones that preach you the gospel so that you'd believe. But what I love here, it says, even as the Lord gave to every man. Go to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 and verse 11. I believe God has given to every man a preacher to give them the gospel. Now, I'm not saying that every single person that has died has heard a clear presentation of the gospel, but I believe this. If they really were searching for it, they would have gotten it. Like Cornelius, who was searching for it, and God even sent him an angel to send for somebody. And I believe that God will get the gospel to somebody that is wanting to hear it, wanting to know it. But I believe this is that he has prepared ministers for every single person because he's not willing that any should perish, you know, and he'll have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And the idea here is that if he wants everybody to get saved and it's his will that everybody gets saved and how should they hear without a preacher and how should they accept to be sent, there has to be the avenue for it. Does that make sense? Let's say everyone were to be open to believe. I know that's not true, but I'm just giving you a hypothetical. Let's say everybody was open to believe. Then God would have to provide, you know, someone to show them, every single one of those people to show them. And I believe that he has. Now, obviously people reject it. They don't want to hear it. And you know what? That gets shut down. And you know what? You can have someone ready to give you the gospel, but then you don't let them hear it. How many times have we got someone and they're just like, I don't want to hear it. But guess what? God had prepared us to be a minister for them to believe. We just can't force them to believe. We can't force them to hear even. But I believe that God has a man, or a woman obviously, for every single person to believe. Now, in Titus chapter 2 and verse 11, it says this, it says, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. So I believe that, you know, I'm not Calvinist, so I believe that Jesus died for everybody. And I believe that he's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. And the fact is, is that that salvation hath appeared to all men. That doesn't mean that everybody's just automatically saved because Jesus died for them. Okay? But he did die for everybody. And everybody has a free will choice to accept that gift. But we as his ministers, we're the ambassadors for Christ, and I believe that God has provided a way for anybody. I don't believe, and I preached on this before, I don't believe anybody's born into this world with a zero percent chance of getting saved. Okay? There are people that are born with a better chance. If you're born in America, let's just face it, you have a better chance of hearing the gospel. Than if you're born in, like, communist China. Right? I mean, if you're born in some, like, remote area somewhere, whatever the case may be, you're gonna have a smaller chance in those areas than here. Okay? You have your whole other challenges, right? Because you've got a whole bunch of, you know, false doctrines and all these different things that are going on with that. But at the same time, I don't believe that anybody that's born into this world, or anybody that goes to hell, had a zero percent chance of getting saved. Because I don't believe that God brings people in the world just to damn them. Okay? And so, now, you can disagree with me on that, but at the same time, like, I believe that that's what these verses are saying. That salvation has appeared to all men. That he has given, you know, that we are ministers by whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to every man. I believe that. Now, in First Corinthians chapter three and verse five, this is a great teaching on on soul winning, to be honest with you, because he's talking about the fact that you're ministers by whom you believed, right? So what are we talking about? We're talking about them believing on the Lord, getting saved, through Paul and Silas, or I'm sorry, Paul and Apollos, not Paul and Silas, but Paul and Apollos are the ministers. But notice what it says here, because this is something that we should all take to heart when it comes to soul winning, because you're not always going to be the person that's, like, leading that person to Christ in the end. Okay? And you know what? This is a great thing to know here and to not get all uptight, and be like, oh, I gave them the gospel for years, and you're the one that got to get them saved in the end. It's like, that's not, it's not true, like, you're looking at that wrong. Okay? Notice in verse five, it says, who then is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers by whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted Apollos' water, but God gave the increase. So, notice the structure here. Obviously, you know, the Bible says, I made all things all men that I might by all means save some. You know, it's biblical terminology, you know, we got people saved. But ultimately, God's the one that saves them. Right? We're, we're that ambassador, we're the messenger. Right? We're basically the one that's pointing to the life jacket saying, there's the life jacket, that's where you, that's what's going to save you. And, you know, obviously we have a part. Okay? But ultimately, it's God who's regenerating them. It's God who's saving them and all that. But at the same time here, notice the difference in work. Right? You know, Paul planted Apollos' water. Oh, so what? It says in verse 7. It says, so then, neither he that planteth any, or, I'm sorry, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. So, ultimately, we're just ministers. Right? In the plan. And that's the way to look at it, is the fact that, to God be the glory. You know, when it comes to people getting saved and, and, you know, the work, you know, think, think about, like, the Solening Marathon we did this past Saturday. Right? Some people may have gotten, some people saved, some may have not. Some may have gotten multiple people saved. You know, whatever the case may be. And, in the end, you know what, us as Mountain Baptist Church, we worked together and 15 people got saved. And, he's the one that gives the increase, we're just ministers in that. And, we shouldn't, you know, be like, aw, man, I didn't get someone. I wanted to be the one to get someone saved. I can't count how many Solening Marathons, and I don't know why this is the case. Solening Marathons, where I get no one saved. Like, you know, the first one that was ever done in Dearborn, that we did, it was kind of like this big one where we went up and, we were trying to win Muslims to the Lord. And, we did the Gospel probably like four or five times, like fully. And, they were super nice, they received it, but they just didn't believe it. Right? And, I was just like, at the end of the day, there was a lot of people saved, and I'm like, praise the Lord. But, it does get like a little, it gets you down a little bit. You're like, man, why couldn't I be one? You know, why couldn't I find that person that was ready to hear it? But, for some reason, it's like these Marathons, I don't get, it's like I never am the one to get someone saved. It was a little different, so. Finally, breaking that trend, we ended up finding the, the receptive area there. But, but that being said, is that, ultimately though, we should be saying, you know what, we worked together, they got saved, and just rejoiced. And, there's many Sundays where we'll come back, I didn't get anybody saved, but then someone's like, oh, we got, we got two people saved, at one door, and there's a family, and you know, and it's just exciting, right? And, and all that dissipates, you're just like, that's great. And, and that's the way we should be thinking about it, because in the end, we're all working together, and the same thing is, if you're working on the same person, how many times have you gone out soul winning, where you're giving the gospel to somebody, right? And, they're just not getting it. They're, they're receiving it, they want to hear it, but they're just not getting it. And then, the silent partner will jump in at the end, right? Because it'd be kind of like one of those things, you got anything to add, you know, and they'll jump in, and for some reason, that one example, that the silent partner has, is just what clicks in their mind, and they're just like, oh, you know, and you've gone through like, five different examples of salvation, you know, from the gift, to you know, being a child, to whatever the case may be, and then, your silent partner comes in with some, some other example, and that's just what clicks. And then, they lead them in a prayer. So, does that mean, that they get all the reward for that? No. Actually, notice what the Bible says here, in verse, uh, verse 8. It says, Now he that planteth, and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labor. Notice how we're one, right? It's not like, God's just splitting us up, like, oh, okay, it's all about the one that reaps, okay? It, it comes down to this, we're all working into this together. Now, we'll all receive our own reward, based off the labor that we do, okay? So, here's the thing, if you're, let's say, and this is hypothetical, because I obviously believe that, if you go forth, uh, and weepeth, bearing precious seed, you shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing your seeds with you. I do believe, that you go out sowing, you keep hitting it, you keep going out, you're gonna get people saved, okay? But let's say, hypothetically, you're only planting seeds, right? So, if you go out, and for some reason, you give them the seed, and then someone else, uh, is the one that ends up watering that, and they get saved through them, listen, you're gonna be rewarded, probably just as much as that person that watered, okay? May not be as exciting, you know, as the person that's watering, and gets to reap it, but at the same time, you know what, we need to take solace in that, in the fact that, hey, we're gonna receive a reward, you know, and it's rewarding, just knowing that they end up getting saved in the end anyway, um, just think about this too, you know, Jesus talks about this in, in John 4, I don't have this in my notes, but uh, he's talking about, I had meat to eat that, that you know not of, and you know, to do the works of him that sent me, and he talks about the fact that, that there's this harvest, and you're entering into other men's labors. You know what, when I got saved, it's not like, this new thing just started, okay? And I'm jumping in, where no one treaded before. Let's just face it, a lot of the people we talk to, may have been talked to before, before we even got to them. We're, we're treading on, you know, the labor of other men, and kind of coming into their labors, whether it's people that have come before, um, as far as, you know, just in the past, or even just a week ago, you know what I mean? Uh, the idea there is that, um, we're just jumping on the train. When we got saved, we started going out, going soul winning, we're just jumping on that train, that has already been going on. Because the righteousness of God has been revealed from faith to faith, before I was ever born. Okay? Before you were ever born. That, that, this has been going on for a long time, and since the beginning of the world. Now, go to 1st Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 9. 1st Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 9. Notice what it says here, dealing with laboring with God. It says in verse 9, it says, Ye are labors together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. Now, the husbandry, that's a whole other summer for another day. You can go to John 15 and deal with the fact that, you know, he's the vine where the branch is, and bearing fruit, um, uh, I'm not gonna hit on that tonight, just for sake of time, but, um, just another, uh, basically allegory of how we're working together with God. But the one I kind of want to focus on is that, ye are God's building. Okay? And it says in verse 10, it says, As a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon, but 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, I love this passage because it shows you that salvation is the foundation. Okay? Salvation is the foundation, and what we do as far as our works, that's built upon that foundation. That's not the foundation. Okay? The foundation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Okay? If you don't build a house on that, it doesn't mean you don't have a foundation. Okay? Now, you know, it'd be foolish to have a foundation and not build anything on it. Okay? But at the same time, the foundation is Christ, that's salvation. You believed, you have salvation, you have that foundation, but, you know what? You need to take heed how you build thereupon. Now, notice what it says in 1 Peter chapter 2, just to show you this aspect of the spiritual house, if you will, that we're building. So when you get saved, and believe on Christ, you have the rock, you have the foundation, which is eternal life, you know, you'll never perish, all that's true, you're saved, all your sins have been washed away. But then you have a choice to build up the spiritual house upon that foundation. And, notice what it says in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 4. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 4, it says, To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. So we're talking about the Lord Jesus himself, being that living stone, and chosen of God. Notice in verse 5, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, and holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also, it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Now, where this is quoted from, that passage about the chief cornerstone, or the precious cornerstone, it says, in Isaiah 28, 16, it says, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make haste. So we're talking about that Jesus is obviously that living stone, that cornerstone, that foundation. But, we're to be built up a spiritual house upon that. And that is something that we need to be thinking about. That's something that we choose to do or not do. Now go to 1st Corinthians chapter 3, and if I think about 1st Corinthians chapter 3, this is honestly what I think about. I think about the judgment seat of Christ. There's certain things in each chapter that I think of. You know, when I think of chapter 1, first of all, I think about the fact that he sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. So I think about that verse. But I also think about the fact that, you know, that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved is the power of God. I think about that. Chapter 2, I'm always thinking about the fact that the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, and comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Chapter 3, judgment seat of Christ. That's what I think of. Okay. There's obviously more in here than that, but that's what I believe this is talking about. Now it doesn't say judgment seat of Christ by name here, but I'm going to show you cross referencing how this is definitely talking about the judgment seat of Christ. Now on verse 12 here it says, Now if any man build upon this foundation. So, we kind of got that already. That Jesus is that foundation. We're to build upon it. And that we're to build up a spiritual house. But it says, 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. So this is, this is I believe a great picture of what's going to happen at the judgment seat of Christ. And basically your works are going to all be manifest what you do in your body. Now let me show you in 2 Corinthians 5 because it actually states that this is the judgment seat of Christ. It doesn't talk about it. It doesn't talk about it in as much length as it does in chapter 3, but it states that this is the judgment seat of Christ. So in verse 9, so 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 9, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 9 it says, Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according that he had done, whether it be good or bad. Now, I don't believe that this judgment seat of Christ is dealing with sins at all. I believe we're talking about basically your works, whether they're good or bad. It's not talking about being righteous or sinful, but more so eternal or temporal. Now, 1 Corinthians talks about that later, talking about setting things on things that are eternal, not on things that are temporal. But to give you an idea, because you say, well, bad, that seems like that's talking about sin. Well, go to Jeremiah chapter 24. Jeremiah chapter 24. Bad could be sin. I'm not saying it couldn't be. Just like evil can be sin. But listen, there's some words in the Bible that have a broader meaning. Meaning this is that sin is always evil, but evil isn't always sin. How do you know that? Is there evil in the city and the Lord has not done it? The Lord repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them. He didn't repent of his sins. Evil isn't always sinful, but evil means harmful. It's things that aren't obviously good. You don't want something evil done to you. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's sin. Obviously, if things are done that are harmful to you, it could be a righteous judgment. Think about capital punishment. If you were to put a murderer to death, wouldn't you say you're doing evil unto that person? Well, yeah, you're harming them. You're putting them to death. But it's righteous judgment. It's actually what God commanded to do. In Jeremiah chapter 24 and verse 2, this is talking about this parable that God is giving Jeremiah here, but at the same time, I think it shows us that bad doesn't always mean sinful. In verse 2 here, it says, I'm reading the wrong verse. Jeremiah 24 and verse 2, it says, One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe. And the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten. They were so bad. It even goes on to say, if you keep reading there, Then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, figs. The good figs, very good, and the evil, very evil, that they cannot be eaten, they are so evil. Now, are these figs sinful? That's the question I want to ask you. Obviously, we know on a very basic level what's being said here, is that you have good, ripe figs that you want to eat, and then you have figs that are not good, right? They're bad. You don't want to eat these things. Okay? When you're dealing with whether it be good or bad, you need to cross reference that with 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Okay? Because in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, go back to that, because what is being put upon this, you know, basic, what's being tried here? Because it talks about that, you know, in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, it says, Every man shall receive the things done in his body, according to that he had done, whether it be good or bad. So in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, it's just kind of stating good or bad, right? But then in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, it gives us a little more information here. In verse 12, it says, Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. Okay? Now, is wood, hay, and stubble inherently sinful? No, but here's the problem. Wood, hay, and stubble are flammable, though. So, that's what you're dealing with here, is you're dealing with things that can be tried by fire and things that cannot be tried by fire. And what you're dealing with here are things that are eternal compared to things that are temporal. And wood, hay, and stubble I believe represent things that are for the temporary, right? So if you're a Christian and you're doing things that are just for the world, they may not even necessarily be sinful, right? But they're not of eternal value. Okay? So, that being said is that this is a judgment seat that we're going to be judged based off our works. But not our sins. Okay? And you say, well, why wouldn't it be our sins? Well, because our sins are as far as the east is from the west. Because he said that he's forgotten our sins in iniquities. He says our sins in iniquities will remember no more. He says he cast them behind his back. He's cast them into the depths of the sea. There's many different ways he's plotted them out. I mean, there's different ways that he says the same thing. When we're at the judgment seat of Christ, let me ask you a question. Are you in your body? Okay? Now, not our fleshly body as we see now, I believe personally we'll be in a spiritual body because we've been resurrected. Okay? So at that point, there's no sin. Holistically, even. But the thing is is that at that judgment seat, we're not going to be standing there in our sinful state, like answering for our sins. Now, there is a different judgment seat. And go to 1 Peter 4, and I'm not going to hit on this, but there's the judgment seat of Christ, but then there's the great white throne judgment. Now these are two different judgments. The judgment seat of Christ is for the saved. The great white throne is for the unsaved. And the unsaved will be judged according to their works and that's going to be according to the law. But see, we're not under the law. We're under grace. So we're not going to be judged according to our works according to the law. So that being said, I want you to see this first because I'm going to show you how this, and I preached a whole sermon on this dealing with the resurrections and dealing with the first resurrection, the thousand year reign, and this judgment seat, or I'm sorry this great white throne. Notice what it says in verse 17 here. So 1 Peter 4 and verse 17 says, The time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first began at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Now I believe the scarcely be saved is talking about are there a few to be saved? And that's what Jesus says, straight as the gate and arrows away and few there be that find it. Meaning that there's not many people that are actually saved. Unfortunately, I didn't say that, that's what Jesus said. Now obviously we want to get as many people saved, but if you think about the grand scheme of things, most people are not going to heaven. But the thing that I want you to notice here is that judgment must begin at the house of God. If you know the time, and we'll get to this when we're going through the book of Revelation, but in Revelation 20, when Satan is bound a thousand years, or when he's bound in there and we're going into the thousand year reign, that's when you see the thrones and judgment is given to them. Meaning that I believe that's when you have the judgment seat of Christ. Now, it talks about that being the first resurrection, which if you go to 1 Corinthians 15, it talks about that Jesus is the firstfruits, right? He's the firstfruits of them that slept. So, everything in its order. Jesus is the firstfruits, then they that are his at his coming, then come at the end. At the end of the thousand year reign, I believe there's going to be a judgment seat for all those that were in the thousand year reign that lived and died that were saved, and that they'll be given their rewards based off their works and their bodies whether it be good or bad. And then you have the great white throne which is all the dead, okay? So, up until that point, everybody that dies without Christ is in hell. They haven't been judged according to their works. The great white throne is where they're judged according to their works. Their name's not found in the book of life and they're cast in the lake of fire. Okay? But, it begins at the house of God, doesn't it? Because you had the judgment seat of Christ before you had the great white throne. So, that's a little deep because I can't go into all the details on that, but at the same time, that's the timeline of the judgment seat of Christ and I don't believe, you know, and people have different views on that. They're like, well, I think that you're going to be punished for your sins before you go into heaven and you're going to be scourged or they're going to bring out a big TV and you're going to have to see all your sins. I don't see that in Scripture. I don't see where the Bible says that He's not going to remember them. I see where it says that they're as far as the east is from the west and I don't see sin mentioned in any of those passages when it comes to the judgment seat of Christ. I see things that are not going to blast through the fire, like woodhead and stubble. I see things that could be likened on to bad, but bad doesn't necessarily mean, you know, sinful could just mean not profitable, right? And let's just face it, there's a lot of things that we do in this life that are not profitable, like social media in a lot of cases or just a lot of things, you know, and obviously we're on YouTube and all that, but listen, we waste a lot of time on social media. We waste a lot of time watching TV. We waste a lot of time doing things that we shouldn't be doing, you know, that aren't necessarily sinful. Right? It could be. Don't get me wrong. All that stuff could get sinful and you can get into things you shouldn't be getting into, but at the same time, there's things that are just not profitable. And that's where you get into the fact of, okay, will you have anything to show for what you do in this life? And we need to focus on things that are eternal. Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 16. Again, this chapter, you could probably take this chapter into three different parts and do whole sermons on it. So I'm just kind of giving you the skinny of it, if you will, and these pieces. But the next thing that we see here is something that we really need to take to heart. It's in verse 16, it says, Know ye not that ye are 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 ye are. So this is something we need to realize here. That he's talking to the Corinthians and he's saying, are you not carnal? And he's going to talk to them about their sin later on and, you know what, there needs to be a fear of God there when the fact that you're the temple of the Holy Ghost and if you are defiling the temple of God, the consequences for that. I don't have this in my notes because you look at it in your homework, but in Hebrews chapter 10 it talks about if we sin willfully that after that we have received the knowledge of the truth. And it talks about how there's no more sacrifice for sin. And it's talking about believers. It says, The Lord shall judge his people. And it's talking about the fact that it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But it's basically stating that we're trodden underfoot the Son of God and basically trodden underfoot the blood. I'm going to misquote that so bad. Let me get to that because I'm not doing that justice at all. But this being said is that we need to fear when it comes to the fact of getting into sin as Christians. We need to fear, we need to have this fear of God. Now in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 you don't have to turn there but we'll be getting to that but at the same time like one particular thing that's brought up is fornication. And how fornication is a sin against the body and if it's a sin against the body and the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost you're defiling the temple of the Holy Ghost. And it says in 1 Corinthians 3 that if you defile the temple of God it's going to destroy you. Now that could be completely destroyed as far as there is a sin unto death. But at the same time that could be other ways that you could be destroyed. Now forgive me I didn't have this in my notes but I don't want to butcher it and just leave it at that. In verse 26 it says for if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. So it's talking about presumptuous sins. Now I preached on this before. This isn't just talking about like ignorantly sinning or even sinning like having a struggle in sin but you're literally like in spite of what it says I'm doing it. This is a presumptuous willful sin. And it says there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. It's talking about people that just straight up willfully went against it to go against it. And there's an example in the Bible about that. But it says of how much sore punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who had trodden underfoot the Son of God and had counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and had done despite unto the spirit of grace. For we know him that hath said vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompense said the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people and it says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I believe this is talking to Christians here. If we sin willfully. He's putting himself in that category. And the idea there is that how much more How much sore punishment. In Moses day it was a sore punishment. If you sin willfully. But they didn't have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost back then. They had the spirit come upon them. The spirit of Christ was in them. They would prophesy. But they did not have the comforter in them like indwelling us like it is in the New Testament. And with that great gift that we have in the New Testament comes great responsibility. Meaning that there's great consequences knowing that that's the case. Okay? And that's what the Bible is teaching here is that you have the spirit of God in you and you know what? You need to have the fear of God because you know what happens when you sin? You grieve that Holy Spirit of promise. Whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. It's not saying that you're going to lose your salvation but it's you're grieving him. And you know what? There's a sore punishment I believe for sin when it comes to the New Testament since we had the Holy Ghost indwelling us. Now go to uh I was going to get into this point but I don't know if it's pertinent that we get into that or not. There's other places in the Bible where it talks about our body being likened to a tabernacle. For your, you know if you want to look it up later in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 it talks about this earthly house of this my tabernacle. In 2 Peter chapter 2 Peter's talking about how he's about to die and he's talking about I must put off this my tabernacle. So the Bible actually uses this terminology of your body being a tabernacle or a temple or a house. And so that's terminology that's used all the time so the idea of our body being the temple of the Holy Ghost you know that's what it's talking about. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18. 1 Corinthians chapter 8 3 verse 18 I'll be hitting on this a little harder when we get to 1 Corinthians 6. Because 1 Corinthians 6 really has that huge condemnation and gets more specific on how you would defile the house of God. Now in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18 it says here So what is this talking about? It's not saying just be a dunce. Just become a fool. It's stating, you've got to take it in context. It says if he's wise in this world you know what that means? He needs to become a fool to this world. And the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. Now in 2021 this should be pretty easy to recognize. When they don't realize there's two genders and they're fighting about like there's 70 some genders they're just such a stark ignorance and moronic education that's out there today that this should be pretty easy to look at the world and be like yeah they're fools. Now the fool has said in his heart there is no God so obviously that makes him foolish in itself. But how about this there is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. So you know what the wisdom of this world or man's wisdom it seems right and a lot of the world thinks it's right. Well that just seems right. Well it's wrong. You know it seems right that you need to live a good life to go to heaven. But that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that by the law there shall no flesh be justified in the sight. And that there's none good, no not one. There's none righteous, no not one. And so that's not right. That's just one example but obviously there's tons of examples in the Bible as far as what people think is right. Well just trust in your heart. Right? Follow your heart. How many people grew up at school and are just like just follow your heart whatever your heart tells you go and do it. The Bible says he that trusts in his own heart is a fool. Right? I mean do you see how the Bible just completely goes against the wisdom of this world? You know. And I can go on and on about the examples of that. But the thing that I find interesting about this, this passage right here is what it says in verse 19. It says, for it is written he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. You know what's interesting about this? Go to Job chapter 5. Job chapter 5. Cause I'm going to show you where it's written in the Old Testament. In Job chapter 5 verse 13. Job chapter 5 verse 13 notice what it says. It says he taketh the wise in their own craftiness and the counsel of the froward is carried head long. You say well what's so crazy about that? Who said it? Well in chapter 5 it's just a continuation of chapter 4. Look at the very beginning of chapter 4. Chapter 4 and verse 1. Now I'm sure I'm talking to people that know the book of Job. In the book of Job, Job was right. Job spoke that which was right concerning the Lord. But God wasn't happy with his three friends because they didn't speak that was right. You say well how could this be? Here's what's going on here. And when you read through the book of Job sometimes you're reading through there like man it seems like what they're saying is right. It seems like it lines up. There's a lot of things and this is one of them that they say that's true and right. Here's a problem with his friends. They had a lot of things that they said that were right but they applied it wrong. It's kind of like the wicked will be punished for their wickedness. That's a true statement. Here's the problem. You can't apply that to Job. So they're applying it to the wrong person. But the statement's true. So this statement's true that Eliphaz is saying but he's basically accusing Job of being the wise person of the world and God's going to take him in his craftiness. Does that make sense? It's true that he's going to do that but he's applying it to the wrong person. And his three friends do this over and over and over and over again. It's like a lot of things they say are right. They're true. Even Elihu, which I've gone through the overview of the book of Job and I kind of talk about this. I don't believe Elihu's even saved. The young guy that kind of jumps in at the end. I believe his three friends are saved. They mess up and you know what? Job prays for them and all that. And obviously Job's blessed in the end for his patience and all that. But at the same time I just want you to see that because when you go through the book of Job you're going to see places where you're like that seems like a true statement. So you're like well how do I read the book of Job? Well when they're talking you've got to take what they say and kind of take it with a grain of salt and really compare it with scripture. You know how I know what Eliphaz says here is true? Because 1 Corinthians 3 says it. So I know for a fact that what he says there is completely true. And there's other places in the Bible where his three friends will say things and it will line up with scripture and other places but what you have to notice with them is how they're not applying it right. I've kind of understood it this way and I could be wrong when it comes to the difference between knowledge understanding and wisdom. And you could fact check me on this and say that you're out to lunch here's why. I've always understood it this way that knowledge is like knowing the sky is blue. Understanding is knowing why it's blue. And wisdom is applying the knowledge that you understand. That's the way I've always looked at it. Because you can know something. You can know that that exists. You can know that this is the way it is. You can know that when you turn on that light switch that light is going to come on but do you know why that happens? Do you understand why that happens? And wisdom would be to be able to actually do it. I'm just giving you a silly example but at the same time I believe in the book of Job they have a lot of knowledge. And they're saying a lot of things that are true but they're not applying it right. And so that's just something interesting that you see here. And I challenge you anytime you see a reference in the New Testament always go back to where it's referenced and just see the context. See who's saying it and just you'll find some interesting stuff with that. Now what I wanted to show you here is like what is this talking about taking the whys and their own craftiness? This is something that Jesus did very well. And you want to know some favorite passages of mine it's where Jesus takes the wisdom of this world and the whys of this world and he takes them in their own craftiness. Now let me give you an example of this. Luke chapter 20. Luke chapter 20 and verse 21. This is where they came up to him and said should we give tribute to Caesar or not? Now I'm not going to give you all the examples. I'm just going to give you some of my favorite ones. But this is one that specifically even states that this is what they're doing. Now verse 21 here it says And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teacheth rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teacheth the way of God truly. Now I can't read this without thinking of this snake-like way they're saying this. Because obviously they're not really believing that that's who he is and all that. Now verse 22. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or no? Notice this in verse 23. Now notice that I love this because this is what Jesus does. You know what he does? He takes what they throw at him and he puts it right back in their face. He doesn't back out of it. He takes it and throws it in their face. And notice what happens here in verse 24. Show me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? He answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's. And they could not take hold of his words before the people, and they marvelled at his answer and held their peace. Now there's an example of him taking the wise in their own craftiness. You know what they're trying to do here? Because earlier in, for example, Matthew chapter 17, he's stating that those that are free shouldn't have to pay tribute, right? He kind of talks, has this conversation with Peter about it. Should we pay tribute or not? And he says, lest we offend them, he goes down to the fish, gets the money out of the fish's mouth and pays them, right? So Jesus doesn't believe that they should have to pay taxes because they're citizens, right? But at the same time, he's like, you know what? That's not my fight, you know? And that's the way I look at it anyway, too. So we pay our taxes. But at the same time, like, you know, the thing is that they're trying to catch him because they're trying to say, well, you know, everything belongs to God, so we should give everything to God. But if he says that, then they're going to accuse him of the season and say, hey, this guy's over here saying that we shouldn't pay taxes. They do the same thing with a woman caught in adultery and all that because they know that they don't, it's not lawful for them to put anybody to death, but they want him to say that according to the law, she should be put to death and put her to death and try to catch him and accuse him, right? They're constantly trying to do this. And you know what he does? He basically fools them and states to them, you know what? This has his face on it, doesn't it? I guess it belongs to him, right? Give it unto him then. And give the things that are God's unto God. So he doesn't really say that, like, obviously that everything's God's, right? Everything in this world is God's. But at the same time, he just turns it right back on them. Here's another example in John chapter 6. John chapter 6. See, in a day and age where we have a bunch of preachers that will just basically cower anytime they're questioned on what they believe. Like, you come up to them and say, hey, you preached this sermon, do you want to apologize for that? Now, listen, we can all make mistakes. So if I make a mistake, I'll apologize for it. But listen, I'm not going to apologize for the Bible. And, what? There's a lot of things I love about Jesus. But what I really love about Jesus is the fact that he just doubles down on the truth all the time. And specifically when they're trying to catch him in his words. He doubles down on it and puts it even harder back in their face. And this is another example where they're trying to be crafty and they're trying to twist what he's saying. And notice what it says in John chapter 6 and verse 51. It says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Now, let me just state this. As a believer, you're looking at this and you're like, this makes perfect sense. He's giving himself for the world. He's going to die on the cross. Right? His body's going to be given for us. These are all allegorical. No one thought that he was a loaf of bread falling down from heaven. Okay? Obviously, it's symbolistic that he's the bread that we're going to eat and the bread and what it represents, right? But notice what the Jews do here. They're going to try to take what he says and just try to make it say something to where they're going to try to catch him in his words. In verse 52, it says, the Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? So that's the only thing that they heard. They're just like, we're supposed to eat your flesh then? Because he's talking about bread, bread, bread, bread and he says, this bread is my flesh because he's talking about his body. I mean, even the Lord's Supper, what do we say? This is my body, which is broken for you. And he's obviously giving an illustration and giving an allegory, but they're like, oh, you're telling us we need to eat your flesh. What does Jesus do here? Does he be like, well, listen, I didn't mean my actual flesh. Now, he could have said that from the onset and just be like, listen, you're taking this too literal. Obviously, this is talking about spiritual matters, right? But what does he do? And this is what I love here. Notice what he does here in verse 53. So they're like, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, barely, barely, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Not only does he put it back in their face about eating his flesh, he puts in drinking his blood. Now, keep reading there. Verse 54. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwells in me and I in him. Now, did you catch what he did there? Because earlier in the chapter, he says, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day, right? But now he's putting in eating his flesh, drinking his blood. He's putting it back in their face hard. He's taking their craftiness and he's taking him in it. You know what he's doing? He's taking him to task is what he's doing. He's taking these so-called wise men to task. Now, this is a hard saying that basically a lot of his disciples left. If you remember at the end of this chapter, he even says to Peter and to the toil, he's like, will you also go away? So he didn't say like, please don't go away, you know. I know that was a hard saying, but please don't go away. He's like, will you also go away? Because the way Jesus preached was let the chips fall where they made. The truth is the truth. It's a hard saying, but will you also go away? And notice what he says in verse 63. So he breaks it down, obviously. In verse 63, he says, it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So when he's talking about eating the bread of life, or eating his flesh, or drinking his blood, you know what he's talking about? Eating the word of God. He's talking about the spirit, you know, the words are spirit and they are life. You know what you're supposed to be? You're supposed to be intaking the word of God. And there's at least two examples in the Bible of someone eating an actual book, right, to represent that. But you know what the wisdom is, oh, we're supposed to actually eat a book? Right? We're not supposed to live by bread alone, but by every word of God, that means I've got to eat it. I've got to eat this paper in ink. But that's what the world, you know, they're so foolish that they are spiritually discerned. See, the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto them. Now they can't even know them, because he's spiritually discerned. Now, to end the chapter here, I know I'm kind of going long here, but how about the, you know, how about the fact that ending with he taketh them in their own craftiness, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And these same people that are professing themselves to be wise, literally think that aliens brought an octopus to our planet. Like, I mean, there's this craziness that's coming from the so-called wisdom of this world. And you say, well, what's the, is there any good to be had from it? Well, I think that any person that is, you know, semi-sane will look at this world and be like, they're nuts. Right? It's just going so far to the point that they're just like, that can't be right. Okay? And then, you know what, we're looking more normal. You know, Christianity, we're looking like the crazy ones. Like, what are you doing? You know, I can't believe, you're like stone age back there reading that Bible. You know? I'm like, it's like reading the newspaper. Like, everything in the Bible, I'm like, is so just today. It's amazing how timeless the Bible is. And, you know what, the darker the world gets, the brighter the light shines. And so if there's any silver lining to the craziness that's going on, is that I think it's going to wake a lot of people up to like, hey, this is actually sanity right here. But let's end the chapter here. In verse 20, so 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 20, it says, 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. Now, this next portion, it always kind of threw me for a loop a little bit as far as what exactly it's talking about. I'm going to tell you what I think it's talking about. I believe you basically have verse 21 and 22 complementing each other, saying the same thing kind of twice, but giving you a little more information. Meaning this is that you kind of all know that let no man glory in men. Right, that makes sense. No man should glory in another man, right? For all things are yours. Well, chapter, or verse 22 kind of ends with all are yours, right? So if you think about not the glory, that you shouldn't glory in men, then verse 22 is going to make sense when you say whether Paul or Paulus or Cephas, right? So, it doesn't matter who it is. But then keep reading with that same thought, world, or life, or death, or things present or things to come. Meaning like, don't glory in any of this stuff. Whether it's life, death, the world, whether it's great men of God. Don't glory in men glory in God. And the thing is that why? Because in ye are Christ and Christ is God's. Because we have the mind of Christ. We shouldn't be glorying in other men and what they know. Okay? So, when it comes to doctrine, for example, go to Jeremiah chapter 9, I'm going to end with this. When it comes to doctrine, I don't really care what a commentary has to say. I mean, I'm sure there are people that have wrote commentaries that had some good things in it, right? But in the end, why would I look to that and say, that's my authority? And a lot of people do that. Before they even go to study and look at it for themselves, they're automatically in a commentary. To me, first of all, that's lazy. Second of all, you know what? I want to go into it with a fresh mind. I don't want to be polluted with all this other stuff. This is what this person thinks. But ultimately this. You know what happens with that when a lot of people do that? Is they end up having heroes that they hold on to for their doctrine and it's not really necessarily biblical. And they'll have men of the past. And listen, there have been great preachers of the past. You know, there are some that I used to listen to like Jack Hiles or just other people that you'd listen to in the past. But you know what? I disagree with a lot of things Jack Hiles preached. And I disagree with a lot of other things that some other preacher preached that disagree with Jack Hiles. And we should never just be like well, you know what? He said it. And that's why I believe it. Now, I'll say this, a lot of Reformed Baptists out there that's their go to. It's the fathers of the faith. What did this person say? And these confessions and all these different things. Who cares about the confessions? And you know what? You can read some of these confessions and they'll be like, well, they got that part right. You can read the Nicene Creed. You know, which is like the Apostles Creed, right? Where they're like, we believe in one father and one son and one Holy Ghost. It's like, good for you, right? I didn't need your creed to figure that out, right? But the thing is that the Bible is stating here is that we shouldn't be glorying in any man. And you know, Paul says follow me as I follow Christ. So obviously, I'm not saying like you can't get behind somebody that's following God. But ultimately, I'll say this. You should know your doctrine because you found it in the Bible. Because you've studied it in the Bible. Well, Pastor Robinson said this. This is what our church believes. That's great. That our church believes whatever, right? Now, our church is going to believe and I'm going to have the doctrinal statement of what I believe it should be. But ultimately, you should be checking that. Right? Because you're spiritual, you can judge all things. And when it comes to preaching, you should be judging it. Not everything. Don't judge everything I do. How I drink my water. How I look. No, I'm just kidding. But at the same time, when it comes to doctrine, you should be judging in your mind. Does that fit scripture? Does that fit this past? Does that fit this? Go home. Study it. See if that fits. Now, in Jeremiah 9, verse 23, because it's talking about not glorying in men. And the Bible says, if any man glory, Jeremiah 9, 23, it says, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercised lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. You want to glory in something? You want to glory that you know God, glory that you have the mind of Christ, you have the word of God right here that you can read, and that the Holy Ghost that's inside you will teach you all things. That's what you should be glorying in. And being carnal and attaching yourselves to a man, or to a preacher, or anybody in this life, the world, this life, death, whatever the case may be, if you're attaching yourself and glorying in something else, you need to be glorying in the Lord. And you have something better to get all your answers from, it's called the Bible. And you have a better teacher, it's called the Holy Ghost. And obviously me as your pastor, I am your pastor, I am your teacher, and I'm going to teach you things in the Bible, but ultimately, God is the one that usurps any authority that I have. Okay, so that's 1 Corinthians chapter 3. And we'll end it with that. So, dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the book of 1 Corinthians. And just pray that you help me to teach this book rightly. Help us to know it, to understand it, ultimately to use it for your glory. And Lord, just pray that you be with us as we go out back into work and get home safely. Pray that you give everybody safe travels. And Lord, we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. So, Brother Dave, we'll come and sing one more song, and then we'll be dismissed. All right, take your songbooks and turn to song number 18. Song number 18. We'll sing Take the Name of Jesus with You. If you would stand, we'll sing song number 18.