First Corinthians chapter three. Taking up our studies going through this book. On first Corinthians, we're not making very rapid progress. We've been about fourteen messages, I think this morning for fourteen. And we're up to chapter three. Let us read from verse eleven. 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 stone, 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, or what the quality it possesses. If any man's work abide which he has built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. That is the loss of a reward. But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. the things that we want to emphasize in taking up this book, and that is this. He's writing to Christians, and he's bringing up the need for Christians as an incentive to work toward a reward. In other words, only those who are saved, born again, can build upon this foundation. You've got to be on the foundation before you can begin to build the superstructure. And if you are faithful in your building of the superstructure, you shall receive a reward. Now, salvation is not a reward. Salvation is a free gift. The gift of God is eternal. Christ our Lord. We do not work to be saved. Salvation comes to us through the work of Christ, what he did upon the cross. So when we accept the Lord Jesus and we know we're saved, God, I want you to work with a view to rewards, and I'll give you your rewards in heaven, and that He will. And so a Christian is working for rewards. Now there are rewards in this life for being a Christian. I think there are many things you can be rewarded for after you're a Christian, if you wouldn't have, if you were not a Christian. I believe that good health is one of the things a reward for being a good Christian. You're abstaining from those things that are detrimental to your health. A person who smokes and drinks and carouses is bound to affect the laws of nature that control our bodies. Many a person looks old at thirty or forty, simply because they've dissipated and it shows up in their life. And so I think when a person gets saved, they seek to live a Christian life, and they thus cut out a lot of things that Christians do not do according to the Bible, and it has a physical blessing, a physical reward. And I trust you realize that. Also, being a Christian in this life simply means that you have the consciousness of the Lord's presence, where an unsaved person does not. When trouble comes and sorrow comes, sickness comes, you have the consciousness of the Lord's presence. His promises you can draw upon. Extract some of the precious things in His word. The unsaved person doesn't have that. So these are some of the rewards in this life for being a Christian. Also, I believe there is the reward of answered prayer. Christ, when you're a Christian, you talk to a God you know. He's your Father. And you can get your prayers answered. And then another thing I believe is a reward for being a Christian is protection. Time and time again in my life, I've had protection, and only God could have given me that protection. Day after day, the Christian is exposed to danger. We'll never know till we get home to heaven How many things we were rescued from in this life. And so these are benefits from being a child of God. Then you have peace of mind as to death and eternity. You don't worry about them because you are a Christian. And these are some of the things that are rewards in this life for being a real Christian. Not just a church member, but being a real Christian. And I trust that you'll remember that. But in addition to all these things, there are some lovely rewards, some incentives for living for Christ after you are saved. Now our message then this morning is toward Christians, those who are saved. They are going to be judged, not for their sins. A Christian's sins were judged at the cross. Jesus Christ bore my sins there. He was punished for my sins at Calvary, when God who knew all my sins laid them on him and believing I am free. I don't anticipate judgment for my sins, nor does any real Christian. Christ bore our judgment at Calvary. The Bible is very clear on that point. He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ hath everlasting life and shall not come into judgment. There is therefore now no condemnation or judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. Because the Lord Jesus is our substitute, he took our sins upon us. He faced God with all our sins, and he was punished in our stead. And when you're saved, your sins, and your iniquities, God says, I'll remember no more. So the Christian doesn't worry about his sin. That is, a born-again Christian. And he will not be punished for his sins, but I'll tell you one thing. He will be judged as to his life. Now, when a Christian is saved, his soul is saved. But what about his life? He's got to save his life from being a loss. An unsaved person who dies unsaved has lost both his soul and his life. As I've mentioned before, I've spoken to men and women not long before they died, and they accepted the Lord Jesus. And I've had several say, Oh, that I've done this in my youth. My life is wasted, and that's true. How good of God to save a person when he's not going to get anything out of that person in this life, because they've lived to please themselves in the dead. But God, in grace, like saving the thief on the cross, he didn't live. long. He has nothing to give to God out of this life. But God saves him. That's why it's wonderful when people are saved, young. A soul is saved and a life is saved. Well, God wants your life after your existence and he'll reward you for what you do after you get saved. He'll give you nothing before your salvation. He'll start taking account of what you do after your salvation. You're not working to be saved. You're not working to improve your salvation. Know that settled at the cross. You're working that you might have something that he can say to you in that day after reviewing your life at the judgment scene of Christ. Well done, thou good and faithful servant, and he'll give you your reward. And the rewards are wonderful. We'll be taking that up in the future. So here you have the ones on this foundation are building by their lives. What are the materials? They're given you here. Gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble. Now that's something. Six things, and yet they can be divided just into two groups. That which is indestructible and that which is destructible. Gold, silver, precious stone is indestructible. They'll stand the fire that he's talking about here. But wood, hay, and stubble, it is destructible. It means if your life has nothing but wood, hay, and stubble. After you're saved, all that goes up. No reward. And as we read in that text, you're saved so as by fire. In other words, you say you're saved because you've trusted the blood of Christ. But after you got saved, there was nothing for God. You just lived for yourself in this world. And wood, hay, and stubble went up. Whereas the gold, the silver, the precious stone is that which abides whatever. God wants us to grin for the gold and the silver and the precious stone. Now, what is the gold? It's not preaching as with the tongues of angels. It's not giving. A millionaire could give us all, and that's not it. There's something more than preaching. There's something more than giving, and it's not a case of suffering for Christ. It's not a case of doing a lot of good works for Christ. These things are wonderful. They'll come under the other headings of silver and stone. What's the most precious thing in the life of a Christian? The gold. that's going to glorify God the most and bring forth the best reward. What is it? Fellowship and communion with God. That's the richest thing in the life of a Christian. How wonderful then to walk in conscious fellowship with God. The most tangible things in life are invisible. to take the things you see today, material things, tangible things, touchable things, usable things, they're not the most important things in life. It's the intangible, the invisible things in life that are the most precious, such as love, peace, joy, you can't handle them. These are the precious things in life, things you can't handle. This man Hughes has left so much money. And if you read the stories and hear what's coming out, the poor fellow was miserable. He wasn't happy. He dreaded death, yet he was worth a couple of billion dollars. He had the tangibles all that. But he didn't have the intangibles. Love is intangible. The greatest thing in life, love is to love and be love. Now there are twenty-two million people up in Canada, but there's a little handful of about a dozen that I have a special affection for. They're my relatives. I love them. Yes, I love them the way I don't love the other twenty-two million. Something that's intangible. There's a love there, there's an affection there, and you long for their company. That's what God is talking about. If we really love God, we're going to want something of His presence, His companionship, His fellowship. That's the greatest thing in the life of a Christian, and that will bring the greatest reward at the judgment seat of Christ. Fellowship and communion with God. You know, I read this story some time ago. In Australia about a hundred years ago, a farmer worked his farm. Year after year, he plowed it, he cultivated it, and he got a major living out of it. One day he was approached about selling that farm, and he said he would. He got three thousand two hundred dollars for it. He went out of his mind a couple years later when That piece of property was sold to Morgan Brothers for forty million dollars. It turned out to be the richest gold mine in that time. Here's a farmer and he's on the surface. He's spending his time laboring just on the surface, not realizing under him there was the king of metals, gold. No wonder he went out of his mind. Christian, are you spending your life on the surface, playing around day after day, like the usual, three meals a day in the bed, when you could be enjoying some gold, the gold of God's presence, fellowship with God, It's this that's going to bring forth the greatest reward, the Christian, how much time you spend in fellowship with God. The goal of fellowship, companionship, communion with our God. If you were to go back to the Old Testament and read about the materials that were given for the tabernacle, you'll find in chapter twenty-five of Exodus God said, I want you to bring the materials that were going to build a tabernacle out of, and I'm going to dwell in that tabernacle. And the first thing he mentioned of that list was gold. You can read it in chapter twenty-five Exodus and verse one. What did he want gold for? Because gold speaks of glory and the presence of God. And that tabernacle, likely you have seen models of it. We've had a couple of preachers here with a model up here in the platform. You see the court, and that's all visible, and out in that court is the brazen altar, and also the labor. But inside the tabernacle, there is a golden lampstand. There is a table of showbread. There is the golden altar. And in the Holy of Holies, the golden mercy seat. And it pure gold. That which is closest to God in the tabernacle and also in the temple that Solomon built was pure gold. And God says, Here where I'll commune with thee, here will I meet with thee. God says, I want you right in here. This is the greatest riches. This is the most satisfying of your life in my presence, is full of joy, And at my right hand, that our pleasure is forevermore. Christian, are we paying or buying and selling in pennies and five and ten cents stores? Or are we engaging in something that's indebted to us? God wants us to be Christians in fellowship, in communion, in touch with Him. That's what He wants. And here is where the most rewards will be given for the Christian who spends time in prayer, waiting upon God in prayer. Enjoying God's presence. Remember Fanny of Crosby? And she wrote this, O the purity like it, of a single hour, that before thy throne I spend, when I kneel in prayer and with thee, my God, I commune. as friends with friends. Fanny Crosby and the people who wrote those lovely hymns were people of deep devotion. People who knew something of communing with God. People who got into the presence of God and knew something of getting into grips with God. And they could feel the presence and power of God settling upon their soul that deep Undisturbed peace and joy this world cannot disturb. Fellowship with God is the richest life on earth. It's not being on the platform preaching. It's not giving your money. It's not suffering. It's fellowship with God. This is it. The Lord Jesus spent all night in prayer. And if needed, where does that put up? before every temptation in the Lord Jesus spent time in prayer. This is our fork. This is how we prepare ourselves for the trials and temptations of life. Now, I'll assure you, you've got a nature that doesn't like to pray. No, no. You don't like to go and pray. And if you do, you're on your knees in a hurry and you're off in a hurry. I ask you, friend, and Christian, do you love the presence of God? Are you in a hurry to get on your knees and reluctant to get off? How are you going to get along in heaven when it will be God all the time? No nightmare. It will be one display of the presence and power and love of God. The Lord's going to change our bodies. I know that. But, friend, I say this. If you don't love God's presence on earth, I question you on this foundation. Because God's people love to spend time in prayer they should love to enjoy the presence of thought here on earth. Like Marxian music, those age-old words stimulating, noble, eternal, and... summon the very hearts of the earnest man. What are those words? Man, chief, end, is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Is that a summary of your life? It's the happiest life on earth. It's the only place you can get the burdens off your heart. It's the only place where you can get your problems solved. The only place we all know, real rest, and real peace, and real joy. And yet Christians don't think to spend much time at it. Like a young fellow said when he was asked about your father. Is your father a Christian? Yeah, I think he is, but he doesn't work at it very much. Are you a Christian like that? The first thing, what would you think of your children? And they didn't want to come into your presence. It was like up in the morning, they ducked out the door. They stood up and played out with kids and played out with folks in the neighborhood. And they ignored your presence. They weren't happy in your presence. How would you be? There's something abnormal. When a child doesn't want to be around the parent, there may be something wrong with the parent. There are abusive parents. Maybe they don't want their children in the house. God wants his with them as much as they can be there. He loves his children. He wants her present. Why don't you take advantage of his present? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And it says in Isaiah fourteen and thirty. They that wait upon the Lord. Move this now. They that wait. upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up upon wings as easy. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. They that wait upon the Lord. That means spending time in God's presence, delighting in the presence of God, delighting to be with him. Why, that you might be conformed to his likeness. that's where you get conformed into the likeness of God. I read something this week I thought was very appropriate along this line. There was an artist, quite a master with the brush, and he had students, and he speaks of three students. So I don't know whether he spoke about it or someone who was there in the art school observed these three students. And this first one, while he spent most all his time at the studio and at the diesel. And he was copying out incessantly the master's great pictures, looking deeply into their beauty, trying to imitate them with his own brush, up early, working late, conversing very little and associating, eating very little with the master artist. asking very few questions. He died without producing one picture worth having. The second student spent little time in the studio, scarcely saw the talent or war. I was more or less outside, not attending any of the lectures, kind of reluctant to go into the lectures of the master, constantly asking questions when he did see him, about theories of the perspective, coloring, light, shade, and also the grouping of figures, and was zealous, a zealous student of books. This young fellow didn't produce one picture worthy of his master. That was the second student. The third student, and I thought this was innocent, the third student came to love and to know the master. They were much together, long talks about all phases of an artist's life and work. They had close fellowship. They grew to talk alike and to walk alike, and to think alike, and finally to paint alike. And the young students, his work began to display some of the glory and majesty of the master themselves. The best young artist of the three is the one who's got to know the master. He bides some of the genius of the master. Friend, let me say this, you're going to paint the best picture of a Christian life dependent upon your time spent with the master himself. Just reading books is not going to do it. You've got to spend time with the author of your Bible if you're going to understand. If you're going to reproduce any of his likeness, you're going to spend long time talking with him, conversing with him, asking all kinds of questions. Time spent with the Lord is the time that comes. I've never read the life of any noble woman. who brought up a noble son or son, like Campbell Morgan, brought up four wonderful sons. You can mention Mrs. Graham. I've met her, been in her home. These women are women of prayer. They'll be the first to admit it. That closed door. Oh, what those walls heard. Only God knows. and the tears that fell on that bed coming or on that chair on that floor. These are women who made their mark in life. Women, and then come to men who spend time in the presence of God, fellowship and communion with God, just as what's going to bring forth the gold at the judgment seat of Christ. Gold is the first How wonderful. Think of those over in Revelation. You read about the Revelation chapter three. They said, And God knew their heart. Thou sayest thou art rich, and increased with goods and are need of nothing. He says, Thou knowest not that thou art wretched, thou art poor, thou art miserable, thou art blind, and thou art naked. Listen to what he says. I counsel thee to buy of me gold. tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich. White raim and that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with isab. You begin to see something in the Bible when you get into the fellowship of God that thou mayest see. Behold, I stand in the door knocked of any man. Hear my voice and open the door. I'll come into him and sup with him and he with me. This is fellowship. two spoons and one bowl. He's looking at that church in Laodicea. Outside, he was outside. There were all modernism and everything else in that church. He couldn't have fellowship with what was going on in that church. He says, I'll stand outside and I'll knock. Maybe there's a woman in there. There's a man in there who's unhappy. They're hungry for spiritual food. They're thirsty for real fellowship. and I'll give them the chance to come out to me. Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice, and open the door. I'll come into him and sup with him, and he'll sup with me. And he tells them about their poverty and their nakedness. He says, Thou sayest thou art rich, old, self-satisfied, perfectly happy. We've got it made. He says, you're so blind. Know us not that thou art poor, wretched, miserable, blind, naked. You have been out of fellowship with me so long you're just like those that go down to the pit. Little difference between you and the world. We can seemingly glide out of one atmosphere into another without any difference. You go from the atmosphere of politics entertainment, other conditions, other circumstance, and you can drift into talking about religion in the church. No change, no change. Friend, when you get passed from this wicked world into fellowship with God's light going out of an ice house into a warm, cozy room, there's a big difference in the atmosphere. This is what God wants you to enjoy. There are those in gloss with things other than gloss. They don't seem to see the difference between firecrackers and the stars, the shine in the sky. God wants your fellowship. He wants your communion, and he'd like to have it. It says in God, who are delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Delight thyself in the Lord. That's the one to delight yourself in. And I'll give you the desire of thine heart. And when you come to the next medal, silver, you've spoken about the gold. Fellowship, communion with God, and God puts that at the top. That's what he's going to reward the most. Fellowship with him. Then we come to the silver. Well, if the gold speaks, of personable, enjoyable, conscious communion with God, the silver speaks of fellowship, communion with the people of God. Your love for the people of God is only as rich as your love for God Himself. People who don't want the mix for the people of God, they're the way off. That's the best company and blessed society on earth. God speaks of them as the exponent of the earth in whom is all is delight. Some people don't like to go to certain churches. It's too spiritual. The fellowship is too real. I feel repute going into that company. That's what a church should be. A church that's warm with its fellowship and communion with God and souls are being fed should make another Christian thirst and hunger for the same thing and be a rebuke to the unconverted. Silver speaks of fellowship and communion with God and the people of God. The silver speaking of fellowship with God's beloved people. There's a family feeling toward the people of God. You read that over in Acts. And they continued daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house to eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. That was the early church Christians. They loved to be together. They delighted to be in each other's company. Gold comes first. Fellowship for God's people and with God's people comes second. This is building upon the silver. What is the fruit of this fellowship? Fellowship in God's people. You're going to grow. There must be personal growth as the individual if there's going to be corporal growth. If you get a hundred Christians, they're all in happy fellowship and communion with each other because they've all known something of real fellowship and touch with God, you're going to have a happy group, one of the happiest groups on earth. That's what God wants. And you're going to grow as an individual. And the whole church is going to grow. If there's plenty of gold, there'll be plenty of silver. Plenty of fellowship with God, that gets priority. Plenty of fellowship with the people of God. That's putting silver on this foundation. The other night it came up at the prayer meeting and we have a Bible meeting about growing. How important the subject of growing is. Well, here's a little an acrostic on Goal. G-R-O-W, Goal. An acrostic is you get a little sentence that begins with G-R-O-W. Well, here's the way to grow as an individual. Go to God in prayer. That's the first. There's your goal. Go to God in prayer. The second one, R, read his word every day. And the third one, Obey His Word every day. And the final one, W, witness for Christ every day. Show me the Christian who's doing that. Every day, prayer, reading, obeying, witnessing. You've got a happy Christian. That's what the Bible teaches. I don't know whether any of you... know anything about Anthony Ziole. I've heard his name mention many times. It wasn't my honor to meet him, to meet him. It was a wonderful character. He was in prison so much, why he'd crime after crime because of dope, crime break from a dope hat as they kept him in prison. But Ziole was an awful character. spending most of his life in this prison. And also, he was spending most of it in isolation. He wasn't allowed to be with others, solitary confinement. And it was off. And if he did get out, he wasn't long gone in Chinatown with a gun in his hand, ready to kill and rob again. But he took ill. He'd got the flu in solitary confinement. She'd hardly entered. And the chaplain, she'd gone through him time and time again. He says, Zoli, you've got to clean up. You've got to reform. That's what you need. One day one of the guards got a Bible from his sister-in-law. I don't know whether it's because it came from his sister-in-law or not, or whether it's because he had no respect for the Bible. But he threw this Bible in a Zoli. Maybe this will do you some good. Still he read that Bible, and he got to know Christ, and his life changed. And you know the first one he witnessed to? The chaplain. Hey, chaplain, why didn't you tell us about sin and about the Savior? You just told me about your reform. You didn't tell me about sin and the Savior. But I found Christ, and you had a good talk to the chaplain. The next he witnessed to was sixteen hundred prisoners in that institution. And then when he was released, because of his change in life, he was released. He had a sister that was praying for him day after day. And when he was released, he went to see all the members of his family and witnessed to them about Jesus Christ in need of being saved. The next he went to were his old buddies. Old colonies were on our island. He went and whispered to everyone. And then the next one he went to was the judges that sentenced him. And he gave them the gospel. And he went to the detectives from the policeman that arrested them on several occasions. And now instead of Ziole running from them, they were running from Ziole. He had such a testimony. Giving them the gospel. This is witnessing for Christ. He was so grateful to God for saving him. Why his life was changed? What did he want to do? Witness. That's what he wanted to do. Witnessing for Jesus Christ. I wonder if we are going, the more goals in your life, fellowship with God, The more you'll love God's people and the more you'll slub poor sinners, you'll want to reach the loss for Christ, the longest even saved. I wonder, friend, if this means anything to you this morning, think of that lovely benediction over in Second Corinthians, Thirteen, Eleven, Fourteen. This is real communion among God's people. And what does it say over there? It says this in Corinthians. Finally, brethren, farewell, be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Greet one another with an holy kiss. All the saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. And what is the communion of the Holy Spirit? It's simply this, the Spirit of God working in your heart, working in my heart, helping us to enjoy the things of God together in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's silver. That's what's going to count when you get to the judgment seat of Christ. These intangible things, fellowship and communion with God, and fellowship and communion with God's people, these are the things. that count for eternity. And this is what God's going to look for. We haven't time to go into the others. We'll have to leave that for next week. Friend, I trust that if you're not a Christian this morning, you haven't built anything. You haven't started the building. You're not even on the foundation. You're still a sinner. And if Christians are going to be judged, what about you? You can point your finger or criticism of a Christian, but that Christian has done something you haven't done. That Christian has accepted Jesus Christ and been born again. And that's what you haven't done. Ah, yes, the worst Christian that ever lived is better in the sight of God than the best sinner ever lived. God judged the man by his attitude toward Jesus Christ, has he accepted him or has he not? Then... You have nothing to build on until you know Jesus Christ. Nothing to build on for eternity. Everything in your life will be wood, hay, and stubble, gone up in smoke. You with it. I wonder if you will take Christ and take him this morning. Take him now. He loves you. He wants to save you. Will you open your heart? Will you let him in? Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who commends to thy presence, we ask thy blessing on thy word. May we, thy beloved people, realize true value, and what true value is in thy sight, and will be in the balances, in the scales, in eternity, for thou shalt weigh them all. That which is eternal is invisible. Intimacy, fellowship, communion with thee, the living and the true, God, and also fellowship, to thy beloved people. God bless thy word to our hearts, and speak to any who are unsaved. May such come to know the Savior, whom to know is life eternal. We ask that for Christ our Savior's sake. Amen. Shall we sing in closing a verse for two? Our favorite hymn, two for two. Out of my bondage, Sorrow a night, Jesus I come. Jesus I come into thy freedom, gladness, and light. Jesus, I come to thee. Now, if you're not a Christian, like to make this decision and build for eternity of something that will last on the other side of death, come and receive Christ as we stand and sing this hymn, Out of my voice is battle and might, Jesus I come, Jesus I come, and you might breathe on silence and light, Jesus I come to thee. In our passage we'll get to that later, the word loss was found. Everything lost. You have that in the second verse. Out of my shameful failure and loss. If you're not saved, everything in your life is lost up to now. It's only when you know Christ that you've begun to live and deal in that which is eternal, eternal riches. The second verse would be our last unless someone comes to Christ. Out of my shameful anger that I love, Jesus I come, Jesus I come, into the glorious day of my love, till I come. This meaning is over.