The sermon titled 'No Other Foundation' by David Green focuses on 1 Corinthians 3 and emphasizes the importance of Jesus Christ as the sole foundation for the church and individual believers. The speaker discusses the issues within the Church of Corinth, highlighting their lack of spiritual maturity and divisions among members. He explains that while Paul and Apollos played roles in planting and watering, it is God who gives the increase. The sermon warns against laying foundations other than Christ and stresses the importance of building upon this foundation with works that will withstand divine scrutiny. The speaker addresses the role of grace and faith in salvation, rejecting the notion that church membership alone can save. He concludes by reinforcing the centrality of the Gospel message, which is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the cornerstone of Christian faith and practice.

1 Corinthians chapter 3, beginning verse 1, it says here, 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 then 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, 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, yes so as by fire." This is the Word of God and this is our text today.

The title of my message is No Other Foundation. No other foundation. When you have a building project, the foundation is of top importance. In fact, In fact, without the foundation, the walls, the roof, the flooring, all of the things that you may do to the building itself are of little significance if the foundation is not right. In fact, over a little bit of time, everything will come crumbling down.

It will all fall apart. Whenever we've, Jill and I have gone looking for houses in various places where we've moved. We've seen some nice houses. And get an inspection. The inspection report comes back and they'll say, well, the house is nice, but the foundation is not right.

There's crumbling at the foundation, or there's a crack in the foundation. There's a problem with the foundation. Verse 11 is my text. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. This evening as we gather together we are coming together as a church, the Lord's church.

The Lord's Church. We've come together to worship and we've come together to observe the Lord's Supper. This letter, the letter of 1 Corinthians, is Paul's letter to them. It was a canonical letter, meaning that he wrote it under inspiration of the Spirit. It was written to another one of the Lord's churches, the Church of Corinth.

We thank God for that. There's a lot of instruction in the New Testament for the Lord's churches, but I want to caution you about something. We don't want to go so extreme with that to say that everything in the New Testament is written for the Lord's churches because it's not. There are some men out there who take a position and say that everything in the New Testament is written for churches only. But if you take a position like that, eventually you'll start to believe that you have to be a church member in order to be saved, and that's just not right.

Many, many years ago, Ray Hyatt wrote in the Baptist Examiner, he said, I am a Baptist by grace, thank God, but I was a son before I was a Baptist, and I had my father's name. I was a priest before I was a Baptist, and so was every other child of God that he has placed in the church. The only ones who are qualified to be in the Lord's churches are those who have been made priests in the blood of Christ. And we believe that, we trust that, and we take that. That's what the Bible teaches.

You have to be washed in the blood before you can ever be wet in the baptistry. So we know that we have brothers and sisters out there who are outside of the church, and we rejoice in that. That, you know, we're small, and we know there's not very many churches out in this world, but we rejoice in knowing that we have some brothers and sisters out there who may be a little bit different than us and that sort of thing. And so when we read this text, other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. I want you to understand this is for sure applicable to the church.

It's applicable to the things that we do in the church and as a church. But I want you to also understand that it's also applicable to you as an individual, to me as an individual. It's applicable to you as a family, in the spirit that you are in, and all of those things. Because understand something, churches are made up of individuals, and churches are made up of families and in order for church to have the foundation right it's got to It's got to be right in every aspect, and we can't compartmentalize and say, well, I've got everything right at church, but at home it doesn't matter. It does matter.

It does matter. Let's put it this way. A church can have everything right from from organization all the way through and through but even if you can rattle your chain all the way to John the Baptist If you don't have Christ as your foundation, none of that matters much, does it? Churches are made up of people, and each one of us has to examine not only the idea, are we in the right church, but also how are we living, and what are we doing, and what's going on in our lives. We've got to be right, and it starts with a regenerate church membership.

We all understand that. We for sure have talked about it in the past. Before you come to be a member here, we examine, Have you been saved? Have you been born again? It starts there.

Ephesians chapter two, go with me over there for a moment. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 through 10. He says, For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. It's by grace that we've been saved through faith. What is grace?

It's unmerited favor. You and I didn't deserve any of it. Through faith, that wasn't even Through faith, that wasn't even of ourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works. It's not works that saves us. It's not even your faith that saved you.

Everyone has faith of some capacity. Why even the biggest atheist in the world has faith in something. He's got faith that God doesn't exist. There were a lot of people yesterday had faith that that airplane was going to get them to Brunswick. And it didn't get them there.

They had to turn around and go back to Atlanta. Then second time around, they came back. They had faith that it was gonna get them there. And it did. It did.

The question isn't so much about faith. The question is, where is your faith? Where is your faith? You see, even the devils believe and they tremble, But their devil still, you see. There are people out there today who put their faith in the government, they put their faith in the church.

Sounds like, reading the letter that Paul wrote to the Church of Corinth, there may have been people who put their faith in the preachers. Some said they were of Apollos, some said that they were of Paul, you know, that sort of thing. Where is your faith? And this is what it boils down to. It's not faith that saves, but what's the object of your faith?

Are you trusting in the One who saves? That's Jesus Christ. And today, when we look at this subject, the subject of no other foundation, when we get to the point of the service where we observe the Lord's Supper. This is all by faith. None of us have seen Jesus Christ.

None of us were there at the cross when He died. We weren't there physically. But is your faith in Him? There is no boasting. There's no boasting.

What could we possibly boast in? You and I couldn't save ourselves. I mean, I know what my life's like, And I live with a portion of this church. I know what their lives are like. I know what the Bible says.

We couldn't stand a chance in and of ourselves. What's the scripture says? What's the scripture say there? As good of a man as Paul was after his conversion, Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6 verse 14 and 15 he Verse 14 and 15.

He says, But God forbid that I should glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." He said, God forbid that I should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What happened at the cross? Well that's where Jesus Christ did everything that was required for my salvation, for Paul's salvation, and for your salvation. You weren't there.

There was nothing that could be accomplished by you there. He said, He said, I'm not glory in anything except for in Christ. I don't have anything to brag about except for in Jesus. In John 14 and verse 6, When Thomas asked the question, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way Jesus sayeth unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." There is no other way to get to heaven.

There's no way to get to the Father. There's no way that you and I could ever be saved except through Jesus Christ. That's... That he is the savior. Being a good person, even being a good Baptist won't get you there.

Indeed, having the right baptism, having part of the Lord's Supper, none of these things will get you to heaven. Keeping the Ten Commandments, none of that will get you to heaven. But all these things have their place and certainly we ought to do them, but we do them because we have been saved, not in order to be saved. And again, in so much that we're able to do anything, it's all to the glory of God. We have nothing to brag about.

All our glory is in God, to the praise of Jesus Christ. Back in our text there in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, We see some of the issues that were going on there at the church at Corinth. We see some contrast that were happening. Right, first we see the Church of Corinth. Paul lays it out there under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Beginner verse 1, he says, 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 Now 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 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? We see this terrible picture that's being painted here of what's going on at Corinth. There was this division and fighting that was going on amongst these brethren. Where there should have been unity in the church, there wasn't.

There was division. These people should have been able to have grown so much that they should have been able to go from taking the milk of the word. But he said I can't give you the meat you'll choke on it You're not able to take it. Perhaps you've been around a baby who's got something wrong with it. The baby's not growing, not developing properly.

It should have already gone on to be able to take some solid food, but for whatever reason this baby's got something wrong. The growth has been stunted. Take the baby to the doctor to see what's going on because obviously there's a problem. Paul says there's a problem here. I can't speak unto you as spiritual but as under carnal even as babes in Christ.

You've got all this fighting going on, he says. There's envying, strife and divisions. You're walking like men. He says it's time to grow up. You should be able to handle the meat of the word.

They were acting like newborn babes, but they weren't. They should have already grown. But look there in verse 5, Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers by whom you believed even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted, a polish 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 your God's husbandry your God's building We see the contrast now Paul as a mature spiritual leader a mature spiritual Missionary a preacher who has grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. He is showing them this is what spiritual maturity looks like. I'll not get involved with your squabbles over who's better, whether it be Apollos or Paul, or if you go further back in the Epistle, you'll find that they were also saying, some people were saying they were of Cephas. He said, who is Paul? Who is Apollos?

But ministers by whom you believe. We're just tools in the hands of God. That's all we are. We are men. That's all we are.

I planted, abolished water, but God gives the increase. He that planteth and he that watereth are one. We're equal. There's no difference between me and Apollos, he says. But we're going to get a reward This is the Christ centered life What it looks like We're not in competition with each other not inside the church, not outside the church, not the preachers, not the man in the pulpit, not the folks in the pew, none of that.

You see, he says, we are laborers together. You see that circle, that we, if you want. Paul didn't say, well, y'all are doing your thing and I'm doing my thing. No, no, we. We.

There's some preachers who'd like to parade themselves around and act like they're above everybody else, but not Paul. He said we. That's what I like about his epistles. You always read them and there's always, in almost every one of his epistles and perhaps all of them, I didn't quite check this out, but I'm pretty sure all of them, There's always some names in there that you and I would never know. You wouldn't know these names except Paul mentioned them.

They were helpers in his ministry. They were men as well as women. Okay? Men as well as women. Mark it down, look them up.

You wouldn't know anything about them except Paul mentions them in his letters. They helped him out in the ministry. We are labors together. That's what a Christ-centered life looks like. And that's the way it is in churches as well as in life.

Well as in life. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 31, Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Whatever you do, whether you're eating or drinking. I know some who take this and say, well this just applies to the church, this just applies to the Lord's Supper, but I don't believe that. Obviously, yeah, when we observe the Lord's Supper, we better do it to the glory of God, But I don't believe this is limited to church capacity.

It's a fact when we come together as a church and we fellowship in the hall back there and we're all gathered around the table back there. We better do it to the glory of God, but what about when you're at home? When you're at the restaurant, when you're by yourself, when you're with your family, whatever you're doing, Do it all to the glory of God. Christ is foundational to your life. This can be done and it should be done.

Christ is foundation to your life, to your day, to your marriage, your salvation, the church that you are a member of, all of these things all come together. And so think about this and consider it. What does your day look like? What is your life like? Examine yourselves and think about these things Just thinking about the things that we do and the places we go and things we even sit down and eating.

Do we sit down and before we eat do we give God thanks? And if we do, is it just a rushed prayer? Do we have time for the Lord in our busy lives? Lives. Back in our text there in 1st Corinthians chapter 3, Picking up where we left off, he says, for we are laborers.

Verse 9, we are laborers together with God. You're God's husbandry, you're God's building. We are laborers together. The Lord's work is that. It is work.

And while there are obviously things that have to be done that the pastor does and that sort of thing. There's still work for all of us to do. What is it that you're laboring to do for the Lord in your life? Is it a Christ-centered labor? But there in our centered labor.

But there in our text, For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, verse 10, which is Christ Jesus. The foundation has been laid. The foundation has been laid. It's not our pedigree. It's not the Bible we use.

It's not the pastors that have gone before us. It's not the traditions that we have. Those things are important. Don't get me wrong, but what is important, what we've got to understand is that without Christ as the foundation, none of that matters. Think of it this way, If we have a great Bible, and we have great pastors, and we have great traditions, if none of that is set on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

What is it we're doing? I know some men who are very, very focused on order. Very, very focused on order. I wanna say something, I hope I'm not misunderstood here, but a cemetery can be very, very orderly. I've been in places where it's almost like you're walking into a cemetery, churches that are almost like a cemetery, but yet they're very, very orderly.

I'd rather pastor a nursery. I hope you understand the illustration I'm about to give. I'd rather pastor a nursery that is full of life and growth, where things are a little bit out of order, than to be in a cemetery where everything is dead and lifeless, but it's all orderly. You see what I'm saying? Growth is a good thing as long as people are learning.

The problem that was happening at Corinth was that they weren't growing. They weren't moving, and they were out of order. And so we just have to take things and kind of look at them. And we see a church that says, well, everything's in order, but it's dead. Wait a second, that's a problem too, right?

The church at Corinth was a mess. They were following men more than Christ. We've got to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ and sometimes when you're building before everything looks nice, it looks a mess. Like can you imagine right now if you were building, if you're planning to build a house right now and all you had was the foundation. Can you imagine what it would look like tonight?

All the mud and the mess that it would be in. It would be hard to imagine the nice house that's going to be there in a year or so. But eventually, if you keep at it, it's gonna look nice. The Church of Corinth needed some help. Paul said, Paul said, Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Don't reinvent the wheel. Don't lay another foundation. Build on that foundation. In fact, if you back up to verse 10, which I accidentally skipped, he said, According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, another buildeth thereupon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon." You see Paul was the founding missionary that started the Church of Corinth. How was it started?

It was started on the foundation of Jesus Christ. That was the foundation upon which that church was started. Yes, they had authority from another church, but it had to be started on Jesus Christ. And he said, take heed how you build. Take heed how you build because check this out.

Some people try to reinvent things with the wrong foundation and that messes things up too, But there's other people who have the right foundation and then they build things up wrong, adding on to it. He says this, 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 would hast double. 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 their bond, 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 is by fire." The foundation was laid. The church at Corinth needed that reminder. We need that reminder too from time And then he says, be careful how you build on it. Don't build somewhere else, but also be careful how you're building on Christ's foundation. The Church of Corinth had a solid foundation.

You and I, we have a solid foundation too. But be careful. Foundation too. But be careful. Even it's possible to do the right things in the wrong way.

If you go into further into the letter, into the epistle in 1 Corinthians 11, look at what they were doing there with the Lord's Supper. Corinthians 11 verse 17 says, he says, Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. For there must also be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper.

For needing everyone taketh before the other in his own supper. One is hungry and another is drunk. What have you not houses to eat, to drink in, or despise you the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say unto you? Shall I praise you in this?

I praise you not." In our King James Bible, it's using some older language there, but if we were to put it in modern English, he would say something like this. He would say, what I'm about to tell you I'm not going to praise you for, but when you're coming together it'd be better off if you stayed home. Now you think about that for a moment. For a missionary like Paul to tell the church that they'd be better off staying home than what they were doing, That's pretty strong language. In verse 20, he says, when you come together therefore in one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper.

I suppose the modern way we'd say that is, I don't know what y'all are calling that, but that's not the Lord's Supper. When you've got one person who's coming in hungry and another person who's drunken, This is a mess. And that's what I'm saying. They weren't rebuked for having the wrong elements. They had all that right, but they made a meal out of it.

Paul had told them earlier in the letter, Be careful how you're building. Be careful how you're building. They were meeting as a church, but they were doing it wrong. There was divisions in there and all that sort of thing. That's why it says, take heed.

Take heed how you build on this foundation. He likens it to wood, hay, stubble, gold, silver, precious stones. Those things we do in the flesh, those things we do that aren't for the glory of God, That's the wood, hay, and stubble. But those things we do for the Lord, that's the gold, silver, and precious stones. He says all this is going to be tried by fire.

Someday when we stand before the Lord, all that will be tried by fire. The things of this flesh will burn up, but the things of God will abide and will have a reward. God is satisfied and well pleased when we build on the foundation, the one and only foundation, Jesus Christ. Is that where you're standing today? Is that where your home is?

Is that where you're building in the Lord's Church? Is that where you are today in your life? Is that where your focus is? As I bring this to a close, I'd like for us to go over to 1 Corinthians 15. This was going to be my text for my other sermon this morning.

I want to bring it up now at the close of this sermon. 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 through 6 he says, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. He said to that church, he said, I'm declaring to you, I'm proclaiming to you this gospel, this glorious good news. Folks, don't ever tire of the gospel.

Don't ever tire of the message of Jesus Christ. He said, this is the message that I preach to you by which you're saved. He said, I delivered this. Verse 3. First of all, first of all, think of that.

First of all, this gospel is of most importance. Jesus is the message of the gospel. That's what the gospel is all about. It's all about him. First of all, he says, it's of most importance because he is of most importance.

First of all, number one priority, he proclaimed to them this He proclaimed to them this good news of the Gospel, first of all. The death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ. This is the message of salvation. This is the message that we preach and as we gather tonight we rejoice in knowing not only that Christ died but knowing that he died for our sins, knowing that he died for us, and knowing, beloved, that he's alive. For he said, this do in remembrance of me till I come.

One day he's coming back, and we rejoice in that. And so, this is the message, but we now invite the members of this church to come to the first couple, two or three rows there for the observance of the Lord's Supper.