 Now in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 12 through 17, Paul writes, Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood hay straw, each one's work will become manifest. For the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Now, as we begin the Corinthians, as we've been seeing here in 1 Corinthians, from chapter 1 up to chapter 3, Paul has already made this clear that the Corinthians have begun to exalt men. And to place teachers, special teachers, onto pedestals. They've put these teachers into special places of honor. And so, as they begun doing that, as is so natural, they developed a list of favorite teachers. And people do that. Well, I have my favorite teachers, and that's what's happened here in the Corinthian church. They speak concerning the fact that they are followers of the apostle Paul, or they're followers of the apostle Cephas, Peter, or they're followers of Apollos. Some were saying, we don't even need a church group, really. We're just followers of Jesus himself. And so, this mentality that has been developed here in the Corinthian church is in reality an act of spiritual immaturity, and it's fueled by their carnality. Paul is making it clear that ministers are not exalted members of the body of Christ. And very often, we see this to be true, that the pastor and pastoral staff are treated with some special recognition, as if they're very special. Indeed, they have a special ministry. They take the word of God and give it to people. That is a wonderful and special ministry. Even as we were looking in James today in chapter 3, verse 1, he said, don't assume the position of teacher with a sense of it not being an important office. Don't aspire to be a teacher because you're going to receive a stricter judgment. And so, teachers have a great responsibility, and indeed, teachers should be honored by those whom they minister to. I think that respect is a wonderful thing to have for your pastors, as well as the pastors showing respect to the people. It is something that should be just there in the body of Christ, and all of that is understandable. But ministers are not the exalted members of the church. In reality, the Bible makes it very clear and uses strong words when it says that ministers are simply slaves. They're servants of Jesus Christ, and should always be viewed in that manner. In Matthew in chapter 20, verses 25 through 28, the Lord Jesus Christ speaking here, it says that Jesus called them to himself, and he said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as a son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. When Jesus was speaking concerning greatness in the kingdom, he said greatness is really something that is demonstrated by servitude. It is shown by your willingness to lay your life down. It's shown by your willingness to serve people in the body. In Matthew 2311, he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And so that's all that Paul is speaking about. Again, having a deep love for those who care for you spiritually is right, and it is healthy. It produces a loving church. Loving one another is a mark of a healthy church, and obviously the pastor being loved and the sheep being loved, that's just a great environment. And that's something that the Word of God actually commands, that ministers, pastors ought to be respected and ought to be esteemed. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 12 and 13, Paul said, We urge you brethren to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love for their work sake. Be at peace among yourselves. And so that mentality of loving one another and loving those who serve the Lord and minister to you is a proper attitude and it produces a reverent church and it produces a loving church. But when Christians exercise favoritism, it is always wrong and it's always unhealthy. Favoring one teacher over another fosters strife, envy, and division even as we see here in verse 3. It also leads to being receptive to teachers based on non-spiritual qualifications. When you begin to just honor people simply because you like them, then you're open to be deceived by them. I don't know if you understand that, but it's true. Some of you've had experience. You like them enough to make an excuse for them and when they begin to make errors in the pulpit, you haven't been in the Word and being taught well enough to even discern that the things that are being said are not scriptually solid. But you like them so much that you just keep listening to them. And what happens is your discernment is blunted because you're not exercising wisdom and discipline of knowing God's Word enough to be able to hear and to say this doesn't line up with what I've been studying in Scripture. And so what happens when you begin to prefer people over the integrity of the Word is you get yourself in a lot of trouble. Discernment is something that we as a body of Christ are supposed to develop. It's the ability to judge something clearly. Discernment is the ability to perceive what is obscure, meaning that it is your ability to see beyond the haze. You're able to look at something but look deeper than the outside because sometimes it can be obscured by my personality or by just a lot of excitement or whatever. And that happens quite often. So when you start to exercise discernment, you're able to look beyond that and look for the substance. So discernment speaks of having insight. It speaks of the ability of judging right from what is wrong. And it has been said, failure to distinguish between truth and error leaves the Christian subject to all manner of false teaching. False teaching then leads to an unbiblical mindset which results in unfruitful and disobedient living a certain recipe for compromise. And so for the believer discernment is not an option. Discernment is a requirement. And it is the responsibility of every person in this room every Christian to be discerning to listen and to weigh things through. Like it says again in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 21 and 22 test all things, hold fast to that which is good abstain from every form of evil. Discernment. Discernment comes from spending time in the Word of God. Discernment comes from walking in the Spirit of God. Psalm 119-24, your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors. When you get into the Word of God, God begins to actually teach you and counsel you through his Word and you begin to delight in that. Psalm 119-99, I have more understanding than all my teachers for your testimonies are my meditation. So you get into the Word and you meditate on it and then you turn on the radio when you're going to work or you turn on a TV program and you listen to somebody speaking and you're able to discern right from wrong. So when that teacher says to you that he was so filled in the Spirit that he walked off the platform and hovered in the air for a while you're not going to send that guy money. And to us I think that, you know, that's such an absurd claim that you might not realize that it was actually made. And that is an actual quote from somebody who's well known. And so we think, oh, the absurdity of all of that. Well, not to those who support that ministry, not to those who send their love gifts and their offerings to keep them on the air. No, to them that was just, that was gospel truth. That was the meat of the Word. Like that individual who said that he cast a demon out of himself. And he said this might upset some of your theology. But you need to know I cast a demon out of myself. Now think about that for a minute. Cast a demon, what did you do? Look in the mirror? I don't know. I don't think the demon came out. It was a demon of lying. It's still there. But see, it's the absurdity of these things. Now these are things that aren't obscured. These are things that are clear. But there are a lot of people who like these people. One person was saying that God has not been manifest as a trinity. God actually has nine persons in the Godhead. That is called rank heresy. And he continues in his ministry and people keep sending him money. So discernment, the body of Christ needs to have it. We need to have the ability to judge between truth and error. And the way that we receive that is being saturated in the Word of God. There's somebody in one of our cities here in Southern California area that is passing out counterfeit $100 bills. And been going on a buying spree. I was watching the news just yesterday. And we'll walk in with this $100 bill and buy something like postcards or something that doesn't cost much but they're breaking the bills so that they can get the change. And so in real money they're getting paid in the real but they're using the artificial. And so the people who have been at the counter are not even recognizing the counterfeit. And so what happens is they take their money in, these businesses, and the banks have individuals there who begin to go through the money and then they're pulling these bills out saying these are counterfeit. Now how did that bank teller know that they're counterfeit? Well the bank teller knows that they're counterfeit because a bank teller handles the real thing all the time. And holding onto and touching the real truth you're going to know when something is false. But if you're not in the truth you're not going to be able to discern when something isn't true. So you're going to be susceptible to error. And many times false teachers are so likeable. They say such likeable things. And they say it was such a delightful smile. And they've got a wonderful personality that you just are taking hook, line, and sinker because you really like this person but they're not telling you the truth. Well Paul would have issue with that. Jesus would have issue with that. The entire Bible takes issue with that because what we're supposed to do is honor the truth and know the truth and to test all things. To be in the Word of God. Now Paul is speaking about that and he's speaking about himself here in this passage as what he refers to as a wise master builder. One who has built on a solid foundation. The question has to be asked as Paul is speaking about himself as being a wise master builder built in on the foundation. We have to ask what is the foundation he's been speaking about and the foundation is faith in the teachings and in the person of Jesus Christ who is the Messiah. He's built on the solid foundation of Jesus. In Ephesians 2 19 through 22 he says it like this consequently you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord and in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. And so Jesus Christ is our sure foundation. Now he's aware of the fact that others are going to follow after him and he knows that they're going to be building on the foundation that he's laid and because others are going to do so he warned them he warned them in verse 10 he warned them about how they build notice how he says that the conclusion of verse 10 is to let each one take heed how he builds on it and so there's a warning there he's warning people to be warned to those who are going to be teaching he's warning them to remain faithful to Jesus Christ he says each one is to take heed that word taking heed means to weigh carefully how you build on it why because you are more accountable God's word and the teaching of God's word is never to be taken lightly is never to be approached casually in the soberness of such a task you need to give out the word of God it should never be done in a casual way I still remember the first time I taught a Sunday morning service in 1979 at the church I was being ordained in and there was a prayer meeting on Saturday night several of the men went to and we were in a front room at the pastor's house and as we were there I remember being on our knees we were all on our knees praying and I began to weep because I was going to teach the next day and there was a young man there probably 18 years old I was around 28, 29 at the time and at the end of the prayer meeting he came up to me and he said why were you crying? I said because tomorrow I have the honor of opening God's word before the congregation and I'm afraid I'm afraid to misrepresent Jesus Christ Isaiah tells us in chapter 66 verse 2 for all those things my hand has made and all those things exist says the Lord but on this one will I look on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word and that's the attitude that is proper not to just casually pick up a Bible and just flip it open and flippantly say things that you think might be true there are many believers who do that kind of open it up kind of talk about it speak of Jesus as if they kind of hang together their best buds this kind of thing and yes Jesus loves me and yes he's my closest and most dear friend but I didn't call my dad man and I didn't speak flippantly to him in our home maybe it was the same in yours maybe different but I can tell you this we didn't even say yeah to my dad I can still remember one time I was 10 years old and I was upset at my brother because my brother had cheated and won all my marbles I still remember that I still hate my brother for stealing my marbles but that's when I originally lost my marbles but I was really angry and my dad said well your brother beat you fair and square which my dad wasn't there he didn't see so I was really angry and Frank my brother's just smiling yeah with that smile that you just want to pop him in the head because he's getting away with something and there's nothing I can do and so I turn around in a huff and I walk out the front door and I go out storming into the front yard and my dad says David and calls me and I remember saying yeah and then my dad repeats what I just said he goes yeah my dad didn't put up with that even yeah even yeah you don't say yeah to your father and so I said I'm sorry dad yes sir what do you want because that's how you treated my dad now if I treat a human being with that kind of respect how much more so God I was in the military and you get a lieutenant even a lieutenant which we didn't really respect a whole lot I have to be honest with you or a captain then you have more respect major yeah lieutenant colonel more colonel more general yeah if the general walks in and he says soldier you don't go yeah you'll be doing extra duty for the rest of your time in the service you stand up and you throw that so you do all that you need to do it's just a general this is a guy who puts his pants on one pant leg at a time just like you he has to lace up his boots just like you human being but you don't treat him with disrespect this is a general I have to tell you something there's a whole lot of us who treat Jesus with a lot of disrespect we don't tremble at his word it's kind of something we go yeah to him casual maybe maybe not that's not the mark of a genuine mature believer that's why Jesus said why do you call me lord lord and do not the things which I say why do you with your mouth say yes but with your life say no how's that work how's that relationship with me so God's word the teaching of God's word false teachers handle it carelessly and give things that are not found there a genuine teacher spends their time studying praying preparing and then delivering and that teacher of God's word is faithful to communicate all that the Lord has given the Lord is God's word Proverbs 30 verses 5 and 6 says every word of God is flawless he is a shield to those who take refuge in him do not add to his words or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar you don't add to his word and you don't take away from it so that's why here in this passage Paula's warning would be teachers to take heed how they build on the foundation of Jesus Christ this word there's a writer by the name of Steve Lawson and Steve Lawson said something that I thought was worthy of repeating Steve Lawson said this he said a new way of doing church is emerging exposition of the Bible is being replaced with entertainment preaching with performances doctrine with drama and theology with theatrics the wave of pastors is reinventing the church and repackaging the gospel into a product to be sold to consumers when man centered schemes are followed often imitating the world schemes the flesh provides the energy and man receives the glory in a strange twist the preaching of the cross is now foolishness not only to the world but also to the contemporary church that's true that is true the time has come when people no longer will endure healthy teaching but they will heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears and will turn aside from the truth and be turned unto fables that is what we see in the church today people who are not there for a Bible study but there for something entirely different and when they're not amused or their imagination isn't tickled or if they're not given some new strange thing that makes them know a little bit more than their next door neighbor then they find a place that meets that kind of need that they have and they walk away from the solid foundation of the gospel and they end up walking away from truth itself very often and so why is keeping Jesus and his word at the center so important well if people start looking only to other people they are vulnerable to error and doctrine Satan cannot take you from Jesus so he confuses you about him with bad teaching Satan knows that believing the gospel sets you free Satan knows that the gospel when taken by faith, when the message of Christ is taken by faith and you begin to see it more than simply being I've now been saved when you begin to see it as being I am now saved but I'm being brought to spiritual health my life is being transformed those habits of the flesh that I've had that I've entertained for so long those things that I have been consumed with and in bondage to are now being removed from me and it's all because I'm being renewed in my mind through the washing of God's word and I'm starting to think differently because what I at one time thought was just natural and normal is not and I'm discovering the things that are right as I study the word of God and I approach the word as if it really is God's word it's not the word of man it isn't something that has been made up by some theological genius this is something that has been communicated by revelation and God inspired the authors and this is his word and therefore I better adhere to it and so I study it so I might show myself approved into God when you have that mentality when you say this really feeds me this is God's word this is God's truth and you begin to see that salvation is offered to you yes but also a brand new way of living and thinking satan knows that satan feels very satisfied if you want to step in and be saved he doesn't want that at all he wants you to be eternally damned but he's satisfied if he can't steal your salvation he's satisfied tearing you up giving you bad things to think about and to do and giving you the sense of permission that God is blessing you as you do that and he does that through error he knows that the gospel sets you free he knows that you are set free from bondage when you know the word of God because that's what the word promises when Jesus was speaking it's found in Luke 4 18 he said this he said the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives heal the brokenhearted preach deliverance to those who are in jail satan wants you to stay brokenhearted and he wants you to stay in bondage and so he wants to muddle the word of God the apostle peter in Acts 4 verse 12 said neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved so what does he do Satan works tirelessly to keep people from receiving the undiluted gospel of Jesus Christ in order to undermine the work of God what does he do he alters its message he even has evangelists satan has satanically empowered evangelists Paul speaks of that in 2nd Corinthians 11 in verse 4 he said if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus we preached or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted you put up with it easily enough but he goes on in verses 13 through 15 to say for such men are false apostles deceitful workmen masquerading as apostles of Christ and no wonder for satan himself masquerades as an angel of light it is not surprising then if his servants masquerade his servants of righteousness their end will be their actions deserve so yeah there's no doubt about that he has people out there taking a false gospel to the world and their satanically energized false teachers to undermine the church Satan attacks it he attacks it from the outside and he attacks it from within hatred of the world indifference unbelief and persecution are manners in which he attacks the church from the outside but he also does it through false teachers who infiltrate who enter in and bring their doctrine when Paul was speaking to some elders the elders of the church of Ephesus it's recorded in Acts 20 verse 29 he said to them I know this that after my departure I will come in among you not sparing the flock and so he says I know what's going to happen to the church the church is going to have people who are going to start entering in and their savage wolves these are false teachers who are introducing error and heresy I know that's going to happen and he actually told them be on your guard because indeed false teachers although they may be attacking and attempting to infiltrate very often you'll be able to recognize them and just when they begin to speak the ones that are more effective are the ones who are part of the body for a long time and gain the ear and respect of people around them and then they begin to start sharing the things that they say God has recently taught them and given them insight into and that's something else Paul said would happen he said from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves and that's what does happen on occasion every church can encounter an individual who can become well known to members of the congregation to some degree and then what they do is they influence people to go in the direction that they want them to go and very often they're using false teaching as they do so and personal teachers will always draw men to themselves I call them spiritual scalp hunters they're out there looking for notches on their belt of people that they've wanted their own way of thinking these people very often are the heroes of their own stories they're the boasters who simply promote themselves I can't tell you as a younger believer how often I would because I wanted to be fed and all I would watch programs and I started noticing some things that were frequent and you have seen the same thing I'm not trying to be somebody's judge and hypercritical it's just an observation but I noticed it that the person was when they were preaching they always were the heroes of their own stories always I was on the plane the plane was going down and I said oh Jesus what should I do and Jesus said stand up and speak I put words in your mouth and I said yes look and I stood up and I heard it and I preached and the plane went straight back up then we had a baptism in the bathroom and I've heard this what are you talking about heroes in their own stories never wrong never did anything wrong always right always powerful always there always on and I don't know a single person like that outside of me humbly and who's always on who is always on you know what I'm saying I mean the apostle Paul is being he's being mistreated and he speaks to the high priest and and because they think that Paul is being disrespectful someone hits him and he looks at the high priest and he says God will smite you you white washed tomb wait a minute haven't you read first Corinthians 13 about love Paul this man this man spoke they said how dare you do you revile God's high priest he looks at him and he said I didn't even know he was God's high priest what are you saying Paul you receive letters to go out and persecute the church you know who the high priest of Israel is what are you saying Paul he's not the high priest Jesus Christ is the high priest you might look at him as a high priest what are you doing Paul you know I take inspiration from Paul because he was a straight shooter he spoke the truth but if somebody pops you and decide to the head you might say something too now there are some who would disagree and say oh no that was said in love all I know is sometimes he showed that he had a pretty strong disposition when he was speaking through the mutilators of the flesh in the book of Galatians he said they might as well go and cut themselves off basically that's what he's saying and when you know Galatians and you know what he's speaking about there were those who were coming in saying that unless you received the act of circumcision if you were a Gentile male and never had been circumcised unless you're circumcised you need to go out there and be circumcised or else you're not fulfilling the letter of the law or could never know the fullness of God's grace and Paul is saying there are people who come in right now we're telling you to be circumcised and why don't they just go all the way and castrate themselves that's a pretty strong statement to make but he was a man who loved truth and he loved the sheep and he hated seeing legalism coming into the church of Galatia he spoke his mind and he spoke it strongly why Paul? because truth matters because truth sets you free and lies bring you into bondage and God's grace is sufficient but what do we do? well, sometimes we can be taken by the flesh we listen to these who are always up always on, always right and we worship them and as a result of that when they fail we fail alongside of them because we thought they were more than they really are now we need discernment this is your introduction we haven't even got the verse 12 and I have 10 minutes we need discernment instead of filling the churches that they pastor or sending money to their ministries we're to reject their teaching and even when given opportunity to bring a word of correction in Titus 3, 10 and 11 if anyone is causing divisions among you they have a first and second warning after that have nothing more to do with that person for people like that have turned away from the truth they are sinning and they condemn themselves and so that's your introduction for what I'm going to get to here and touch on and really you'll see that it's all going to tie together because he says in verse 12 now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones wood, hay, straw it will become manifest for the day we'll declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each one's work what sort it is so he's warning those again who are building on the foundation that has been laid and he's saying it is improper to preach truth mixed with error notice he speaks of gold, silver and precious stones the term precious stones you might be thinking of diamonds, rubies emeralds, things of that nature actually precious stones is speaking concerning marble and he uses that as a picture of eternal truth the truth of the gospel precious speaks of something that has exacted a great price the gospel message is a costly message and he's picturing a temple a building that is solid and substantial one that will stand the test of time one that endures that's why you can go today to ruins in Greece and in Italy and you can go into Israel in various places and you will find that there are ruins that have been excavated and the material that was used to build these cities and all and still when they're lifted once again are still in wonderful shape and it's an amazing thing that they've stood the test of time in the sense of they've endured and because we made something that was out of something precious like that, it had the ability to remain, truth remains but he contrasts that with wood, hay and straw the wood, the hay and the straw represents error and error can sometimes be woven into the message of truth so wood, hay and straw because we all were raised with stories of the three little pigs and the house of straw and the house of wood and we understand that and by the way this scripture here is like the foundation of those kinds of stories those were morality tales to children you want to build your life on wood and hay when the wolf comes he can destroy it can he destroy a house made of bricks well that's the contrast because those early stories were actually derived from biblical lessons and were intended to teach morality to the children and so the contrast is that which is permanent versus that which is destroyed quickly, wood, hay and straw I never knew my dad's dad my grandfather Rosales I never knew him my grandfather died when he was 50 years old so I never met him my mom was pregnant with me when he died my grandfather worked in a lumber yard from what I was told and what happened is in the lumber yard in 1950 they didn't have the kinds of regulations that they have now so the area that my grandfather worked in was filled with sawdust and how that the sawdust actually is in the air and it's so fine that you really can't even see it and it ignited and when the sawdust ignited it instantaneously erupted and caught my grandfather in it and so my grandfather received third degree burns over his entire body and was taken to the hospital and he died in the hospital of the burns sawdust explodes anybody who works with wood knows that sawdust is flammable and all you need to do is just put a flame to it and it can explode that's the picture that Paul is giving to us about false teaching he says it doesn't endure wood, hay, straw, that doesn't endure all you need to do is ignite it and it's gone in a moment try and light marble on fire with a match and so that's the contrast he's saying that teaching that is going to be rewarded is the teaching that is stable and true but the teaching that is not rewarded is the teaching that is with error he says in verse 13 each one's work will become manifest for the day we'll declare it it's going to be revealed so teachers who don't hold to the truth of the gospel are the ones he's speaking of here and that would speak of genuine believers who embraced error and began to repeat it to other people and over time the fruit of the teaching is going to be evaluated and judged that's why in verse 14 he says if anyone's work is burnt he'll suffer a loss but he himself will be saved yet so as through fire so what happens if people build a faulty structure well it's actual worth it's value and the nature of the work will be shown ultimately they're going to stand before the Lord and reveal that and that's again one of the things that a teacher ought to tremble about because one of these days I give an account of myself to God and I know that I haven't been 100% accurate in everything I've ever said about him and that's why you should have a trembling in your heart because that day will reveal it now when the fruit is judged the error is eliminated and the believer remains this teacher who is truly saved but not giving good studies has no real fruit they're saved because we're saved by God's grace but we don't have any real fruit undoubtedly in Corinth there are teachers who are saved but are leading people in the wrong direction which is why Paul is addressing them so those building on Jesus and his word receive reward for faithful service because they're fruit of ides and they receive the reward but he goes on to say in verse 16 don't you know that you're the temple of the spirit of God and the spirit of God dwells in you that's what makes us different by the way than a religious person a religious person has religious activity but it's all on the outside a Christian has religious activity but it's motivated from the inside because the Holy Spirit dwells within you producing in you the impetus to do those things that please God before you had a relationship with Christ you might want to do the right kind of thing because somebody's mad at you or it's a certain season of the year that you ought to do right things or it's a Sunday and on Sunday we ought to do certain things and it's just the outward religiosity that we have getting married ought to get married in a church how to baby ought to have the baby baptized things like that dad died out of barium in a church funeral you know it's just religious things this is what we do America is very famous for that we do religious things good things are said about that person everybody remembers the wonderful things that's our religious services and it's all external it's all external so Paul has to say don't you understand that Jesus Christ is the one who dwells within you you as corporate the body of Christ you as an individual my mom was at the doctors many years ago and the doctor had to give my mom an exam it takes the stethoscope and begins to listen for my mom's heartbeat and as the doctors listening to my mom's heartbeat my mom says can you hear him doctors looking at my mom like you know there's something wrong with this woman you know so can I hear who can you hear him you've got that on my heart can you hear him you got worms no can you hear him hear who Jesus he lives in my heart my mom always looks for ways to bring Jesus into the conversation and so the doctor got curious as to this old lady wanting to talk about somebody living in her heart and she had an opportunity to share the grace of God with the doctor you see so even when my kids were small and now with my grandchildren we do the same thing with them we ask them this question where is Jesus where is Jesus he's in heaven where is Jesus he's in my heart yes it's true he sits on the throne but does he sit on your throne that's the difference we can speak of him as the one who sits on the throne high and mighty and exalted and lifted up yes indeed he is there seated at the right hand of God the Father but is he seated on my throne of my heart no you not that you are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in you do you know that do you have that knowledge so he's speaking to the church asking that question now if the spirit of God lives in you what is the spirit referred to is he referred to as the Holy Spirit yes we can answer that yes pastor he's the Holy Spirit yes he is the Holy Spirit if the spirit lives within you Paul would be saying what kind of life should you be living the Holy God gave his Holy Word his Holy Spirit makes us holy people and so how am I supposed to live if the Holy Spirit lives in me my life ought to be holy set apart because I'm in love with Jesus Christ in 1 Peter 1 15 and 16 he called you is holy so you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written be holy for I am holy what is Paul saying there he's saying repent from your carnality because in verse 17 if anyone defiles the temple of God God will destroy him the Corinthians have been living carnally so Paul warns them that they are going to be severely chastened if you live on an holy life you will suffer loss and God is going to severely deal with you in Hebrews 12 11 no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but grievous nevertheless afterward it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it if you defile the temple of God if you are preaching things concerning the Lord that causes people to not live holy lives God he said to the teacher is going to deal with you in this context is a believer but that believer will be severely chastened by the Lord for preaching error and upsetting the walks of believers so the most important thing that a teacher can do is to make sure that they are teaching the truth because again Jesus said it is truth the truth that sets you free truth is so important that he's referred to as being the way the truth and the life truth sets you free error produces bondage Paul says teacher speak the truth