I. You Must Have the Right Framework

1 Corinthians 3:9-10 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

· Take heed to build with the right blueprint (AV1611~King James Bible)

· Take heed to build with the right balance (Pr. 11:1) [carpenter’s level]

· Take heed to build with the right backing (Heb. 10:25)

II. You Must Have the Right Foundation

1 Corinthians 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

· The Lord Jesus Christ must be the foundation of the home or it will not stand.

· The Lord Jesus Christ must be the focus of the home or it will not stand.

· The Lord Jesus Christ must be the finisher of the home or it will not stand.

· Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…”

III. You Must Have the Right Finish

1 Corinthians 3:12-13a Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man's work shall be made manifest:

· You should build things to last

· You should build thinking to lay up

· You should build truly out of love

IV. You Must Have the Right Fire Insurance

1 Corinthians 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

· The fire will try your works

· The fire will test your ways

· The fire will tell your worth

Heb. 9:27 tells us,

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

For the lost man this means the White Throne Judgment, where a lost man, and especially a lost religious man, hopes his good works outweigh his bad works, not realizing, of course, that it is the sin of rejecting God’s free gift of salvation in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ which determines a man’s standing before God.

For the Christian, on the other hand, judgment means the Judgment Seat of Christ, (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5; 1 Cor. 3). You can have the right framework, the right foundation, and the right finish, but without the right fire insurance it can all go up in smoke with no remuneration for all your efforts. You see the Judgment Seat of Christ is not about the biggest, the best or the brightest. It’s all about motive. Most Christians, I fear, will come through that thing “yet so as by fire” experiencing first hand “the terror of the Lord”. They either did nothing at all for the Lord, which will be most Christians I fear, or that which they did, they did to be seen of men. God is so opposed to pride that I am convinced that all the things men boast about accomplishing will just go up in smoke. It is those things that were done simply out of a love for the Lord and a deep appreciation of what He has done for you that will be rewarded.

It is a foregone conclusion that failure will be found by those who chose to forsake the fundamental foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you’re not saved and born again, than your foundation is not secure. Some folks go about to build a framework for a relationship with God through their own good works. But the framework cannot stand if the foundation is not right. The old songwriter said, “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name.” What are you leaning on today? Your good works are not good enough. If you could earn it, why did Jesus die?

· C.H. Spurgeon said, “Our best performances are so stained with sin, that it is hard to know whether they are good works or bad works.”

Isaiah 64:6-8

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. 8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

V. The right start has the right finish (Php. 1:6)

· John 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

· Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

· 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: