Rewards in Heaven

This is our 11th message in the series, The Return of the King And my wife just asked me, she says, are you going to finish all this this evening? I am. I am That's my plan And, you know, I plan to finish every week Sometimes I just don't accomplish my objective But that's my plan And yet tonight, I'm pretty sure that we'll accomplish what it is we want to accomplish with the believers' rewards As we look at The Return of the King, we are looking for that glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ

And the Bible says something very unique at the end in Revelation 22, verse number 12 The Lord said, Behold, I come quickly, or suddenly, and my reward is with me to render to every man You know, that's a unique statement about our Lord He ends his book, the Bible, by telling us he's going to come And when he arrives, his reward will be with him And he is the one who's going to give that reward The Bible also says, in the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 7 and 8, Paul says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith

There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me on that day, and not to me only, but to all those who love his appearing Paul says, at the end of my life, I know that on that day, what day is that? That is a particular day The Lord is going to award me with a crown of righteousness, and not only to me, but to everyone who loves his appearing There's going to be a time in which the Lord is going to reward his own

And as Christians, we look forward to that day, that we might be able to not only see our Lord, but to receive from him the wonderful praise, well done thou good and faithful servant The Bible says, in 2 Corinthians 5.10, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ Romans 14.12 says that, for we must all stand before the judgment seat of God So the Bible speaks of a day, a time in which believers will stand before God and be judged Now the problem with that is that there are so many misconceptions concerning that judgment

Tonight we want to clear up those misconceptions, to help you understand the believers' rewards To help you understand the judgment seat of Christ And because there are so many misconceptions concerning what that really means, does that mean that when I stand at the judgment seat of Christ, that my whole life will be put on this great cinematic screen for everybody to see all that I've done? Some people believe that Some people believe that there is something that I must do to enter into that kingdom before I actually get there

Maybe there's Saint Peter there, maybe there's some other angel there. I have to, I have to, I just can't pass go without collecting 200 bucks. I've got to do what needs to be done Is that the case? And when I'm there, what really is judged? So we want to help clear up those questions with you this evening We're going to begin by looking at the place of those rewards That's important The place and the time of those rewards And then we want to look at the person who's going to reward us And then the people who will be rewarded And then the purpose of those rewards

And the promise about those rewards That's our outline, that's where we're going We're going to begin with the place and time of the rewards for the believer We've already told you in Revelation 22, 12, in 2 Timothy 4, 6 and 8, there's going to be a day in which when the king arrives, he will reward his own So we know that that's going to take place The question is when? Well, it's going to take place after the rapture of the church, when we go to heaven But more on that in a moment And to understand the judgment seat of Christ, we need to understand the judgments of God

So I want to give you the seven judgments in Scripture that God has ordained, that God has made distinct, because all of them will happen, but He doesn't want us to be confused about the judgments that He is going to have The first one is this There is a judgment on sin. A judgment on sin Where did that take place? At Calvary Some 2,000 years ago We know from 2 Corinthians 5, 21 that He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him It was at Calvary that God judged sin fully and finally in the death of Jesus Christ That's the first judgment

The second judgment deals with the judgment of self That is, there is a judgment upon my own life every single day The place for that is on earth The time for that is every single day The Bible says that in 1 Corinthians 11, 31, for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged Paul says, look, if we examine our lives, put our lives under the microscope of the Master, and pattern our lives after the Scriptures, then we won't be chastened by God We won't be disciplined by God Hebrews 12 speaks about the discipline of God towards His children And God does that for corrective purposes

He does that because He wants us to experience His joy He does that because of our testimony before people And yet He wants us to look at our lives and to judge our lives according to the Scriptures So there is a judgment of sin that took place at Calvary some 2,000 years ago There is a judgment of our self that is supposed to take place every single moment of every single day as we measure our lives to the standard of the Scriptures That is so important That is why we always exhort you to examine your life To look at your life

Where do you stand? What is happening in your life? So that you don't experience the chastening of the Lord And Hebrews 12 speaks about the fact that no discipline is joyous at the moment you're being disciplined But we know that it produces something in our lives And the writer of Hebrews speaks to that So there is a judgment of self Number three, there is a judgment of believers' works That's what we're talking about tonight The judgment of believers' works Excuse me The place is heaven The time is after the rapture of the church

But because that's our discussion this evening, we'll just end right there Number four, the judgment of Israel There is going to be a judgment upon the nation of Israel The place for that judgment will be earth The time of that judgment will be at the end of the tribulation The Bible speaks to that Book of Ezekiel chapter 20 verse number 33 As I live, declares the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you And I shall bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered

With a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out And I shall bring you into the wilderness of the peoples And there I shall enter into judgment with you face to face Verse 37 And I shall make you pass under the rod And I shall bring you into the bond of the covenant And I shall purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against me. I shall bring them out of the land where they sojourn But they will not enter the land of Israel Thus you will know that I am the Lord There is going to be a judgment upon Israel

Where the Lord God purges out two thirds of those rebels And we know from the scriptures that one third of them will enter into the millennial kingdom of God So we understand that there will be a judgment upon the nation of Israel That will take place after the tribulation It will happen on earth There is also a judgment of the nations That too takes place at the end of the tribulation And that too takes place on the earth The scripture text for that is Matthew chapter 25 verses 31 and following Where it says But when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him

Then he will sit on his glorious throne And all the nations will be gathered before him And he will separate them one from another As a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats That's called the judgment of the nations The Gentile nations We know where that takes place Because it takes place in what is called the valley of Jehoshaphat Or as Joel calls it the valley of decision It's known as the Kidron Valley And we know that when our Lord returns He will eventually make his way to the Mount of Olives He will split the Mount of Olives And there in that Kidron Valley The valley of decision

He will render his decision on the nations of the world It's called the judgment of the nations And those who were obedient to God And those who gave our Lord a drink of water when he was thirsty And clothed him when he was naked And visited him in prison And really that deals with Israel Because when you do it to Israel You do it as unto the Lord Those Gentile nations that take in Israel And protect them during their tribulation They manifest the character of Christ They are the sheep They will enter into the Millennial Kingdom Those who don't The goats They will go into eternal punishment

And eternal damnation According to the book of Matthew 25 Verse number 41 And then comes the judgment of Satan and his demons They too will be judged That takes place at the end of the Kingdom The Millennial Kingdom The thousand year reign of Christ The place is earth And the Bible says in Jude 6 And the angels who kept not their first estate But left their own habitation He hath reserved in everlasting chains Under darkness Unto the judgment of the great day There will be a day where Satan and all of his demons are judged Happens in Revelation chapter 20 Verse number 10

They are cast into the lake of fire And they are there forever and ever And then comes the judgment of the ungodly And that happens in Revelation 20 Verses 11 to 15 It's called the great white throne judgment That takes place at the end of the Kingdom The place is in the heavens Somewhere Because we know that heaven and earth have passed away According to 2 Peter chapter 3 Everything will be gone And when you come to Revelation 20 Heaven and earth have gone out of the presence of the Lord And because our Lord is omnipresent If something is outside his presence

That means it doesn't exist anymore And so in Revelation 20 verses 11 to 15 Everything is like it was before Genesis chapter 1 Verse number 1 And yet there's a great white throne judgment Where God has raised all the ungodly That's called the second resurrection They appear before that great white throne And the books will be opened And they will all be judged All their works will be judged according to the ultimate standard Of God's holy word And all those people at the great white throne judgment Will be cast into the lake of fire To burn forever and ever and ever Okay

Those are the seven judgments of God You need to understand them Because they're all distinct They're all different Some people try Who are all millennial Who don't believe in a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ Upon the earth Somehow I've got to put the judgment seat of Christ And the great white throne judgment together But you can't do that Because at the great white throne judgment That's a judgment for the ungodly There is a particular judgment of the nations At the end of the tribulation According to Matthew 25 There's a judgment for Israel Particularly

Where God will purge out two-thirds of the rebels There is a judgment of Satan and his demons There is a judgment For the believers works There is a judgment On sin That took place at Calvary And there's a judgment that you and I go through every single day As we measure our life against God's holy word Having said that We want to understand the judgment of the believers The Bible says In 2 Corinthians 5.10 Every man will appear Before the judgment seat Of Christ We need to understand that Because the word judgment seat Is translated by a word called Bema It's called the Bema seat

You need to understand that Because the Bema was a raised platform It's used in the book of Acts In Acts 18 Verse 12 And verses 16 and 17 To speak of a place Where an official judge would seat It's used also in Acts chapter 12 To speak of where Herod would sit In all of his dignity That's important Why? Because a Bema seat Gives us a better understanding of the word Judgment seat When we think of judgment We think of sin Right? We think that someone's going to render a verdict If it's a judgment It's really a bad translation of the word Bema seat All a Bema seat is Is a raised platform

That's all it is. A raised platform It's a platform Listen carefully Of dignity Honor And prominence So crucial to understand If it's a raised platform Of dignity Prominence and honor The Bema is not an act It's a place It's a place Now remember when Paul wrote to the Corinthians Outside of Corinth There were of course the Olympic stadium And the Olympic games that took place And during the time of those games When someone would win an event They would ascend The Bema seat That is they would ascend the stairs Because they were the victors of the race Or whatever athletic event they were in

And there would be an honorary person from the city Who would place upon their head Some laurel wreath Some garland Something that would signify that they had won the event So those in Corinth would understand this phrase The judgment seat of Christ The Bema seat The place of honor The place of dignity The place of prominence They would understand that We because we read a phrase We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ Sends great terror into our lives Thinking what's going to happen when I get there But in all reality It's a place of honor and dignity We need to understand that

Also we need to realize That the Bible says In 1 Corinthians 4 verse number 5 That every man Listen carefully Will have the praise of God Every man who ascends the Bema seat Will have the praise of God In other words God's going to praise you Now that gives you a whole different picture Of the judgment seat of Christ It's a place of reward It's a place of supreme honor Now the question is When does this take place? It takes place after the rapture Jesus said. I'm going to prepare a place for you If I go and prepare a place for you. I will come again. I will receive you unto myself Okay

And why does he receive us unto himself? He's going to come back for us Because everything about Christ Is personal with his people He's going to bring with him his reward But he's going to take Come with us Excuse me Come and get us And take us to his father's house So this place of judgment This time of judgment Is going to take place in heaven In the father's house After the rapture of the church And who is the person? Point number 2 Who rewards us? Well that's simple It's the Lord Christ himself The bible says In 2 Corinthians 5.10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ

Christ is the judge John 5.22 For the father judges no man But has committed all judgment Unto the son So it's the son who passes all judgment Upon man The bible in Revelation 22.12 Says Behold I come quickly And my reward is with me Now think about that One day You will stand face to face With the living God of the universe He will praise you He will honor you He will reward you He will have you ascend The place of dignity The place of honor And you individually Will be praised By the Lord God Of the universe That is so So good Sometimes you know we think that when we get to heaven

There's going to be so many people there That God's not going to have time for us You know and so You know all you people Who did a good job And you got over 400 crowns You go to the left side of heaven And those of you who are under 400 crowns You go to the right side of heaven We have some angels there That will distribute all the crowns to you That's not how it works Because his reward is with him And he will render to every man According to his works The Lord God does that One day The Lord Jesus Will look you in the eyes And say well done Now good And faithful servant Well done Great job

You did it And you will receive the praise Of the living God Of the universe This is so important for us to understand Because Our Lord Is personally And individually Involved In every one of our lives Not only now But in the future As well The next thing I want you to see is Who's going to be there? Who are the people that are going to be rewarded? Well the Bible says In 2 Corinthians 5.10 We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ Who's the we? Is that everybody? No It's only the believers Only the believers ascend the place of dignity and honor That's it

And the believers particularly Of the church age Because we are the ones that are promised the crowns We are the ones who are promised the opportunity to sit on The throne Of God And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 Verse number one For we know that if the earthly tent Which is our house is torn down We have a building from God Who's that? That's the believer Verse five Now he who prepared us for this very purpose is God Who gave to us the spirit as a pledge Who is the one that possesses the spirit of God? The believer does Verse six Therefore being always of good courage

And knowing that while we are at home in the body We are absent from the Lord For we walk by faith not by sight Who's that? That's the believer We are the ones who walk by faith We're not the ones who walk by sight Therefore also we have as our ambition Whether at home or absent To be pleasing to him Who's that? That's the believer He wants to please his God And then it says For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ That is the believer So the people who will be rewarded Is the believer in the Lord God The believers of the church age Who after the rapture of the church

Experience the rewards that God gives To his people Having said that You need to understand the purpose Of those rewards That's point number four See I told you we could do this outline Rather rapidly Point number four And in Romans 14 12 it says this So then each one of us shall give An account of himself To God The purpose For those rewards Is that we will render An account To God You know accountability is a good thing It's not a bad thing It's a good thing It's a motivation The Lord knows that each one of us needs Intrinsic motivation Oh there are some things externally that motivate us

But the clearest And best motivation comes from the inside And because we want to please We make it our ambition The believer makes it his ambition To please the Lord Why? Because he knows That one day he will stand Before the judgment seat Of Christ He knows that He knows That one day he will give an accounting For his life And so therefore there is that accountability Because there is an authority Who oversees it all Could you imagine where our world would be without accountability? Could you imagine going to work tomorrow and your boss Just not be in there

You could do whatever you wanted to do And let's say your boss never came back again You could just write your own check Your own paycheck Because your boss is not there to write it for you And you could just do whatever you wanted to do You know when you think about accountability It's so important Let's bring it down to home You know what's the first law of safe driving? Watch for the police Is it not? Sure it is You're driving down the road And you pull up beside a police car Or a police car pulls up beside you What do you do? Sweaty palms right? Because you think he's coming for you

And so what's the first thing you do when you see a police car? You slow down Why? Because you're speeding That's why See there's accountability there Because there's authority there And that's a good thing And so when the police then drives by you And you wipe the sweat off your brow and realize it's not you You then what? Speed back up again See? And so we understand that accountability is a good thing And without that authority we would just run amok We would do whatever we wanted to do The Lord knows that And so he's put within us intrinsically a desire to please him Please him

You see if you meet somebody who doesn't have a desire to please God He doesn't know God He doesn't know God Because within our hearts is the desire to honor our father who is in heaven To glorify his precious name Because one day we'll give an account before him And we want him to be so pleased when we arrive And so there's that intrinsic motivation Where we come before him and stand before him We live in a grace orientation We understand that we're saved by grace through faith And some people misuse that grace It's more of a disgrace than true grace

And they live as if there is no accountability But there is an accountability And we live with that Knowing that there is a judgment seat that we will all appear before And that one day we will be held accountable for all that we have said And all that we have done Now there is some misunderstanding about this judgment seat And misunderstanding about this accountability Some people believe that this is a final check before entrance into glory It's not that But you'd be surprised at the number of people who believe that there will be somebody such as St Peter

Who will be there in order to check us into heaven But that's not what this is about See once you get there Okay You're glorified The whole mystery of the Old Testament Not only centers around the church itself But the mystery according to 1 Corinthians 15 Deals with the translation of the body from that which is corruptible to that which is incorruptible From that which is perishable to that which is imperishable And so one day you're standing here on earth Okay And you live in a corruptible body And you are translated immediately to heaven in the twinkling of an eye

And you go from a corruptible body to an incorruptible body And if you've already died and you've gone to heaven Okay Then you will gather together with your body in the air Your soul and your body will meet together in the air Okay And we'll meet you in the air as well And you'll have that glorified body So once you get to heaven folks Listen You're glorified Okay Now the Bible says Those whom he predestined he called And those whom he called he justified And those whom he justified he glorified So if you are justified you will be glorified

And the reason you're justified is because he called you And the reason he called you is because in eternity past He predetermined that you would be one of his children So in other words Once you get to heaven There's nothing else that needs to be done to you You're good to go See Because you've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ Some people believe That the judgment seat is a punishment for sins committed after salvation Some people believe that the judgment seat is a place where your sins are judged The sins committed after salvation

That somehow all your life will be put up on a screen And everybody will see all the things that you have done And you will be measured by what you did Whether it's good or whether it's bad And all the bad things on the right side All the good things on the left side Or vice versa And everybody will see that You'll be surprised About the number of people who think that one day their whole life Will be put on a screen for all the world to see In heaven All the world of heaven to see But that's not the case Simply because all your sins have been forgiven All of them

And you have to understand that When it says that all your sins are forgiven It's all your sins of the past, present and the future The Bible says this In the book of Hebrews the 8th chapter For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more The Lord remembers our iniquities no more Colossians 2 verse number 13 says And you being dead in your sins And the uncircumcision of your flesh Hath he made alive together with him Having forgiven you all transgressions All transgressions The Bible says over in Ephesians chapter 1 verse number 7

These words He says In him we have redemption through his blood The forgiveness of our trespasses According to the riches of his grace Which he lavished upon us In other words You have been forgiven According to the riches of his grace You have not been forgiven Listen carefully Out of the riches of his grace You have been forgiven according to the riches Of his grace As infinite as God's grace is So infinite is your forgiveness In other words Let's say it to you this way We have a building fund We want to complete the building And all the ramifications of it

And you happen to be a very wealthy person You make millions of dollars And you come up to me and you say. I would love to write a check For your facility to help you with that And you write me a check for Ten dollars Okay That check for ten dollars is out of Your riches But if you come and you write me a check For three million dollars Then your check was written according to Your riches Does that make sense? Jesus' forgiveness is according to his grace Which he lavishes upon us We are not forgiven out of his grace We are forgiven according to his grace His grace is immeasurable

Because his grace is infinite His forgiveness of us is infinite It includes everything The bible says this in 1 John 2 Verse number 12. I write unto you little children Because your sins are forgiven you For his names sake You know why your sins are forgiven? Not for your sake But for Christ's sake It's his testimony That's at stake It's his deity It's his God head That's at stake He forgives you for his names sake Listen to this Isaiah 38 Verse number 17 Thou hast in love to my soul Delivered it from the pit of corruption For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back Now

To understand what that means in the Hebrew is this That you have put all my sins in the middle of your back You put all my sins in between your shoulder blades Now Have you ever put anything between your shoulder blades and the back? I can't. I'm so buff. I can't even reach back there anymore. I'm just getting so big now But the bottom line is you can't see in between your shoulder blades You can't see it God has put your sins in a place that cannot be seen If God can't see them Guess what? They can't be seen Because he is omnipresent He is omniscient He knows everything He sees all

But Isaiah understood that the sins of God's people are put in the middle of his back Between his shoulder blades They cannot be seen That's the forgiveness of God Romans 8.1 says there is no condemnation for those who encroach Jesus Romans 8.33 says who can bring a charge against God's elect? Who's going to say, well, I got something against him You can't do that Why? Because all your sins have been forgiven Some people look at this judgment seat as a judgment of unconfessed sins That you'll appear before the judgment seat of Christ and those sins that have not been confessed will be judged

Well, the problem with that is that your forgiveness of sins does not depend on your confession of sins When you're forgiven, you're forgiven all your sins The reason we confess our sins is so that the purity of that relationship is restored So the communion with my father is pure and holy and clean So, I can die today with unconfessed sin and still go to heaven because all my sins have been forgiven Even though I might not have confessed them all, all my sins are forgiven Therefore, I will go to heaven

The reason I confess my sin is because I want the joy of communion with my father in heaven. I want the purity of that relationship to be clean. I want to be able to have a right relationship with my God That's why I confess my sins So, what does it mean that we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we will be rewarded? Well, 2 Corinthians 5 tells us, For you must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things that are in his body according to what he has done, whether it be good or whether it be bad

Now, you read that verse and just at the outset you think, Wow, you know, there's going to be a judgment and I'm going to receive the things that are in my body and if it's good, that's good But if it's bad, oh my, oh my Well, there are several words in the Greek to help you understand evil or bad Kakos is one of them It's a word that means diseased Panairos is another It means evil Neither one of those words are used here But phallos is And phallos is a word that means worthless Valueless It has no moral connotations at all No ethical connotations at all It's just a word that means worthless

So, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ That we may receive the things that are in our body, whether they be valuable or valueless Whether they be worthwhile and noble or worthless Now, that's important Because you need to understand exactly what the Apostle Paul is saying Because the difference between one person in heaven and another is that one is going to have laid up treasures in heaven And they have been committed to doing the things that are of value for eternity's sake And others have done things that are worthless That have no eternal value

See? That's important to understand And, so there become metaphors for judgment in the scripture Let me explain them to you One metaphor is a metaphor of stewardship Romans 14 says, But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall give praise to God So then each one of us shall give an account of himself to God This is the metaphor of stewardship We are all stewards

We are stewards of spiritual resources, right? We all have gifts, spiritual gifts, given to us when we are born again Energized by the spirit of God And we are stewards of eternal, I mean, I'm sorry, spiritual resources In other words, you have a gift and you become now a household manager of the gift God has given to you Your spiritual gift is not yours, it's God's Your spiritual gift is not yours, it's God's He gave it to you and he expects you to use it for his glory, for his honor, for the sake of his kingdom, right? You are held accountable for the stewardship of spiritual resources

You're held accountable for the stewardship of temporal riches The money you have is not your money It's God's money He owns it all God said, I own the silver, I own the gold, I own it all So really it's God's money So the money you have is God's money The money you don't have is God's money It's all God's money, right? And so now we become stewards of temporal riches How you spend your money, listen carefully, determines whether or not you have received that which is good, valuable, or that which is worthless, bad Because you are a steward of the money God gives you You are household manager

You are managing God's money You are managing God's gifts We also are stewards of eternal reconciliation We have been given a mystery, a stewardship of a mystery The mystery is about the church age and the translation of the church and Christ in you, the hope of glory And we are ministers, stewards of eternal reconciliation How we share Christ and who we share Christ with and how we magnify the Lord God because we are a household manager of the gospel of Christ God has given us his gospel We are to dispense that gospel because it's his gospel We're also stewards of personal relationships

How we deal with one another And Paul says, you know what, don't go around judging somebody because of how they use their gift or don't use their gift Or how they spend their money or don't spend their money Or how they work with people in the body or don't work with people in the body Or how they share their faith or don't share their faith You'll be preoccupied with your own stewardship You'll be preoccupied with how you exercise your gift You'll be preoccupied with how you spend your money You'll be preoccupied with how you relate to people

You'll be preoccupied about how you share the gospel Why? Because you will give an account of that stewardship before God One day, that's going to happen And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, Let a man so account of us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God Moreover, it is required of stewards that a man be found faithful You work on your own trustworthiness You work on your own faithfulness as a steward Because God has given us a trust We are to be faithful with it

And Paul says, But with me is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment Yes, I judge not my own self, for I know nothing against myself, yet I am not hereby justified But he that judges me is the Lord And then he says, Therefore judge nothing before the time, verse 5, until the Lord comes, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart And then shall every man have praise of God Every man shall have praise of God Why? Because you ascend the place of honor You ascend the place of dignity

You ascend the place of prominence And the Lord God says, Well done, thou good and faithful servant And you receive praise from God Because you have received the things done in your body Whether they be good or bad, they're valuable things Are that which are rewarded Are those things which are rewarded There's also another metaphor in Scripture And it deals with the structure we build upon. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 10 to 12 It says this Verse 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Christ Jesus

Now if any man builds upon the foundation, which with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident For the day, which day is that? The day you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, will show it because it is to be revealed with fire And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work If any man's work, which he has built upon, it remains, he shall receive a reward If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss But he himself shall be saved, yet as through fire

So in other words, this is a metaphor about the structure and how you build upon the structure The foundation, of course, is Christ He's the cornerstone And you build upon that You build either with silver and gold and precious stones or you build with wood, hay and stubble Now wood's a good thing, right? Because you can carve things out of wood You can make things out of wood, all right? Hay, I mean, you can put it on your roof and have a thatched roof, I guess, until a great windstorm comes and then it's no good

And stubble is like bird's nest stuff, all right? And so you build upon that foundation those things that can be burned up with fire, the fire of God's discerning judgment, or things that withstand the fire, gold, silver, and precious stones Those things that go through the fire, gold, silver, and precious stones, are the things you'll be rewarded for Those are the things of 2 Corinthians 5, verse number 10, that are the good The worthless, the wood, the hay, and the stubble will be burned up Won't last Because it wasn't done for the glory and honor of God

You know, I think when you think about people today, the tragedy in the church is that so many Christians live lives that are so inconsequential They make no difference They live lives that make absolutely no difference spiritually If they were to die, they would not even be missed Because they don't live the kind of life that brings a consequence upon eternity And they spend their lives building upon the foundation with things like wood and hay and stubble, things that will be burned up, that make no difference in the kingdom

Instead of building upon that foundation with gold and silver and precious stones, those things that last forever We've become so busy laying up treasures on earth where thieves break in and steal that can be so corrupted Instead of laying up treasures in heaven that cannot be stolen, that last forever That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, I beat my body into his rejection, lest I be disqualified for the ministry The metaphor there is the one of an athlete, the one of a servant of God who doesn't want to be disqualified And so he wants his life to count for something

He wants his life to count so much that he will discipline his life so that he doesn't become disqualified for the sake of the ministry He wants to have a life that's honorable to God And that's why Paul could say, when it's all said and done, that one day, one day, I will receive that crown of righteousness because I can't wait for the appearing of my great God and Savior

And so we begin to understand more about this judgment seat and what's going to take place according to the purpose because it's a day we're going to give an account to God for those things that we built upon that foundation, gold, silver, and precious stones Those things that last forever because we have stewardship We have responsibility Things that God has given to us, our talents, our gifts, that'll be used for his glory, for his honor, for his purposes, which helps us understand that, you know what, God one day is going to reveal all that because he knows our motives

There's a lot of people in the church that serve God, but they do it with the wrong motive The Bible says that, in 1 Corinthians 4 or 5, that he will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts At the judgment seat of Christ, all of our motives will be exposed, right? Our motives We do things in the church because we want applause from men, and when we get the applause from men, that's your reward That's all you get There is nothing else because God knows your heart

People give to the church and they want everybody else to know how much they give, like the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 6, and they toot their horn, they blow their horn because I'm giving a check out, everybody knows I'm giving some money That's their reward That's all they get Why? Because their motive is self-serving Their motive is for human recognition Their motive is that someone will see them and applaud them and affirm them in their efforts Our motives will one day be revealed And the things you do in the church, you must do for the glory and honor of God

You must do solely for God and his glory only because if it's for any other reason, it will be burned up It won't last because it comes from a selfish motive, not a holy motive The Bible also says that in 2 Corinthians 5.10 that we're going to be rewarded according to the things that we have done, our mannerisms, our conduct for the glory and honor of God In 1 Corinthians 3.13 says every man's work will be manifested One day, there's going to be a place of judgment That's in heaven It's going to take place after the rapture of the church We're going to be in heaven with our God

He himself is that person who will reward us He is that person who will look us in the eye, say, well done thou good and faithful servant We will be there because we are believers We have been promised crowns We've been promised a place on his throne We've been clothed in white raiment, his righteousness And we will be glorified and we will be honored before him And the whole purpose behind that is for accountability And the promise is this The promise is this If any man's work abide which he has built, he shall receive a reward If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss

The promise is this There is a crown Paul would speak of that crown in 1 Corinthians 9.25-27 It's called the incorruptible crown, the imperishable crown There's a crown over in 2 Timothy 4.8 called the crown of righteousness It's given to those who love the appearing of the Lord God The imperishable crown is given to those who discipline their lives under godliness for the sake of the honor and glory of God There's a crown called the crown of rejoicing in 2 Thessalonians 2 It's a soul winner's crown

It's given to those who love to share Christ and talk to people about Jesus Christ and lead them into a deep relationship with the living God It's the crown of rejoicing, the crown of jubilation In 1 Peter 5, verses 1-4, it's called the crown of glory It's a shepherd's crown It's given to those who lead in the church and they lead the way God wants them to lead And then there's the crown of life in James 1, verse number 12 The crown given to those who endure trials and persecution and hardship and do it for the honor and glory of God

And yet if you read Revelation 2 and Revelation 3, there's a promise given to the overcomer in those churches about the tree of life and about the bread of life and about the manna, about the morning star that will be theirs, the new name, the name on a white stone, and all the promises that God gives to His people God wants to reward His own Now think about that We don't go through life thinking about, wow, one day God's going to praise me because we're to praise God, right? But the Bible speaks to the fact that one day we as believers will have the praise of God

That one day God will reward us for our faithful service to Him, for our accountability to Him, for glorifying and honoring His name Why? Because we make it our ambition to please Him, to please Him Is that your ambition this evening? Do you live every day to please the Lord God, to honor Him, to glorify His name, to put His name on display? In closing, I just want to share with you one verse, a verse that sometimes people misunderstand It's located in 1 John 2, verse number 28

Because I want you to understand that when you get to heaven, there is no shame, there is no sorrow, there is no sadness None So when you get to heaven, you're not going to be on the famous seat of Christ and say, oh, I can't believe that Oh, I am just so heartbroken That's not going to happen That's not going to happen And no one in the audience is going to say, oh, oh, you almost got it Oh, man, I can't believe you missed that crown Oh It's not going to be that way Or your parents in the background holding one another and crying because you didn't do this, you didn't do that properly

That's just not the way it's going to be There is no shame in heaven There is no sadness in heaven There are no tears in heaven It's all joy Enter into the joy of the Lord Well done, now good and faithful servants Each of us will receive the praise of God You know, the verse in 1 John chapter 2 has confused some people It says this, And now little children, abide in him, so that when he appears, we may have confidence, listen, and not shrink away from him in shame at his coming People say, see, there John says, abide in him If you don't, when he comes, you're going to experience shame

No, that's not what it says Yeah, that's what it says You just read it That's not what it says Because you must abide in him You must remain in him You must remain in him Remember back in John chapter 8, Christ said these words, verse 30, As he spoke these things, many came to believe in him Then verse 31, Jesus, therefore, was saying to those Jews who had believed him, not believed in him, but believed him There's a difference between believing in him and believing him The demons believe in God They tremble Everybody believes in God But believing in him is unique

So there's a contrast in verse 30 to those in verse 31 There are those who believe in him and there are those who believe him Then it says this, If you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine You should know the truth, and the truth shall make you free Genuine, true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ remain in him They persevere to the end They do not defrock the faith They do not turn their back on the Messiah and run away and throw in the towel They remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord

So John says in 1 John chapter 2, verse number 28, And now, little children, abide in him Remain in him Persevere So that when he appears, we may have confidence When? That it's coming And not shrink away from him in shame at his coming Those who shrink away in shame at his coming are those who did not abide And those who did not abide are not true, genuine followers of the Lord Jesus Christ There's no shame in heaven There's no sadness in heaven All there is is praise, joy, honor, and glory And the believer's rewards are something that you and I receive upon entrance into glory

After we are translated from here into glory, we ascend that bema seat, that platform, one at a time, in all humility, because there is no sin in heaven It's not like we're going up there, you know, and, hey, look at me It's not like that It's all in all humility and honor of God And we will receive the praise of our God Wouldn't it be great that day when you hear those words, ah, well done Well done, good and faithful servant

So what's going to happen when I collect all these crowns? What's going to happen to them? Am I going to have a storehouse up in heaven with all these crowns? You know, some storehouses will be bigger than other people's storehouses because one guy will have more crowns than the other guy No Book of Revelation says that 24 elders, they cast them at the feet of the Lord God See, what he gives to you, what do you do? You just give right back to him Because the only reason he received anything is because of him It's all about Christ, his glory

The 24 elders cast all their crowns at the feet of the Lamb, the feet of the Messiah, and give him all honor and praise because without him, they would not be there Without him, they would have received nothing And because of him, they received the praise of God Let's pray Father, thank you for tonight, a chance to spend some time in your word And thank you, Lord, for the promise of rewards in heaven May we make it our ambition to be well-pleasing in thy sight, to honor and glorify thy precious name We pray in your name, our coming King Amen.