Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

The Purpose for The Judgment Seat of Christ

Chapter 2

Sins and The Judgment Seat

Chapter 3

The Goal at The Judgment Seat

Chapter 4

The Persuasion of The Judgment Seat

Chapter 5

The Neglected Influence of The Judgment Seat

Chapter 6

Soul Winning and The Judgment Seat

Chapter 7

Sorting Things Out At The Judgment Seat

Chapter 8

Our Record at The Judgment Seat

Chapter 9

The Fire of The Judgment Seat

Chapter 10

Working Toward The Judgment Seat

Chapter 11

Preparation for The Judgment Seat

Chapter 12

Rewards at The Judgment Seat

Introduction

Just ask yourself, “When was the last time I remember thinking that this work I am about to do; good or bad; will meet me again one day in Heaven?” Living with The Judgment Seat of Christ in mind will help believers to live and work more for The Lord. In II Corinthians 5:11, God used Paul the Apostle to describe part of that day with the words,

“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.”

Those words are very sobering and need to be heeded. But the purpose of The Judgment Seat also is to bring many blessings to those who have been saved.

If you are at all like me; this is a tough doctrine to keep out front on a daily basis. Now having pastored for over twenty years; I have experienced the fact that many saved people simply do not think about this Judgment as often as is needed. Along with that human factor; the devil does not want saved people to honestly deal with The Judgment Seat of Christ while they live. He surely works overtime, all the time; to keep this Judgment Day of all the saved; out of minds, ears, and out of applied practice. This is because of what that day represents.

All good works done by we who are born again will be rewarded; and Satan does not want those works to be in abundance; now or then. And as far as the bad works we as saved people do; he will watch those things disappear in the fire; never again to be held against the consciences of those whom he tempted to do those works! You see, to us that will be one of the blessings of that day; but not to the devil.

Although Satan will personally face The Judgment at The Great White Throne; by association with the bad works he tempts the saved to do, many of the devil’s bad works will be tried at The Judgment Seat of Christ. Many of those works which were prompted and aided by him and his demons; will be destroyed. His legacy of evil will begin to be ended as This Judgment of the saved begins.

As far as for saved people; The Judgment Seat of Christ will be a mix of many things. The span of emotions will be vast. It will bring “…terror…” to be felt by us. But it will also be a day of rejoicing as we receive our just rewards. It will be a day when we no longer will remember and feel the remorse for the bad works done in our flesh. It will also be a putting away of all the efforts Satan has made to hinder the work of The Lord! But the height of the emotions produced at that Seat; will be focused and centered around The glory of works of The Lord Jesus!

With that said; What of you the reader? What do you now understand about that day? Do you need to learn all that you can about The Judgment Seat of Christ? Are you searching for some way to be spiritually motivated to serve The Lord from your heart?

If saved people could really get ahold of this powerful doctrine it will change how they live life in their physical bodies. More of the saved would be better able to be used by The Lord for His purposes. Less sins would be committed; more Baptist Churches would be established; and many more lost souls would be saved; if we only lived in the reality of that day of reckoning. And most of all; as we work now while seeing ourselves standing in that hour; The Lord will get more glory through the good works of those He has redeemed.

T.S. Luchon

Chapter 1

The Purpose for The Judgment Seat of Christ

“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; yet so as by fire.” I Corinthians 3:13-15

There are two Judgments spoken of in The Word of God. There is The Judgement of The Great White Throne recorded in Revelation 20:11-15. This is the Judgment for all those through the times of earth who never trusted Christ as their Saviour.

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15

This is the final judgment of the lost, which takes place immediately at the fulfilling of II Peter 3:10.

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

Then there is The Judgment Seat of Christ. This is the Judgment for only the saved. All who have by faith trusted in Christ will meet The Lord at this reckoning of the redeemed. As close as I can see from The Scriptures; this Judgment takes place after The Lord calls all the dead in Christ, and those still alive up to the clouds; and before Jesus returns with us to this earth for His thousand-year reign.

I Timothy 4:1 “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom…”

There are three main passages in The Scriptures which teach us much about The Judgment Seat of Christ.

Romans 14:10-12 “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

I Corinthians 3:13-15 “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; yet so as by fire.”

II Corinthians 5:10-11 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.”

The Judgment Seat of Christ is a crucial part of the Doctrine of The Faith. It is for the testing of the works each saved person has done, “…good or bad…;” for the determining of rewards lost or to be gained. As will be covered in another chapter, this Judgment will not be an accounting for sins committed by the saved. It is clearly a judgment concerning the “…works…” done by the saved. The word sin does not appear in any of the Scriptures dealing with these two Judgments; both are only about “…works…” which are to be tried.

When the principles surrounding The Judgment Seat of Christ are learned and applied in the lives of the saved, this future event will greatly influence our service for God today. The teaching and preaching on this subject needs to be kept before the ears, hearts, and the minds of the members of every Independent, Fundamental, Baptist Church. Standing at The Judgment Seat will be the born again believers final test when this life as a saved sinner is over. The purging fire of that judgment will reveal and examine the good “…works…” we have done; and it will also bring to light and burn away any bad “…works…” which have been done.

I have often tried to imagine the great gamut of thought and feeling of that judgment day. On one hand, I am terrified knowing my bad works which will be brought before that Throne. The only consolation for that part of the judgment; is that those works will be burned up, never again to stain my conscience and trouble my heart!

After those purifying flames fulfill their purpose; I will then be able to experience all the joys of salvation; without ever again having to deal with my sinful old nature! But thank God, it will also be a day of wonderful emotion. For after the testing; The Saviour will present me with the rewards for the good works which survive the fire of that Seat!

Revelation 22:12 “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

The best part of receiving those rewards; is knowing that they will be cast before The Lord! And when I get to bow before Him to do so, I will not have a sin nature which wants or expects anything in return for having served Him!

Chapter 2

Sins and The Judgment Seat

The sacrifice of The Lord Jesus has forever secured our salvation. All sin has already been atoned for by what Jesus did in His death, burial, and resurrection.

Ephesians 1:6-7 “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace…”

Every saved person must take the time to understand the doctrine of The Judgment Seat of Christ in relation to our sins. To be able to do so, there are some things which first must be settled or there will be some confusion about this doctrine.

The first thing to deal with regarding our sin; is that in the passages about The Judgment Seat of Christ, the word sin is not used. That is because Jesus Christ has already paid for every sin of every person ever born; in the past or in the future. The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ has not paid only for the sins of the saved; but also for the sins of the lost.

I John 2:1-2 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

I have been asked questions by many people who seem to struggle with the fact that sins are not being judged at The Judgment Seat. Consider this example. When God says our “…bad…” works will be judged and will result in losing rewards; many automatically associate the word “…bad…” with sin. Because something is “…bad…” does not always mean it is a sin.

If I build a house that is structurally sound, but I do no finish work; no filling the dry wall seams and no baseboard trim; it is not a sinful house; but it is a “…bad…” house.

If I build a house, and it will safely and securely pass as a place where a family can live; but none of the walls are straight or plum; that may be a “…bad…” house, but it is not a sinful house.

If you sing in the choir and the angels in Heaven block their ears and try to shield The Lord from hearing you sing; that is bad singing; but it is not sinful singing!

Works that are “…bad…” may have resulted because of a sin we committed; and we will lose rewards for the work; but the sin has already been paid for by The Blood of Jesus!

At The Judgment Seat, sins will not be the subject of that day! But what many have failed to recognize; is that the same is also true of The Judgment of The Great White Throne for the lost. God is just toward both the saved and the lost.

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15

As you read those words; just as it is with The Judgment Seat; you can see sins are not mentioned here either. The Lord Jesus truly has provided payment for “…the sins of the whole world.” Sins are not the focus of the interrogation of those days. But He will bring every work to light before each of His Judgments! As saved people, we can stand before The Lord’s Judgment Seat, because of the fact that we called upon His name in faith. And we can do so, with the work Jesus did for us on the cross, being imputed and credited to our account. It will not be our good “…works…” which save us; they cannot. But the work of the Lord’s sacrifice on His cross did! As for lost people; they cannot bring what Jesus did in their place to their respective Judgment Day; because the only work worthy of salvation has not been accepted by them! The only things that the lost have to be judged for are their works which were performed in an unregenerate state. Jesus already paid for their sins as He did for ours!

When we sin as saved people; those sins are not counted against us concerning our salvation; but they must be confessed so that we can be cleansed for service to God. What a wonderful salvation we have to enjoy! God has done all for us; even making a way for saved sinners to stay in perfect fellowship with Him. Our sins are truly and justly gone. Not just swept under the rug so to speak; but because of the justifying power of the blood of Jesus, our sins exist no more!

Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”

Hebrews 8:12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”

Saved people need to make these things part of their being. God wants us to serve Him. He wants all the saved to do “…good works…” for His sake; so that we can be rewarded. No saved person has any excuse for not serving God. If more of us would live with The Judgment Seat in view; and knowing these facts about our sins; we would not be so burdened down with the guilt of sins today. The sacrifice Jesus made for us needs to be fully understood. His one-time offering is all we need; and all there is! Holding on to feelings of guilt after we confess sins is useless in the light of the Atonement for our sins. Punishing ourselves by feeling that we are not worthy of serving God after sins are confessed does not enter into the equation for the payment of our sins! I believe the devil uses such ideas of false remorse such as those to keep the saved from focusing on the works we need to be doing for The Lord! God writes of this blessing of sins gone so we can work for Him, in Hebrews 10:14-24.

“For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works…”

If God said only once that He has the ability to forget sins; and that He would; that would be enough. But thank God He records that precious promise three times in His Book! God has the power to do this only because Jesus paid the full price for all sins. This is why we can be judged for our works at His Seat without answering for sins. If our sins were not already redeemed; God would be unjust in letting the penalty for sins go unaddressed at The Judgment Seat of Christ.

Because God is Just; He requires payment for every sin ever committed. But if God brought those sins to judgment a second time; for the saved or the lost; He would then cease to be Just!

When you and I knelt, convinced that we had sinned before God; and we prayed in faith, asking Jesus for His gift of eternal life: we were saved from the penalty of all our sins at that instant. That is when our eternal life began. God then deemed us to be justified, and accepted us as no longer guilty because of the substitutionary Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus died in our place for all our sins.

At the moment a humbled, condemned sinner, takes God’s offer for the payment of their sins; The Court of Heaven blots out the record of those sins forever! By the determination of The Holy One of Heaven; the saved sinner’s sins have not been swept under the rug in an unjust plea deal; those crimes against God are blotted out…” (Acts 3:19), just as if they had never been committed by that person!

In the laws of men, when a person has been tried in a court, he cannot be tried a second time for the same offence. We call that double jeopardy. Our God can never be accused of committing that crime concerning the judgment of sins. The Lord Jesus, as The Lamb of God, has already been tried in God’s court for our sins; doing so in our place; and then He suffered what we should have suffered for our sins! Jesus Christ paid for all sins! This is why saved people need to be serving God with as many good works as they can. First out of pure thankfulness; but always with the day of reckoning being allowed to filter our motives!

Our salvation needs to be the thing for which we are most thankful! And because we are thankful; we need to be more at work for God! Salvation from the penalty of sins and service for The Lord ought to go hand-in-hand. True salvation causes a desire to work for God! It is a package deal that must not be so neglected. We love to quote Ephesians 2:8-9.

“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.”

Thank The Lord Jesus for the blessing of the truth of those words. But look at the words which follow those words. God immediately points we who are saved by grace to also work for Him!

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

Notice the wording God uses in those verses for it makes this subject very plain. We know a sinner is not “…saved…” from the penalty of their sins by the “…works…” they do. It is by exercising and openly expressing the acceptance by “…faith…;” in the work Jesus did for sinners that allows a sinner to be “…saved…” from Hell. Once a sinner asks Jesus for “…the gift of God…” which is “…eternal life…” (I John 5:13), The sinners’ penalty for all sin is paid for in full.

But God goes on to teach every saved sinner, that The Lord has saved them not just from having to go to Hell; but to work for Him. With the sin question settled; more of God’s people had better start sending more good works ahead to The Judgment Seat.

Chapter 3

The Goal at The Judgment Seat

I Corinthians 9:22-27 “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

Serving The Lord takes physical work; and God’s people need to be doing more of it. Works are basically things we do with our bodies. A work may begin with a desire on the inside; or a motivation unseen; But all true works can be seen on the outside by someone. If used to its fullest potential; The applying of The Judgment Seat of Christ will cause our hearts and minds to desire to do better and greater works for The Lord.

John 14:12 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Because Jesus went to The Father and has sent His Holy Spirit to abide in our physical bodies; the saved are capable of much greater works than we may think! But we need the powerful, spiritual motivation of The Judgment Seat to do them. Many people seem to be waiting around for some super spiritual event to move them to work for God; when all they have to do; is tell their bodies to get up and get busy or they are going to lose rewards!

Paul was able to accomplish great works for The Lord. In I Corinthians 9:22-27, we have this hard working servant of The Lord, speaking about how he was able to do some of the works he did. As is always the case; the work of soul winning is at the heart of God’s words when He had Paul to write, “And this I do for the gospel's sake…”

The context of these verses is that of Paul running a race for the sake of winning the souls of the lost; and for the strengthening of the saved. Paul speaks of being the master over his own “…body…” in order to facilitate finishing this race and receiving a reward.

Here Paul uses the illustration of what were the early Olympic games. He uses this to teach about the works done in his body. The Corinthians were familiar with how the results of those tests of personal strength and skill were judged; and how participants worked and gained crowns as victors. The very picture here is said to be of a colosseum full of those watching a rewards ceremony, that was held for all after the final competitions were completed. A judge would read the names of those who finished; and the events they faced. The competitors would then stand one at a time; and the winners of the contests would be awarded crowns by the hand of the judge.

In order to run and win in these events; a competitor’s mind had to be set on a prize; and their body had to be disciplined to get it. The man had to push himself mentally; and work hard to get in physical shape. If not, he would not be fit to push his body to do what needed to be accomplished to win a crown. Paul was saying his goal was just that: “…I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection…” This too can be, and must be applied to our service for The Lord, as we take control of our own bodies and work for God!

It is the hands of Jesus from which we will receive rewards for the good things done in our bodies. And it will be at his hands that we will see rewards lost. Are you working for Him in the light of The Judgment Seat?

II Corinthians 5:9 “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

Chapter 4

The Persuasion of The Judgment Seat

“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.” II Corinthians 5:11

These words are in context to be applied directly in the light of The Judgment Seat of Christ. They are powerful words which need to be thought through carefully. Words such as “…terror …” are often thought of in relation to Hell or the unsaved standing at The Great White Throne Judgment, facing the lake of fire. But in this Scripture, God is not applying “…terror …” to the unsaved. That inspired word was written to arrest the attention of we who are saved!

Today, when some professing believers hear words such as “…we persuade men…” in relation to preaching to people to serve God; they mistakenly think only of being pushed or an attempt at manipulation. An example of this would be professing saved people who are of the mindset, that serving The Lord in confrontational soul winning is ‘not for our day.’ I believe those who use such an excuse; do so in order to suppress their consciences from excepting their responsibility to speak to the lost about being saved. Others of this Laodicean age have been demonically influenced to think that preaching with passion on principles of living holy lives; separated from the ways, attitudes and fashions of this world; is being too dogmatic. Such as these resist being persuaded to walk in the paths of old-fashioned Christianity; and are running toward the pathetic sympathy with the apathy of worldly-christians trying to stay as unholy-close to this world as they can!

Of all times in the history of Biblical Baptist Christianity; God’s people need to be persuaded toward the doing of good old-fashioned “…works…” for The Lord Jesus. There are many good works that believers need to be persuaded to accomplish; and many bad works which they need to stop.

By what God has written at the hand of The Apostle Paul; The Judgment Seat of Christ was designed to “…persuade…” the saved to do many good “…works…” But perhaps most of all; the good “…work…” of winning lost souls to The Saviour.

The doctrine of The Judgment Seat has to be kept before us as individuals on purpose. Because our sin nature does not want to have to face The Judgment Seat; this is a subject that can be easily pushed back and be repressed until a conscience is seared from feeling God’s intended effect in the saved. It is evident that this day of judgment affected Paul in a profound way; and needs to do the same in our hearts and ministry. It is much easier for our old man to not have to think about that day. But I am sure, if we will ask The Holy Spirit to make this teaching of Scripture part of our daily lives; that the keeping of this doctrine close to heart, mind, and hand, will help all born again people, to rise above the mediocre service which is too often given to The Lord.

Every saved person has been left here on this earth to serve The Saviour; and all that we do now in this body must be performed with the knowledge and the application of The Judgment Seat of Christ. We will face our works then; so why not use this good doctrine to face our works before we do them?

The more good works we do for The Lord; the more crowns we will have to be able to cast at His feet! The purpose for this coming Judgment for the saved; is a powerful motivating factor while serving The Saviour.

A practical use of this teaching will greatly impact the work of soul winning. All saved people are commanded to witness to the lost. We are all to be at the business of persuading those on their way to Hell, to repent and be born again.

Haven’t you wondered why is it that yourself; and so many others who profess to be born again, do not work as hard as we should to “…persuade men…” to be saved? Couldn’t all of us do more for God?

I do not know every reason or excuse that men could site for why they are not more involved in soul winning; but I think I know the greatest missing factor as to why more saved people are not. It must be that their hearts and minds really do not see; how not being soul winners will affect them when they stand before The Judgment Seat. Please consider this next statement carefully. Many saved people are missing the emotion of the godly kind of fear; generated by the conscience; as it pre-lives that Judgement Day. When God’s Word is allowed to reach inside the soul and spirit; saved people will act upon that influence of The Holy Spirit.

Paul the Apostle, gave us one of his motivating influences for his service to The Lord, when he wrote, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” I contend that it is this kind of godly, emotional motivation, that has not been allowed to move many of the saved to serve as soul winners.

Many of us have heard teaching about how to go soul winning. We have the plan of salvation mapped out in our soul winners New Testaments. The people in our kind of Baptist Churches have heard Spirit-fill preaching urging them to go soul winning. Our altars have been filled with saved people confessing the sin of not going soul winning. But, many of our kind; we who profess to believe soul winning is still right to do; still lack the spiritual pressing, and internal urging, to put the work of persuasive, convincing, soul winning into practice. How will “…the terror of the Lord…” affect you at The Judgment Seat? Does it affect your soul winning and your other service for The Lord now?

In Luke 16: 28-31, God gave us a very persuasive passage in His Book, which ought to motivate us to be soul winners. That rich man in Hell was begging for someone to be sent to his lost “…brethren…” so they would not have to go to Hell. The answer to that lost man’s request needs to be thought through and applied here. The Lord said of Abraham’s response to that soul in torment,

“…If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

It struck me to think that a person who has been in Hell would not have the persuasive power to convince a lost soul from going to that terrible place. Why? By what The Lord wrote of this, I thought: If a saved person could come back to earth and witness after they had died; they too would not have the needed and full effect on the lost getting saved. And ultimately; I believe The Lord was also saying that even though people will know, that He Himself would raise from the dead; that that fact will not be the main factor which determines a lost person’s choice to be saved! Why?

Compare those thoughts with God having Paul to write, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” As you think that through it is going to hit you; that “…we…” are the ones who have been commanded and given the power of the gospel to “…persuade men…” to be saved from Hell! It is “…we…” who are to take The Gospel and with it convince the lost to be saved! And according to Paul, one of the greatest soul winners of all time, it was The Judgment Seat of Christ which persuaded him to serve God so faithfully! We have got to beg The Holy Ghost to use The Judgment Seat to influence and to motivate “…we…” who will stand there; to get out on the highways, hedges and doorsteps, and “…persuade men…” women, teens and children to be saved! If “…we…” are not persuaded to win the lost; what of their souls?

Chapter 5

The Neglected Influence of The Judgment Seat

II Corinthians 5:8-11 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

I have met many people who profess thankfulness for being saved; but they have not yet begun to serve The Lord Who saved them. The salvation of God was not designed as a thing to be selfishly enjoyed. We are not saved just to be able to live a good life free from the vice and filth of this world. Many are thankful that they are no longer on their way to Hell. Many live exemplary lives. Many are faithful members of good, solid Baptist Churches; but they are not physically working to bring others to Heaven with them. Yes, thank God we are not going to feel the flames of Hell. Many saved folks live separated lives and reap the benefits of doing so. All those things are benefits of our salvation now. But none of those things are actual service to God!

Jesus saved us to “…labour…” for Him. All such work should ultimately result in the reaching of lost souls! It is wonderful that we get to spend time in prayer, and in reading and studying God’s Word; we get to go to a good solid Baptist Church and hear messages and lessons from God’s Perfect Book. But along with all those good things; every saved person must be brought to the place where they want to use their salvation to serve and to “…labour…” for God.

The word “…labour…” needs to be applied in this study of The Judgment Seat. The word “…labour…” is spoken of concerning the use of the work of the mind; and for physical works. More of God’s people need to be physically working for The Lord. Jesus has already done the highest work for our sakes. All the saved must now show our thankfulness for that saving grace by laboring for Him.

Besides being saved from the penalty of Hell; all who have been born again were saved for a two-fold purpose.

To bring glory to God by how we live this life.

To be faithful, vocal, soul winning witnesses to the lost.

Keeping The Judgment Seat close in our consciences will accomplish both of these endeavors. All who are born again have in them some desire to honour God with the new life He has provided. All saved people were saved to serve in some capacity; but all the saved were redeemed so The Lord could use their voices to get the gospel of eternal salvation out to the lost! I have no doubt that the work of witnessing to the lost, will be the number one thing to be accounted for on that day. And I am also sure, that it will be the cause of many a trembling knee and stammering tongue; as The Lord reckons with each of those whom He saved.

God’s people, who are grateful for the fact that they are saved, should desire to work for The Lord simply because they understand God’s great love for them. You would expect God’s love for us, to be the highest and most powerful motive that constrains every Christian to serve Christ.

God used Paul the Apostle to write The Scriptures which teach this principle in II Corinthians 5:14-15.

“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

Here is an interesting fact to be applied. Just before Paul wrote of “…the love of Christ…” being that which constrains “…us…,” he writes the inspired words of II Corinthians 5:8-12.

II Corinthians 5:8-11 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.”

If I read those words correctly; Paul’s motivation to live not for himself was in two parts. It came from Christ’s love for him; and an understanding of “…the terror of the Lord…” as he thought of standing “…before the judgment seat of Christ…”

The first of this two-part purpose of The Judgment Seat then is to motivate the saved to serve The Lord with their bodies. That means good old-fashioned work! Many who have benefited from the work Jesus did for them are not working for The Lord. Salvation is not just so we can be saved; it is so we can bring that salvation to others! Salvation is not just a state-of-being; it is being busy serving God. No wonder The Scriptures tell us in Philippians 2:10-13

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

God’s mind is amazing! Look at those words again! God speaks of saved people bowing before Him; speaking to Him; obeying Him; and “…with fear and trembling…” working “…out…” the salvation that is in them! That means we are to show our salvation by our works for The Lord! Anything less could be considered no more than a demonic, false, empty profession of faith!

James 2:17-20 “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?”

We are not saved by the “…works…” we do; but our “…works…” are to be performed as proof that we are saved by faith! It is the applying of what will take place at The Judgment Seat of Christ which will motivate the saved to get busy at laboring for The Lord!

God had Paul to write about the influence of what motivated him to do the works he did. This must not be neglected. This same effect is what we all need working in us to work! But even then; we still need to determine with our will; to get busy with a good old-fashioned dose of hard work! If we will not work for The Lord; His grace on our account will be to some extent wasted! Look at what Paul said about his understanding of work and grace.

I Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

Any saved person who reads about Paul’s labours, knows that those good works were strongly linked to what he would face at his day standing at The Judgment Seat of Christ. Hey “soul winning” Baptists; is the labour of our great work of winning souls, the thing being neglected the most, among the hundreds of other good works we do?

Chapter 6

Soul Winning and The Judgment Seat

II Corinthians 5:17-19 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”

At salvation; The Bible teaches us in II Corinthians 5:17, that God created in us a “…new creature…”

God writes that “…old things are passed away…” Included in with those “…old things…” are our sins. They are gone at the birth of that “…new creature…” But look carefully; for He goes on to say that the “…new creature…” was made to do a very specific kind of “…good works…”

The reason we have been saved is to work for The Lord. God defines for us that main work to be done in II Corinthians 5: 18.

“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation…”

The work of every person who has been “…reconciled…” is undeniable! A saved person is a “…new creature…” who still lives in their old body. Where we once used that body to do works of sin; we are now to use that body to work for The Lord in bringing the lost to The Lord by soul winning! That is the ministry of reconciliation…!”

Now that The Holy Spirit of God is sealed in us who have been saved; just as “…God was in Christ;” we are to be involved in “…reconciling the world…” back to God by helping them to be saved! That is soul winning! That is one of the “…works…” for which we will be judged. And it is no doubt the most important kind of physical work that a saved person can do! The Saviour has “…given to us the ministry of reconciliation…”

With these Scriptural facts in view; the saved who are not involved in soul winning ought to be very glad; that the sins of not soul winning, have already been paid for by The Blood of Jesus! Such as these will not answer for that sin at their time of judgment. But what non-soul winners ought to be more concerned with is what will come of the bad works done while they should have been out going soul winning? Because all the saved were created to be about the “…works…” of winning the lost. Those works will meet us again at The Judgment Seat of Christ.

Here is another hard fact to consider as soul winning faces the scrutiny of The Saviour’s examination. Part of the Judgement Seat will test those who say they love to read, teach, study, and preach The Word of God; but they did not personally go out in this world and use The Word of God to win the lost.

II Corinthians 19 “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation…”

Jesus has specifically “…committed unto us the word of reconciliation…” We will be tested for this. A saved person may never do the work of a Pastor preaching from a pulpit, doing the work of an Evangelist, the work of teaching a Sunday School class, the work of serving in a Christian School, the work of singing in a Baptist Choir or the work of writing a Baptist book. If they are not called or directed by God to do those types of “…works…;” they will not be judged in the negative for such “…works…” But every saved person is to be about the “…works…” of soul winning! All who have been “…reconciled…” are to be involved in the work of “…reconciliation…” Soul winning is using our soul winning New Testaments in hopes to see the “…reconciliation…” of those on their way to Hell and The Lake of Fire!

In the light of God’s view of time; more of the saved have got to realize that we do not have much time left to win lost souls to Jesus. And our time to serve God in soul winning is also short!

II Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

Now look at the question The Lord possess to we who are born again after those words in II Peter 3:11-12. What an application of this truth!

“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God…”

Try to tell me that the word “…conversation…” is not pointing directly at the godly work of soul winning? The question “…what manner of persons ought ye to be…” in that context; has to be answered by saying. “Because I have been saved; I must be the kind of saved person who goes soul winning!”

And then II Peter 3:14 says after that, “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”

If we as saved people, would apply these things to us as being part in the Lord’s business of “…reconciliation...;” which is soul winning, we will gain not only more souls saved, but greater rewards for doing so at The Judgment Seat of Christ.

Chapter 7

Sorting Things Out At The Judgment Seat

I Corinthians 3:12-13 “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.”

Only God can accurately judge our works. Our human determinations and estimations will be at best flawed. I either read or heard someone to say, “Humans have determined gold to be a precious metal; but with God; He uses it as the pavement for His streets in Heaven.”

In The Bible, gold was also used for things such as building materials, cups, eating utensils and decorations. And by its use in Scripture, silver at times seems to be more valuable than gold. And it could be said that the wood of The Lord’s cross was in many ways to be considered a precious thing! Perhaps the use of these names of things which are clearly representative of different works; are not as important, as the teaching; that God warning us to be more conscious of serving and working for Him.

Different levels or kinds of works will get differing rewards or losses. The word “…sort…” first applies to the categories of works God wrote of in these verses. God does not fully explain these specific names for His groups of works. But from those things mentioned, we do know some of the effect fire has on such materials. Some will be totally dissolved leaving little or no trace nor form of what they once appeared to be. Some will be turned to only a residue of ashes. Others will be melted to purification; and some such things will not be hurt at all by the heat of the flames. As this is applied to the works brought out at The Judgment Seat; we do know that some of our works will survive the fire; and others will not. I have noted before concerning the works which get burned up; that at the least it will be a blessing to have those things gone!

We do know that I Corinthians 3:12-13 is teaching that the quality of the individual works will be a factor; and most likely the main issue of our works. But as far as the actual definition of this particular word “…sort…;” I cannot say that this word by itself is teaching about the motives for the works; but this idea is strongly implied in The Scriptures. In I Corinthians 13:3 Paul uses comparative speech that points to wrong motives being used for things that are good.

“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”

It seems very clear by these words that motives will have a part in the determining of loss or gain of rewards. Again; only God fully knows the what and why of how all our works will be judged; and He will do so with 100% holy accuracy.

Examples of this could be when a church member takes money that was supposed to pay God His tithe; and he uses that money to feed a homeless person. Feeding a truly homeless person is a good work; but it was performed in disrespect for God’s tithe. When that good work faces the fire; it will most likely be burned up. They should have tithed first; and then used their own money to buy that food. Then they would receive rewards for two good works!

A church member goes to work to earn some extra money for their family during the time that they could have gone to God’s House on Sunday. That good work will lose reward. By the way, because some do not think this through; that example may prove to be the reason for many a lost reward on Judgment Day.

As a pastor, I have witnessed God’s people, by seeing their works, justifying the doing of something that may be good in itself; but it is done at the wrong time. Things such as singing special music is a good work, which could be the source of losing some level of rewards, if the person sings for the sake of pride in being noticed for their talent. II Corinthians 5:12 needs to be applied to works such as this.

“For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.”

Works we do against our own consciences also need to be considered. II Corinthians 5:11 helps us to be conscious of loss of rewards for this.

“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.”

With those examples it has also to be said; that many who do such things often fail to confess those things as sins. Confession of sins is a work we do with hearts, minds…. and our tongues! Talk about compounding our own problems! With sins associated with the doing of good or bad works not being confessed; the believer then loses the fellowship of their walk with God. Now that is a good work at which we cannot afford to fail!

Here is another thing to put to work in light of The Judgment Seat.

Romans 14:8-13 “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.”

It is easy to get caught up in what others are or are not doing for The Lord. That seems to be a leftover of our old sinful natures. And we have to work hard to obey the Scriptures in order to combat this and other works of the flesh. When a believer focuses on only the works they personally are or are not doing; they will be more apt to work harder to serve The Lord in the right way. If all that we do is measured now; for what those works might lose or gain at The Judgment Seat; more saved people will draw a circle around their own lives and works; and concentrate their efforts on what they do exclusively before The Lord. They will then work to be an example to others. Titus 2:7 could then be chosen as their “life’s verse.”

“In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works…”

And by doing so; their openly bad works, will not be “…a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall…” in the life of another brother or sister in Christ.

Being more conscious of this truth is the key to living a life which will produce many rewards at The Lord’s Judgment Seat.

Chapter 8

Our Record at The Judgment Seat

I Corinthians 3:12-13 “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.”

Because the question of sins has been dealt with in the atonement; paid for by the blood of The Lord Jesus; every work, good or bad, is being recorded in the books of Heaven. All of those works “…shall be made manifest…”at each of the two final Judgment Days.

I do not think that I will ever fully understand, how in the mind and justice of God; He divides between sins and works in Is dealings with men. But I do know, that because The Lord has already paid for the sins of every living soul; God is now very interested in the works of men; especially the works of the saved.

Regardless of the false theological works of Calvinism, and the bad written works about limited atonement; all who believe and have respect for The Word of God; know that The Scriptures make it plain; that all sins were judged for all men; in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The blood shed by The Lord Jesus has paid the price for every sin ever committed; both for the saved, and for those who do not accept God’s gift of eternal life!

I John 2:1-2 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

That is an amazing truth of the grace of God! For The Lord Jesus to have suffered and died as He did for the sins of those who would not accept Him; shows us a level of unselfishness that cannot truly be matched! He has put away all penalty for sins! But He still watches all the works of everyone. As for we who have trusted Jesus and asked Him for eternal life; with our sins out of the way; His grace to us ought to cause us to work more for Him. But if that does not move the redeemed to action; The Judgment Seat of Christ should!

Understanding the word “…manifest…” in relation to the Judgment Seat will be a powerful motivator for us to be more conscious of doing works which are good and avoiding the bad. Look at the definition of this inspired and preserved English word. As you do so; think of your present works recorded in The Lord’s record books.

Manifest- ‘Plain, open, clearly visible to the eye or obvious to the understanding; apparent; not obscure or difficult to be seen or understood. Detected.’

These words describe the openness of the record of works which will be awaiting us at The Judgment Seat. Go back and read the definition of that powerful word again.

But the rest of the definition of that word has a very interesting application to it. The word “…manifest…” also has the idea of a written list of things to be sent on ahead as a record of proof! According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, the word “…manifest…” also means;

‘An invoice of a cargo of goods, imported or laden for export, to be exhibited at the custom-house by the master of the vessel, or the owner or shipper.’

Wow! Did you get the application? Go back to it again! In Revelation 20:12, when The Lord writes “…and the books were opened…” in reference to the judgment of the works of the lost at The Great White Throne…He is not kidding! Talk about a “…manifest…!” But it is our works; the works of the saved which “…shall be made manifest…” at The Judgment Seat of Christ for the works of the saved!

The next verse of Scripture needs to be brought to the private prayer times of us as Baptists; and to the altars in our kind of Baptist Churches. This speaks of those unseen, hidden works, those things presently unknown except by you and God: works of which many want to remain in that “…secret…” state. But they too will be made “…manifest…”

Luke 8:17-18 “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.”

That Seat of Judgment will truly be a thing of “…terror…” in the case of some; if not all of us to some degree. But thank The Lord we all can get busy working for the good and right!

Ephesians 5:8-13 “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.”

This has to be taken in by the saved at an extremely personal level. Do not concern yourself so much with the works of others; but be a lot tougher; more severe when it comes to your own works for The Lord. We ought to support the good works of others; and admonish them to get out of the bad; but we are not by any means as accurate in judging such things. Some of the things we now see and mistakenly judge as good works, no doubt are actually seen by The Lord for what they really are. And the opposite is also to be considered. We may have some unscriptural based bias which has tainted our seeing good Biblical works as being something bad. Of course no Independent Baptists are ever guilty of that… (Ha Ha.) Or as the young people say, “Yea right!”

There will be some work that will be recognized now; and some will not be brought out till The Judgment. But when this earth is gone, and the Judgments are done; no works will have gone completely unseen.

I Timothy 5:25 “Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.”

When John 3:21 is applied; God tells us that if we will get busy, not just believing the truth; but practice the doing of the truth; we can then live in the light which will reveal the truth about the works we do or attempt to do!

“But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

Thank God for the light of His Word! As we stay with the truth of God’s Book; that light will always shine out to show us if our works are good or bad. We do not have to wait till The Judgment Seat to find out if what we are doing is good or bad; we can see it now in God’s Word!

Saved people; We need to be more aware of the future manifestation of record books of our works! Good works performed for Him, as prompted by and in obedience to His Written Word, show our Redeeming Saviour our level of respect for Him. As saved people, we have a great opportunity, and the responsibility, to honour The LORD as our Master by our works. James 2:18 says it the best! The Apostle was glad to show his works for his Lord.

“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

This is not a statement of boasting by any means! It is a declaration; that true faith in Christ produces The Salvation which is conducive to the doing of good works! Not in pride to be seen of men; but to show men what Salvation by The Grace God really looks like! Oh do we ever need to do this in 2016!

We are in a day when the testimony of many who claim to have “faith” is pathetic! It is disgraceful the way some professing believers show their “faith.”

Living in the light of The Judgment Seat of Christ is the cure for the worldly-christian! Just like the worldly Laodiceans; such are attempting to live the life of the culture of two countries: Heaven and the World. We complain when immigrants to America do not assimilate into the culture of the country which gave them freedom. They want the privileges of an American; but they do not want to practice living as an American. What about the sinner who was alienated from God; that is afforded citizenship in Heaven at their salvation; but they still seek to live like the world from which they were redeemed??? That is far worse!

No matter if any other human being sees or knows what we do for Him; our God will reward all good works. We all love to think thoughts like that; but God also notes the bad works of men. Somehow thoughts such as those are considered to be bad things; when in truth; they are exactly what we need with respect to our works. If a child is trained to know that the doing of bad brings chastisement which hurts; they will stop being involved in so much mischief. God even says the same in dealing with His children in His chastening of them. It is for our good; and so we will do good! Look at Hebrews 12:5-11.

“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

As saved people, we can do bad works now and get chastened for them; and answer for them at The Judgment Seat. Or, we can allow The application of The Judgment Seat to help us to “…be in subjection unto the Father of spirits…” now, to avoid chastening; which will avert some of the “…terror…” at The Judgment Seat of Christ, which those bad works will produce on that day.

The words of The Scripture which teach of our record being “…made manifest…” at The Judgment Seat of Christ, need to be studied, taken in, and allowed to produce the effect God has designed those words to accomplish. They are words of the future which have been written for us to live today.

The doing of works that are not acceptable in His sight; is first due to not knowing what The Word of God expects to be done; or, it shows a lack of respect for Him as Lord by just plain disobedience. The lesser of both of those bad works is the lack of discipline in the study of His Word. Both will be on record. Both will be “…made manifest…”

We know from The Scriptures that The Lord is keeping records of the works of every person; saved or lost. The LORD watches all the works of men. Psalm 33:14-15 tells us,

“From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.”

Those works are in many forms. All works are either good or bad; and each of those works are being logged on a record, under the oversight of The Lord, right now. In Galatians 5:19-21, God lists some of the bad works which will be burned up.

“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Go through that list again. Saved people need to be aware of what God considers to be bad works! Yes, all of these are also sins; but remember, sins are not the issue in this study. It is easy for us to miss the fact that some of the bad attitudes we have, are seen as “…works…” in the eyes of The Lord. When saved people are involved in such things; those now recorded works will be brought to light at the testing of The Judgment Seat!

Hey saved person, how works conscious are you?

Many saved people get caught up in talk about things that will not stand the fire of that judgment day. We must use the voices God gave us to work more exclusively for Him.

Matthew 12:36 “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

Many saved people seem to be able to notice and to criticize the works of other brothers and sisters in Christ; but fail to sincerely evaluate their own standing in works for God.

Romans 14:11-12 “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

According to Hebrews 13:17 All saved people are given the responsibility as church members; to listen to what a Bible believing Pastor teaches and preaches; and they are to do those things which are right according to The Word of God. This aspect of the believers record of works is often not thought of; or it is just or neglected.

“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

If I understand the wording of that verse of Scripture correctly; church members will “…give account…,” of what they learn for themselves. But also for what their Pastor has given them. He will give account of what he has taught them as a testimony for or against them. Church members will give an account of their obedience to what the Pastor taught and preached! Can you imagine how it will be; when unfaithful church members, have to face again, what The Lord gave their Pastor to preach; just on the one subject of challenging them to work for God; and they have not? How many saved people have even thought of confessing the sin of that particular bad work? That is not a very popular subject; but like it or not; it will be there, on record, at The Judgment Seat!

Another aspect of The Judgment Seat will be the manifestation of the record of what was in our hearts at the time of our doing works for The Lord. Only God can accurately judge these things. To some degree, we may not fully know all that was in our hearts as we worked for The Lord. Now The Scriptures do teach that The Word of God can help us to know more of our hearts motives.

Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

Because we still carry about our old sin natures; there will be times when we cannot figure our own selves out! Never mind attempting to do so with others. That is why the practicing of this doctrine of The Judgement Seat is so needed. It will cause us to be much more apt to be concerned, with being as faithful to The Word of God, as a saved sinner can be! But again, God is the best Judge of such deep things. Paul wrote it this way in I Corinthians 4:2-5.

“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”

We can understand by God’s inspired words written by Paul; that The apostle was so consumed with his own quest to be “…found faithful…” that he was not concerned about the judgment of others on himself. He was not being arrogant here; he knew Who was to be his Judge! He was not saying he had a right not to be judged if he was ever found in error by The Word of God. But it is evident, that The Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ, was were Paul let his present and future testing stand! This I believe made him a powerful servant of The Lord. It gave him spiritual confidence, and shut down human arrogance and pride. Let’s face it. If we too would do all that we do in our thoughts, our motives, our words, our writings, and all of our works; knowing full-well that they are all being recorded by God; to be “…made manifest…” and tested by fire; we too would desire more to be “…found faithful…” when our name is called to The Judgment Seat.

We need to live this today! See it now! Attempt to feel its power and force on our souls; which then will hold no masking or repressing devices; as we for the first time without the influence of sins; “…give account…” of ourselves to God.

Try to imagine the moment the record book of our personal works is opened. We will be able to see the very first work we did right after we got up from praying the sinner’s prayer! And we will see the “…manifest…” wherein is recorded the last work we did, before our deceiving, human heart of sinful flesh, beat for the last time!

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.” II Corinthians 5:10-11

Chapter 9

The Fire of The Judgment Seat

I Corinthians 3:13-15 “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; yet so as by fire.”

Have you wondered why is this subject not brought before our kind of Baptist Churches more often? Surely it would help more of God’s people to be busy serving and working for The Lord’s cause.

All of us will be there, perhaps sooner than we think. We may not like to face thoughts of judgment and fire as a saved person; but because The Lord has recorded this for us in His Book we have to!

Through my thirty-seven years since being saved; I do not remember hearing one entire sermon about the Judgment Seat of Christ. If I did; it obviously had little or no real effect on my memory. In those same years; I have seen only one small booklet written exclusively about this subject. I have never sat under a Bible Study lesson fully going through the many aspects of The Judgment Seat of Christ. In twenty years of pastoring; I have often referenced bits and pieces of The Judgment Seat; and applied it in sermons and studies; but did not teach or preach a full series on that day of reckoning for the believer. I realized that I had better do so; or I would lose many rewards myself. But more important; the people whom The Lord has placed under the oversight He has charged me with; will be the ones who will also lose rewards.

As a pastor; I too will be examined by the fire of that Seat. That Fire is not a respecter of persons or products; it treats all things the same.

Pastors and Evangelists will have the potential of much more works to be tested. Some with small works; others with larger churches. Some will reach thousands; and others may reach only one. There will be men whom God will entrust with much greater amounts of responsibility. Some will have more God-given talents than another faithful brother. Some will be known and used on a national level while others will be known only by the faithful members in one country church. But one thing is sure. The fire of The Judgment Seat will be just in its cause!

Fire does not test how big something is; but it does test the strength of a thing.

Fire does not test how well a building was built; it tests the materials used to build the structure.

Fire does not test how much material stands before its flames; it tests only quality of the materials.

Fire does not test the looks of something; but reveals what is left after its heat is applied.

I have no doubt that if any truly saved person will allow the truth of The Judgment Seat to settle into their souls; that they will be more at the main work of winning the lost; and faithfully serving The Lord in other capacities also. We need that kind of fire; the fire of that day; to burn in our hearts now!

Luke 8:16-18 “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.”

These simple thoughts can be applied to every saved person. Every member of an Independent, Fundamental, Baptist Church must spend time getting a view of that Judgment Seat now; before they face the fire of that day. Remember; the best motive for doing so; is so you can cast the rewards gained on that day back to The Lord Jesus in all His glory!

Chapter 10

Working Toward The Judgment Seat

I Corinthians 3:8 “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.”

Working for the rewards to be earned by believers, needs to be considered while we are in this life. A wise saved person, will not want to arrive at The Judgment Seat unprepared to face what awaits them.

Many saved people seem to get nervous about the subject working for rewards at The Judgment Seat. That is not altogether a bad thing; for it does show a level of conscious respect and concern. Although many of the thoughts which are generated because of The Judgment Seat of Christ are very sobering, convicting; and even somewhat unpleasant to have to take in; this subject does have great potential blessing for the saved. When the fire of that day is forever extinguished; each of the redeemed who have done good works for The Lord, will receive their rewards accordingly. These prizes for service rendered, will be presented to the faithful by the hands of our Redeemer. That alone will be wonderful! One thing is sure about that day; if you are a bit fearful of your standing at that Judgment; you can determine to bring some good works there with you. All the saved can work for The Lord and gain His rewards.

Over the years I have had some professing saved people say that they were not doing what they do for God to obtain rewards from Him. I believe one side of this stated attitude was spoken in sincerity. Then there were others who expressed the same thing; but a different kind of heart was heard in their words.

There were those, who had a good testimony of wanting to serve; and were seen to be truly working for The Lord. These folks, by their example, were and are some of the most gracious, faithful labourers among the saved. Outwardly, their humility was seen to be genuine by their evident commitment to serve The Lord. Their works proved their faith. It was easy to see that they were not seeking any kind of honour for their works.

Then there have been a few claiming salvation; who expressed that working for rewards was some kind of a bad thing to do. Their words had in them the sound of the pride of a false humility. They attempted to make those who worked for God, out to be people looking only to be praised by men. By the works of these; their professed faith was openly seen to not be doing much of anything for The Lord; and some were involved in things which were contrary to sound Bible doctrine. That kind of bad attitude about works and rewards allows the conscience of the slothful to go easy on their sin of not serving God. By their bad attitudes and actions; such as these did not promote and atmosphere that helped to “…provoke…” the saved around them, “…unto love and to good works…” as is commanded in Hebrews 10:24. Instead, such as these promote the worldly standard of doing of nothing; especially in the works of doctrinal purity, personal holiness, and winning souls.

The devil does not want saved people to honestly deal with The Judgment Seat of Christ while they live. He does not want believers to study out all they can about things such judgment, justice, works and rewards. Because of the lack of searching The Scriptures; Satan and his ministers have been able to infiltrate the minds of the saved, with bad thinking and bad practice when it comes to working for rewards.

When saved people live too close to this world and its ways; it ought to be no surprise when they become worldly and lukewarm in their attitudes and actions about serving and being recompensed with rewards.

As an example; many politicians of this country are seeking to impose an agenda by use of what is called ‘social justice.’ This is a political ploy, pushing the need to redistribute wealth in order to make all classes of people equal. This is the false idea, that those who work hard and receive the monetary rewards of their labour; are somehow obligated to share with those who will not work hard to earn their own living. Such as these think of this as ‘fairness;’ but in actuality, it is unjust! In I Corinthians 3:8, God states this best.

“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.”

Bad attitudes have been taken in by some professing believers when it comes to working for rewards. This must be adjusted to be in line with The Scriptures.

All people are “…one…” as in; they are all equal to get out and work for their “…own reward…!” And God’s people need to get out and get busy working; not to be seen of men; but for The Lord. There is a reward to be gained! And the now slothful servants, need to see good examples, of hard working servants which will “…provoke…” them to work and gain their “…own reward...”

Hebrews 10:24 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works…”

There will be saved people who think that the word “…provoke…” should not be used when attempting to get saved people to work toward The Judgment Seat. They had better get out their King James Bible and look up that good, inspired, and preserved English word, which God has placed in His Book! Look at the meaning of this word and apply it to the working toward The Judgment Seat of Christ.

Provoke: To call forth; to call into action; to arouse; to excite; to make angry; to offend; to incense; to enrage; to cause; as, to provoke perspiration; to provoke a smile; to stimulate; to increase; to challenge; to move; to stir up; to induce by motives; to rouse; and to appeal.

What a word for the promoting of this subject of works and rewards! That one word says it all! And depending on which side of this Bible doctrine a saved person is; that word will accomplish The LORD’S intended effect; positive or negative; in the convicting, convincing, and challenging of saved people; to get to work toward our coming Judgment Day!

God used Paul to write this word “…provoke…” in a context of winning people to be saved in Romans 11:14.

“If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.”

It is The LORD Who set up His rewards system for the works of the saved; and it should be a part of our lives. Any saved person who would be against The Lord’s way of honouring those who have faithfully worked for Him, need to re-evaluate that backwards mindset.

The Judgment Seat of Christ will be a day of great testing; but also one of great honour for The Lord Jesus! Through the rewards presented for good works done; we will all get to witness the results of the work wrought by The Holy Ghost of God! And, at the same time; there are some works which will be shown to be faulty; and those who worked faithfully for their Lord will have their good works vindicated justly; as they get to see those doctrinally sub-standard works burn! The works of those who forsook the doctrinal purity of The Faith, in order to follow some other man or movement will be eliminated in our sight by fire! Those who worked to bring the culture of this world into The Lord’s house; and would not preach against worldliness; will watch as what they attempted to build burns up! In John 5:44, by application, The Lord Jesus touches on the subject of those not seeking rewards from God.

“How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?”

The Right Priority in Gaining Rewards

There is a proper priority in the working to receive rewards. We are not to work for rewards to be seen of men. But we are to be seen as examples of working towards rewards to them! This must be balanced out with The Scriptures. Rewards are to be sought for the glory of The Lord! Ultimately, it is His works which will be vindicated at The Judgment Seat of Christ. But those who are working for The Lord, ought to desire to be used to challenge others to work toward their own time at The Judgment.

All of the saved should be consciously aware to work for The Lord Jesus with these things in heart. The more we work for Him; yes; the more rewards we will gain. But it will be The Lord Jesus that we will be praising after that day is done!

Chapter 11

Preparation for The Judgment Seat

I Corinthians 3:13-14 “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.”

II Timothy 2:21 “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”

As a child of God; The Scriptures teach us that even if we have not worked to earn rewards; that The Lord has provided for the saved what God calls an “…inheritance…” He says this is already “…reserved in heaven…” for us.

I Peter 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you…”

We may not know all about our inheritance till we get to Heaven. This will be a great and wonderful gift; but it is not one which we gained by our works. Jesus alone has earned that undeserved award for us! From reading those words in I Peter 1:3-4; it sure seems as if that which is waiting for us cannot be taken away or diminished. We really do not know for sure what form our “…inheritance …” is in; but thank God, just because a sinner gets saved; all who do so; have at the least that much to look forward to.

Simply put: Our “…inheritance…” is a birthright which is secured by The Saviour. Our “…rewards…” are earned as we serve our Saviour.

In preparing for The Judgment Seat; we must first understand that it was The Lord Jesus Who has earned all rewards in His work by His death, burial, and resurrection! He is the ultimate example of One Who worked for and gained great reward! The work Jesus has already finished has made ready our opportunity to gain rewards. All that can be rewarded to us began in Him. As our pastors have prepared us, and we prepare personally to stand in Judgment; we have to know in our hearts how and why all this was made to be. Many are presently heading for The Judgement Seat totally unprepared for what they must face. If we will follow Jesus by working as He tells us to do; we will not suffer as much loss on that day. The more we take in of The Word of God and obey it; the better prepared we will be. We need to be working to be living epistles for Christ.

The Lord Jesus used all that He did outwardly to show this world what He was inwardly! John 1:14 state this truth in a very powerful way!

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Jesus is our example. We are to show this world that we are working for Him from the heart! According to Romans 8:29, it is the will our Heavenly Father for all the saved “…to be conformed to the image of his Son…” Those words signify the working out of what The Holy Spirit’s sealing has done to us on the inside at salvation! That is a mandate; an order; a directive; and it is a Scriptural obligation to let our works be seen because we work exclusively for God!

Philippians 2:12-13 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

If God’s Spirit is in us, we ought to be showing our salvation by our working for God! Far too many saved people say they are born again without showing proof of it. The salvation The Saviour has wrought in us is designed not to stay only in our hearts; but to be worked “…out…” to bring glory to The Lord. He deserves to have we whom He has saved; to provide a visible, credible, outward testimony of what God has put in our hearts to do for Him!

Is your life an example to your fellow brothers and sister in Christ? Are you openly working for Jesus? Do your works prove that your heart loves Him? What would be The Lord’s answers to those questions?

I John 3:16-18 speaks of the example Jesus has set for us to follow. We are not only to give verbal testimony of our salvation and love for God; but we are expected to show others those inward things by our works!

“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”

Preparing to be Rewarded

Believers need to know that they can earn rewards for their works. But are we really mentally, emotionally, and consciously preparing to stand at The Judgment Seat? That day will be a day of many different feelings. The Scriptures teach us of that day to be ready for things such as fear, terror, fiery indignation; and of course there will also be joy for the blessings handed out.

There will also be another aspect of the emotions of the day. There will no doubt be some disappointment concerning those we have held up as examples. Humans; saved or not are still human at best! As for our own selves; we too will be in some way a source of disappointment to those who looked up to us as being an example. No works will be hidden on that day. The Lord told Paul to prepare the young preacher named Timothy to be ready for this in II Timothy 2:20-21.

“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”

Did you see how God worded that admonishment? He used the example of this kind of thing taking place in “…a great house …” There is so much to think about concerning The Judgment Seat. And in the end; it will all turn out for the good; and for a clean beginning of our eternity without sin!

Believers should think of this often. We must be prepared. This should help more of God’s people to be doing good works for Him; and letting go of bad works. Knowing that there is a reward waiting in Heaven will get us through the hard times of this life. It will motivate us to not quit when we have a bad day, a bad week, a terrible month…or year! Saved people can count on The Lord rewarding them for their good works.

Revelation 22:12 “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”

It cannot be over emphasized that saved people ought never be working to be seen of men. But with that we must also keep in mind and heart, that we are commanded to be examples in word and in deed to our brethren. The preparation of the right heart attitude, and an understanding to rightly divide The Scriptures in this subject, is most necessary. This doctrine must be learned from and balanced out with The written Word of God! And it needs to be practiced every day we breath.

We need to be prepared to rebuke those who would seek to make working for rewards to sound as if it was a carnal thing; and do the same for those who attempt to diminish the blessings associated with The Lord’s wanting to give out His rewards to the faithful. The words “…whatsoever ye do…” in Colossians 3:17, point us to be prepared to decide to do what is right in the future.

“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

This has to begin with the Preachers

Ephesians 4:11-14 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive…”

Those who have been called to serve and work for The Saviour as Evangelist and Pastors, must be the first among the saved; to be examples of working for the right rewards; and with the proper, Scriptural motives while we serve. This is especially true in the case of a Pastor; for he has been placed in an office specifically for the work of preparing the saved in an individual Church to stand before The Lord! If he himself is not properly prepared; those under his oversight will not be fully prepared at The Judgment Seat!

In II Peter 5:2-4, God gives a command to pastors along with much instruction; and with the promise of reward. The work the Pastor does in his study ought to produce ample amounts of The Word of God being inculcated and ingested into the lives and works of the folks in the congregation. We are to preach and teach people to follow us only as we follow The Lord; but we are not to force people to follow; for they belong only The Lord; they are His future bride! Pastors are not to be so timid to lead the flock of their Holy Ghost given oversight. We are to be careful in the use of money. We are to be the only earthly leader; but lead as we are led by The Lord and His Word only. All of these and more will meet the Pastor at the Baptist Church of your membership.

I Peter 5:2-4 “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

Pastors need to stay with their calling. We need to be seen as working in and toward what The Bible tells us to do in His service. We are to stay as unattached to this world as is humanly possible to do. If not, we will end up as defectors to the world; and traitors to the calling and purpose of The Lord for our lives. This must be an area of extreme caution and discernment as a pastor works for his Lord. Some pastors have started out in a pulpit, and stepped down to a politician’s seat because they failed in not heeding II Timothy 2:4-5.

“No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.”

A Pastor ought to be seen by the people of the church as one who is not afraid to speak and to stand for The Faith as It was first delivered to our kind to keep! Many pastors are retreating to the world and forsaking the old-paths.

II Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

The words of I Timothy 4:11-15 give absolute proof that a preacher who is working for The Lord is to do so as an outward example to others.

“These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”

Those words are specifically to be applied to the Pastors and Preachers in our kind of Baptist Churches. We ought to allow a good testimony of works for The Lord to “…appear to all.” With that said; this truth also applies to the works “…of the believers…” who are not in full-time ministry. No preacher, or any other servant of The Lord, is to be serving in pride to be seen of men; but somebody ought to see more of all the saved doing something!

Personal Goals for Rewards

Do you have goals to achieve in being rewarded at The Hand of The Saviour? Don’t think that to be a strange or arrogant question. We ought to have goals in serving our Lord.

The apostle Paul had goals. And it was he whom God used to open up The Judgment Seat of Christ to us more than any other of the Bible writers. Look carefully at the words of Philippians 3:8-14. Keep in mind the thought of goals and rewards. Try to pick out some of Paul’s goals as you read.

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

No one can deny that those inspired words are intended to “…provoke …” the establishing of personal goals in our service for The Lord! And then God goes on to teach us that these words are definitely to be applied in our lives in Philippians 3:15-17.

“Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.”

Again. Do you have personal goals for doing works and the resulting rewards? Of course, with the wrong heart motives it would be wrong to set such objectives; but not if those purposes are to glorify The Lord by our works!

We hold contests and programs at our Fundamental Baptist Churches to motivate our members to get out and bring the lost to Jesus. Yet, some have the idea that setting goals for rewards at The Judgment Seat is a bad thing? Where does such unbalanced thinking originate? The answer to that is simple: Satan; or, an apathetic, lazy believer! The more goals we have to work for The Lord; the more souls will be taken from the devil’s domain!

Here is a provoking thought to consider. If a fall or spring program mentality was a constant, in the hearts of the members of the kind of Baptist Churches which hold spring and fall contests for souls; in view of The Judgment Seat of Christ, wouldn’t The Lord have much more rewards to give out on that day? And for what would many of those rewards be? Souls won!

What about personal goals to work at being undeniably separated from this world? What about a goal to keep only to the old-paths in a time of worldly-Laodicean type baptist churches? Hey, how about goals to never attempt to correct or diminish the fact that we have a perfect, inspired and preserved copy of The Written Word of God in English! What about goals that “...provoke...” God’s people to read and study The Bible.

Many of our kind of Baptist Churches promote and push the great goal to increase giving to Missions. But some do not set an atmosphere at God’s House; for every church member to have a personal goal to never rob The LORD of His tithe?

And why don’t we push goals for our members to be in The House of God every time there is a scheduled assembly? Why someone may be thinking, “That’s too much to expect from church members.” Hey saved person, concerning those things and more; all of the things just mentioned, are now being recorded, in God’s record books of your works! This need to be real to us!

I wonder how many of the saved have ever sat down with an open Bible and an open heart; and considered their own present record of works in Heaven to date? You see, many do not want to face such a record now. But we all will face the records of all our works; and we all will be rewarded accordingly. Hey! Get busy for God! Think often of your day of reckoning and of your rewards.

God wants You to Receive a Full Reward

The Bible teaches us that our rewards can be “…full…” That means it is possible for all the saved to receive such abundance of reward. But to do so; we will have to avoid certain works which will rob us of that potential reward. It is our personal responsibility to stay right with God and His Word, in other areas of this life, while we are labouring to earn our rewards.

In II John 1:8, God tells us that there will also be some rewards gained that can be in jeopardy of being lost.

“Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.”

Thinking about God’s rewards system helps us to keep things in proper perspective while serving The Lord. Working for Him is not always easy; in fact, that will be the case more than not. But with the right way of looking at our service for God; we will be Biblically conscious to choose eternal rewards at The hand of Jesus; rather than accepting the mere temporary rewards of this world.

Temptations will come our way to get us to compromise and get gain from this world, by easing up on old-paths Bible Christianity. We will have to make clear choices to either prosper in this world; or stay faithful for The Lord till rewarded at The Judgment Seat. God uses the example of Moses to illustrate this.

Hebrews 11:26 “Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.”

Moses forsook much to work and serve The LORD. He could have stayed comfortable with the present rewards of his princely position in the world. But Moses looked ahead and counted what would come to him later to be far more valuable! We need to see our working for “…the recompence of the reward…” in the same way. The rewards of The Lord will not disappoint anyone! In fact; we really have no idea of just how precious that reward can be. Lost people spend lifetimes acquiring massive amounts of wealth that never satisfies. The earthly reward of most wealth man in all history; will not come close to comparing with the potential rewards which can be earned by the saved!

Rewards have a multiple Purpose

Rewards to be gained are not only for our personal benefit. The Lord Jesus will be glorified by our works and the resulting rewards; the lost will gain Heaven and the opportunity to earn rewards because of our working for reward; Satan loses his influence on people; substandard Baptist Churches can be convicted to get back to the old-paths; apostate baptist churches will be exposed for their false doctrines; and other saved people will be challenged and convicted to do more of all those things as they work for God! So you see; setting goals and working for rewards can be a very, very unselfish work.

We each ought to be working for rewards so that we can help other brothers and sisters in Christ to gain more rewards. By our being faithful; others will have opportunity to follow our good example and perpetuate the same.

God writes that we are to “…provoke…” each other to do “…good works…” for The Lord. The devil has portrayed ideas such as that word incites to be a bad thing. It is not! It is spiritually healthy to challenge those we love to do right! This when done by use of The Word of God and a friendly spiritual nudge; will help others to be rewarded.

Justice in Rewards

It may be that one servant of The Lord’s is not as talented or mentally adapt to work as others may be able to do; but if we put in the extra effort to do the very best we are capable of doing; God will reward us! God will be perfectly just in His determinations at The Judgment Seat.

There are those right now who are seen by God to love The Lord; but may have no physical ability whatsoever. But if they will do all that they can do “…heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;…” these partakers of salvation will not be without a reward!

Colossians 3:23-24 “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”

We each need only to be concerned about our own standing before The Lord. He will sort all things out at The Judgment Seat. That will be a day of absolute and pure justice for works rendered and rewards received. There will be no favoritisms or biases at the Judgement Seat. In fact, those who had more talents, means, or were offered more opportunities to serve; but did not use those things to the best of their ability; they will not do as well, when the fire tests their works, as those, who just plain did their best!

Colossians 3:25 “But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.”

But with all said so far, I have to make sure something is clear. I am not speaking about what this world calls ‘social justice,’ or ‘fairness.’ Heaven is a place of pure and unbiased justice! Workers will gain rewards; and the slothfully, unfaithful saved who will not work for God will not gain rewards.

I Corinthians 3:8 “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.”

There will be those in Heavens land with little or no rewards to show. But there will also be some who will have earned great amounts of rewards. God does not ‘reward on the curve.’ Justice will mete out rewards. Before God tests our works for rewards earned; He in His grace will first “…divide…” up the rewards which He has already earned when He sacrificed Himself as a ransom for all sins! We will gain some of those rewards also. The words of Isaiah 53:12 speak of this very truth.

“Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Because of that greatest of all works; Jesus owns everything! God is amazing! Even though He created all things; and could have without question, and justly claim all things for Himself; He still set out to earn it all anyway! Amen! Glory to God!

He is The God Who has earned our service for Him! He deserves for us to work more for Him; and that is a great privilege. And it is He Who has designed this system of rewards. He wants all involved. When it comes to rewards being earned; we who are saved and thankful for it; ought to do so just because He saved us! God will be 100% just in how He hands out His rewards. It is unjust for the saved not to work for those rewards!

Chapter 12

Rewards at The Judgment Seat

I Corinthians 3:11-14 “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.”

II Timothy 4:8 “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

I thank The Lord for the privilege of being able to serve God along with many faithful workers for the cause of Christ. Especially in these days of the cultural-worldly compromise of the old-paths of true Biblical Christianity. Standing with those who see serving The Saviour as their priority; is a wonderful place to plant the feet in faithfulness. Fighting the spiritual battle to hold the physical lines of a distinctive and separated people; brings with it a great sense of purpose and comradery.

But I have witnessed a dangerous trend in attitude and in actions develop over the last twenty years. The way some professing believers speak and live; they seem to have the idea that only people such as Evangelists and Pastors will have their works tested at The Judgement Seat. Many ignore the preacher’s admonitions to work and to serve The Lord. Some show an attitude of defiance and brashness that they do not have to do what is preached from the pulpit. By some this has been shown; by making statements such as, “The Pastor is not my judge.” Or, “I do not answer to you.” That is all 100% true; but oh how such as these misunderstand The Scriptures. Insolences such as this show that they do not see the reality of The Judgment Seat of Christ. Preachers are not the only servants who will stand at The Judgment Seat. Every person who has been saved will be there to have all their works tested. The Scriptures even teach that a faithful Pastor will have some part in the judgment of those who were commanded by The Lord to obey them!

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”

Pastors “…must give account…” Evangelists “…must give account…” Sunday School Teachers “…must give account…” Deacons “…must give account…” Song Leaders “…must give account…” Choir Members and others who sing at The Lord’s House “…must give account…” Ushers “…must give account…” Nursery Workers “…must give account…” Church and Financial Secretaries “…must give account…” Christian School Teachers and Workers “…must give account…” Bus Workers, and Souls Winners “…must give account…” Why even those who are doing nothing except coming to church “…must give account…” If all those groups of God’s people will take this doctrine of The Judgment Seat to heart, to prayer and put it into practice, all of that accounting for works will result in all of the saved having opportunity to send some rewards on ahead of time! Do you know what rewards are listed in God’s Word?

Not all rewards mentioned in The Scriptures are fully explained. And there are different types of rewards. Some are named and some are not. There are rewards that can be earned and rewards which can be lost. There are even references to what would be classified as rewards; but are not specifically called rewards. Some people do things which cause them to receive rewards only while on earth. When that is the case, it seems to be that they have done something out of selfish pride, only to be seen by men, and they will get nothing for it in Heaven. But all good works will be rewarded.

There are five basic rewards which are most commonly taught and preached about. These seem to be known by many of the saved. These are spoken of in The Scripture as “...crowns...”

The Crown for Mastery

I Corinthians 9:24-27 “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

This potential reward is for those who keep their bodies under the control of the Scriptures and The Spirit of God to be better used by The Lord. This can be applied to those who do not fall into sins of the flesh which would disqualify them from receiving this reward. According to II Corinthians 5:10, because our works are said specifically to be “…done in…” our bodies; God wants us to be in control of our own flesh. It is not to rule us. It is to be commanded and used by our born again spirits to serve The Lord! We who are saved live in a body; we are not to live at the will of our body!

The Crown of Life

James 1:12 “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

Revelation 2:10 “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

This is a reward given to those who fight through the various temptations to sin. Every time we say no to a temptation; and we do not commit that particular sin; there will be rewards awaiting us for those victories.

This reward is also for a very special group of servants. These are those who give their lives in death for Their Saviour.

The Crown of Glory

I Peter 5:2-4 “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

This reward is exclusively for the Pastors of Churches who remain faithful to fulfil their calling.

The Crown of Righteousness

II Timothy 4:7-8 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

Here is a reward that is given to faithful preachers such as Paul. Men who stay with and “…good fight…” for the old-paths! Men who do not quit when their friends compromise to accommodate the worlds culture! Men who do not replace the inspired words of “…the faith once delivered…” (Jude 3), with protestant birthed, or new theologically “…feigned words...!” (II Peter 2:3)

But God also teaches here that this good reward can be gained, by all those who do the same as they serve The Lord.

In this present day of the compromise of Baptist Churches defecting in disgrace to be closer to this world; apostate and reprobate preachers, promoting cultural worldliness in place of Bible standards of separation; and a host of Baptists diminishing the perfection of The inspired and preserved Word of God; we all can gain this reward for not doing the works of these; who according to II Timothy 3:5, seem to have

“… a form of godliness…” “… but…” are “… denying the power thereof…”

We will receive this reward if we do not join in with these traitors; but we obey the words,“… from such turn away.”

The Soul Winners Crown

I Thessalonians 2:1920 “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.”

This is to me the “…crown…” of all crowns! This is the “…crown…” for which Jesus paid such an awful price to be obtained. It is the choice reward given to those who are involved in the winning of the lost to be saved! Each soul who trusts and asks Jesus for His gift of eternal life; represents a “…crown of life…” to be presented at The return of The Lord to the soul winner. This reward can be earned as a saved person goes door-to-door to lead a soul to Salvation; or by handing out a gospel tract resulting in a person praying to be saved. It can be won by an Evangelist or a Pastor who preaches and has souls saved at an altar; or it can be rewarded for a faithful Sunday School teacher winning precious little ones from Hell! Jesus will record every penny we gave to Missions that resulted in souls saved; even if we never know of those decisions until The Judgment Seat. Bus drivers who take their time to bring lost children in under the sound of the gospel will have part in this reward even if they do not personally speak to one of those little ones themselves. Hey saved church member! Get busy working for this wonderful “…crown…!” Bring some “…joy…” into Heaven now; and again at The Judgment Seat; as your reward is given for the souls you helped to be born again! If it is only “…one sinner…” whom you lead to Christ; that good work will be worthy of this “…crown…”

Luke 15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”

Every saved person has got to be more mindful of winning rewards for Jesus sake! Maybe the lack of working for such rewards is why is why we are not seeing revival! We want the results revival would bring; but God’s people are not working for the reward of revival!

Other Means of Rewards

Everything with God is balanced in His Word. He tells us how to work for Him while still in these bodies. When it comes to some of our works in association with having to live this present world: treatment of enemies, or false and apostate religions; we need to seek solutions which please man but always honour God first. If we can only please men by some compromise of Bible truth or the practice of it; then we are only to honour The Lord with good works, no matter the consequences!

God has provided us with many opportunities to work for His rewards. More of the saved need to be “…provoked…” to get busy serving The Lord.

Getting rewards for obedience to the principles of this next verse of Scripture will be very hard to attain! Many times believers do not work hard enough to find Biblical ways to obey this command. If we do; God speaks of being recompensed with a “…great…” reward.

Luke 6:35 “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”

Loving enemies may require the use of a firm rebuke in an attempt to help them from some falsehood. It may require separating away from them. Love is not just an emotional thing to be used; but it is also a verb in our language! The Lord’s kind of love; when He has to deal with things that are against Him; is shown by much more than just how He feels about the person doing the wrong. Remember; the love of God also put Jesus on the cross to pay for sins! His love did not condone or facilitate sins. The cross is an example of loving sinners and hating their sins. The kind of love God practices does both without compromise!

Rewards will be gained in matters of money. Tithing is a work which will be judged. As faithful church members at The House of God; we are commanded to “…bring…” “…all the tithes…” into The Lord’s House every time we receive a paycheck. No saved church member ought ever to “…rob…” God by not paying His tithe directly to His House. That is a very bad work which no one can afford!

But, it can also be a good work which pays dividends both now and at The Judgment Seat. Consider this carefully. The record of every time a believer tithed or not; waits every one of us at that day!

I am amazed how some professing saved people react to a Pastor “…provoking…” a congregation to be faithful to tithe every week. Some get offended with the practice of a Church asking members to use a tithe and offering envelope. Some have acted as if they do not want anyone to know what they pay as a tithe. In the case of giving; maybe I can understand that; but not for The Lord’s tithe. That is His money not ours! Every church member ought to be glad to tithe openly. Think of the tithes and offerings of the Old Testament. Those were all acts which were openly witnessed by all in attendance. I am sure some who are against using an envelope, are forgetting that God does not need them to put in an envelope to record their personal record of tithing. But they are to obey what the rest of the church does as led by the pastor. All tithe records will meet all of us again; and if I understand the public nature of The Judgment Seat; our records will be openly reviewed anyway! Might as well get used to it now.

Malachi 3:10 “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

The giving of “…alms…” is one part of Biblical giving. This is a work which will be rewarded because the money was given unselfishly to a need and is to be given in private. The person who receives this form of giving will not know from whom it came until The Judgment Seat. (I am sure some wish that this was the case with the tithe but it is not.) The Father is said to reward those who practice this “…secret…” aspect of giving openly.

Matthew 6:1-6 “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”

Because God set a percentage for all the tithes; all tithes are actually the same; and besides; none of that money belongs to man anyway. It already belongs to The LORD. I believe a saved person gets a reward for the fact that he or she tithes; but there is no “extra” reward for the amount of the tithe. Giving other types of offerings is different. This would be giving to things such as supporting Evangelists, helping to start other Baptist Churches, a building program and such other things. But there needs also to be the kind of giving that is just plain given to show that we love The Lord! Offerings to His House show that we want the work of the running His House to prosper. It is wonderful to send offerings abroad; but The Lord deserves for His own to give to The Baptist Church of their particular membership. The more a saved person gives directly to The Lord and His work; there is more reward given in return.

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

In this work of giving; there is a double reward pronounced of do so. What a saved person gives willingly; they get back the same while here on this earth But that is not all of the reward of giving. In Matthew 6:19 we learn that our giving will follow us to Heaven! If more of God’s Church Members would practice this good work; life here and later on will hold some great rewards.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

I wonder how many saved people know what amount they have sent on to Heaven? Sound like a strange question? Look at the verses again. There is some way to obey the words about laying “…up for yourselves treasures in heaven…” When you give at Church; that is exactly what takes place!

The good work of giving money is a great way for believers to show and prove their love. The Bible teaches a principle that when we give to those in need; that we are actually lending that money to The Lord; and that He will repay our giving. Talk about a return! More of the saved need to get in on this kind of work! Have you ever heard your preacher say that you cannot out give God? Well, believe it; and practice it!

Proverbs 19:17 “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.”

Saved people who are following Jesus are taught that rewards will be given; if they will love their “…enemies…” But we are to do so while still holding a testimony of belong to God; as “…children of the Highest…” That means rewards will be given for not supporting men or ministries which are leaning toward looking like the children of this world. Herein is a great opportunity for reward to those who want to forsake leanings toward this world; and keep the testimony of holiness. Our God deserves to see His children gaining rewards for not compromising with cultural worldliness in their verbal support or their giving! We are told that we need to be more selfless in our giving and helping others. But, we are not to give time, talent, or money, to things which are wrong. If we do we will not gain a full reward.

All who stay true to old-fashioned, Biblical Christianity, will be greatly rewarded at The Judgment Seat of Christ for suffering what is spoken of in Luke 6:22-23.

“Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.”

We are warned in Colossians 2:18 to beware of people who will attempt to entice us to get involved with all kinds of ungodly things posing as religious things.

“Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind…”

We must work hard at staying true to Old The Faith as It has been delivered to us. We must stay away from the false and worldly kinds of so-called worship which is becoming so prevalent now in Baptist Churches. Many who are now in, or leaning toward these renamed, new age movements, are losing rewards while feeling as if rewards are being gained. According to Ephesians 4:14, such as these are throwing away their rewards which they once gained. These ‘new fundamentalist’ are being “…tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness …” in their worldly reconstituted Laodicean Baptist Churches!

Fasting is a rewardable work. When we must go to times of fasting for things that perhaps we are not comfortable speaking about; we will gain rewards for doing so; that is if we do it without bringing undue attention to our situation. As I read this next verse; I had the thought, “This is one work which will not be all that prevalent at The Judgment Seat! Yet, God says there is a reward to be gained for the practicing of fasting.

Matthew 6:16-18 “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”

Working to set personal feelings or biases aside and love the unlovely; those who do not love you; can also be rewarded.

Matthew 5:46 “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?”

Living holy lives, as Baptists, in this unholy world will bring us a reward. It has come to the time in the history of Independent, Fundamental Baptist Churches; when if we preach old fashioned standards of holiness in the area of how God’s people ought to dress in public; those who address just that one subject; are being called unloving and unkind! We are now in the times; when those who are attempting to live up to Bible standards of separation, are being persecuted from pulpits in baptist churches. Thank God that old-fashioned “…righteousness…” is still in fashion in Heaven; and The LORD will reward all who chose to preach and to live it! All who do so will be rewarded when we are persecuted for keeping Bible standards!

Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

It is interesting to me, that in a day when faithful attendance by every member at The House of God, is not practiced as The Lord deservers it to be; that God opens up the door for us to challenge His people to be especially faithful to Church; in verses such as Hebrews 10:24-25. As you read it; please notice the colon after the words “…good works:” for it specifically points to provoking people to go to church!

“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

We live in a strange day! Some who would read that; who are not being faithful to The kind of Church for which Jesus has “…purchased with His own blood…” (Acts 20:28), do not want to be provoked to go to church; because it offends their conscience. If such saved people had more respect for the work of Jesus, because He “…purchased…” the Baptist Church they should be attending “…with his own blood…;” they too would be working for the reward of being in every service! He shed His blood so we would have His kind of Church to attend! What does it say about a professing saved person’s respect for the shed blood of Jesus, when their church attendance is anything less than 100%? That ought to “…provoke…” any saved person to be faithful to God’s House every week! I often remind the folks I pastor, that we all have been given 168 hours a week to work for God; and that we all will meet our attendance record again at The Judgment Seat. Getting to church for 5 hours every week; out of our allotted 168 is not a lot to ask from someone who has been saved from going to Hell! Saved people should not have to be provoked to go to church! An old preacher made a statement to a person professing to be saved who was being unfaithful to church. He said something to the effect, “I have little respect for a professed salvation that would get a person out of Hell but was not powerful enough to get him to church!”

The Scriptures also teach us that we will receive rewards for standing up for the right, while others hate us and persecute us because we chose do so. This includes standing with those who stay with the old-paths and are not caught up with the new movements of this time!

Hebrews 10:32-33 “But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.

Paul spoke of this very thing when God had him to write to the Hebrew Christians who suffered greatly because they did not stay with their old dead religion. At Paul’s provoking, they will receive “…great recompence of reward.”

Hebrews 10:34-35 “For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.”

Another means of reward is when a child of God “…diligently…” seeks to build a strong personal walk with The Lord, His Holy Spirit, and The Word of God. The rewards for this kind of spiritual determination will be realized both here and even the more, later in Heaven.

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Private times of prayer will be rewarded. All of us could benefit now; from increasing the potential of our rewards for time spent in eternity before our Heavenly “…mediator…” (I Timothy 2:5)

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

We are taught to work at “…building up…” our faith; both in belief and in practice of it. This can be applied from the words in Jude 20.

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost…”

It takes work to build a strong faith. Whether it is The Faith as in doctrinal beliefs; of faith as in trusting God to do what He has promised; we need faith to work for The Lord. More faith equals more rewards.

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Because The Scriptures tell us that Jesus is our “…exceeding great reward...” every person who claims to have been saved from Hell by Him ought to be working more for Him! He is our reward! All that we will face as we set out to work for Jesus in this life will be worth all that comes our way; good and bad. If we will truly work for God now; as if standing there at The Judgment Seat of Christ; we will be looking forward to the rewards after the testing of the fire! We will accomplish more for the cause of Christ.

Genesis 15:1 “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”

Where All True Works Are Born

I believe that all good works for The Lord begin in a private time with God. That is where our life of salvation began. God’s people need to be much more active at the work of a private walk with The Lord.

Bowing in private prayer seeking strength to work for The Saviour today; will bring us great reward as we bow before The Judgment Seat of Christ tomorrow.

Yes, we ought to show that we are busy doing The Lord’s work; but there must be that inner, spiritually secluded attitude of heart which drives us to do so. It is a hard work to get these fleshly bodies to pray! But it is one of the best kinds of works; and these will be rewarded!

Things such as praying and thinking much about The wonder of the Words God had written in His Book. Works such as the quiet times of devotion and worship that involve no one but you and your God!

Rewards for these things must be sought after! Many speak of their relationship with Jesus; but what about that of working to develop a conscious walk with The Holy Ghost and The Heavenly Father in those precious, secret moments.

When we stand before our Rewarder; and we look into His eyes and He back into ours; there ought to be memories which have been built between us two; of which no one else will ever know! No matter what else takes place on that day; whether gaining great rewards; or seeing them reduced to ashes; our greatest reward will be the fact that we are standing in Heaven before our Saviour!

May God’s Holy Spirit challenge more of His own to be at work; looking for rewards at His hand. That day will arrive sooner than we may think. Let’s get ready to stand at The Judgment Seat Of Christ.

Revelation 22:12 “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”