PRECEPTS FOR LIFE
a Production of
Precept Ministries International
P.O. Box 182218, Chattanooga, TN 37422-7218
1-888-734-7707/ www.preceptsforlife.com
The following is an actual transcript of the PRECEPTS FOR LIFE Broadcast. For the purpose of filling transcript requests quickly, they have received only light editing. If you have questions concerning the material covered in this broadcast, Kay has published a number of books explaining the Scripture in depth. These books may be ordered by contacting the telephone number or address printed above.
SERIES: NWC 03 Judgment Seat Of Christ
TITLE: Program 2 – NWC 03 Judgment Seat Of Christ, Part 2
MONDAY (1/11/10)
OPEN
Someday after you die and I believe personally that it‟s after the rapture of the church when God raises the dead and we are alive and remain are caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. I believe that between that time and the time when God says, “It is done. And Jesus comes on a white horse. This is when you and I are going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ.
PART ONE
Now I want you to know that the first time that I heard that doctrine I did not like it. I had somebody that taught it to me and I mean he taught it in a public meeting. He didn‟t tell me where to look at in the Bible. He just said it‟s going to happen, I was a new Christian. You think you know it all. You think you know God.
You know, you sit in judgment on others and you‟re quick to do that because you really don‟t know the Word of God the way
you ought to know the Word of God.
But I thought, “That‟s not right. There‟s no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus and that‟s what Romans 8:1 says and condemnation means that if you are ever in Christ you can never be condemned, consigned to hell and then eventually going to the lake of fire where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.”
What he‟s saying is this. Since I‟m going to be at home with the Lord, since I‟m going to have a brand new body, “Therefore we also,” not just Paul but those that were working with him, “we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For,” here‟s a purpose clause. The reason I want to be pleasing to Him is, “For we must all appear,” where? What does it say? “…before the judgment seat of Christ….”
Let‟s read it out loud. We‟ve all got the same version. All right? Verse 10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in his body, according to what he has done, whether,” what, “good or bad.” Verse 11, “Therefore,” another therefore, “Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we,” what, “persuade men, but we are made manifest to God;” and he says and, “I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. We are not again commending ourselves to you,” because they were tearing Paul apart.
There was a group of false apostles, false teachers that had come into the church at Corinth and they were saying you got the least of the apostles, bless your heart. Look at him. Look at how ugly he is. Look at his body. Listen to his speech. It‟s contemptible. Just look at him and know this. He didn‟t even run around with Jesus when Jesus was here on earth. And so they were tearing him down and they were judging him and they were saying to him,
“Oh Paul said he was coming. He didn‟t show up, did he? You can‟t trust that man. He says yes but he knows no.” And if you go through 2 Corinthians you‟ll understand some of these. And he says I want to tell you something. He says, “God knows my heart.”
God knows my heart. Now I want to live in such a pure way that when you come to me with an unjust criticism, if you would or you apply something to me that is not true that I‟m able to stand there and say, “Death in me, what? Life in you.” So I‟m going to treat you the way that I ought to treat you. I‟m going to love
you the way God wants me to love you, but also I‟m not going to take your condemnation on me because everything I do is in the presence of God and it is for God for me to live is what? Christ and to die is gain.
So he says in verse 12, “We are not again commending ourselves to you but we are giving an occasion to be proud of us,” giving you an occasion to be proud of us, “so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance, and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves,” they were saying, “Oh he‟s beside himself. He‟s a little off. „…if we are beside ourselves, it is for God;‟ if we are of sound mind, it is for you.” “For the love of Christ,” what, “controls us, having concluded this, that one,” what, “died for all,” whose the one that died for all mankind? It‟s Jesus Christ. Now watch. “…therefore all,” what, “died.”
All right I‟m going to explain that in a minute but first of all I want us to stop and look at this judgment seat of Christ. I want you to go in your Bibles to Romans 14:10. He is talking, let me just say, he‟s talking to 2 groups of Christians here. He‟s talking to those that were Jews that used to live under the Law and now they‟ve been saved. He‟s talking to Gentiles who knew nothing about the Law and lived just like the world and they didn‟t have any restrictions on them whatsoever. He‟s talking about how they deal with one another.
He‟s talking about the passage in Colossians, chapter 3. It is saying to them, “Look, you‟re no longer under these rules and these regulations of fastings and remembrance of holy days and certain foods you eat and don‟t eat because you‟ve moved from what‟s this covenant? Law to grace.” Okay so, as he talks to these people and they‟re trying to get used to living with one another and understanding each other‟s background and in a sense the baggage that they brought into their Christianity he says in Romans chapter 14, verse 10, “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?”
Now those that were legalistic, that came in with all these rules were looking at the others and saying, “You really don‟t love the Lord because you‟re not keeping this Law and you‟re not keeping that Law.” The others that were regarding them with contempt were the Gentiles that were just totally, absolutely free because they never lived under any law anyway
and they say,
“Why are you so hung up on the Law, on all these do‟s and don‟ts?” He‟s saying to them, “Look, guys, why are you judging one another? Why are you looking at your brother with contempt?” He says, “For,” and let‟s look at it. Verse 10 he says, “For we will all stand before the,” what, “judgment seat of God.” Now is Jesus God? Yes. (V. 11) “For it is written, „As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.‟
So then,” catch it, “each one of,” who, “us will give an account of himself to God.” Now who is speaking? In Romans Paul is speaking. In Corinthians Paul is speaking. All right, to whom is he speaking. He‟s speaking to believers. So he‟s not speaking to the world. So the context tells you that the “we” is those that belong to Christ. We are going to bow before this judgment seat. It‟s not all of us at one time. We‟re going to bow, I always pray I can get up after that. But we‟re going to bow one by one and each one of us. He‟s saying one by one will give an account to God. Now compare that with 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10.
We‟re going to give an account for the what? Deeds done in our body whether they be what? Good or they be bad. So we‟re going to stand here at this judgment seat of Christ in the presence of everyone else and our lives are going to be examined. You say, “But my sins are forgiven.” That‟s right. You‟re sins are forgiven. But listen, with the sin goes a deed. Let me kind of explain it this way. You go out. You have your affair. You sleep with a guy. You come home. You cry out to God.
You say, “God, I sinned against you. God, I am so sorry. Forgive me.”
And God says, “Forgiven.” Because if we confess our sin, if we name our sin and we say exactly what we did. If we name our sin, homologeo. 1 John 1:9, if we say the same thing that God says, “It is a sin.” Then God because He‟s God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin. Why? Because one died for all. Because when Jesus died on that cross, He paid for all your sins. Past, present and future. So one died for all. So He‟s going to forgive your sins. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and because our heart is to be right with us, He‟s going to cleanse us from all unrighteousness but that doesn‟t mean that the seed that was sown in you is not going to produce a child. That‟s the deed.
The sin was having
an adulteress affair. It was having sex out of marriage. Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. You can know it doesn‟t matter whether you‟re saved or lost.
You commit adultery, you commit fornication God will judge you because God is God and He has to judge sin.
And judgment begins at the house of God. And you confess. He forgives you, but listen, it doesn‟t mean that you won‟t give birth to a child. Now some of you get away with it but what he‟s saying is this. Let me put it this way. When you come to know Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit moves inside of you. He is your enabler. God is imputed righteousness to you and He has given you the ability to walk in righteousness.
When you sin it‟s not an accident. When you sin it‟s not because you‟re a slave to sin anymore because if the Son shall set you free, you shall be what? Free indeed. Sin is a willful act. When you‟re committing that willful act what you‟re doing is you‟re not walking by the Spirit.
You have just quenched the Spirit and not only have you just quenched the Spirit but you have, grieved the Spirit. Got the sad face? You‟ve grieved the Spirit. All right. So you have logged time out of walking by the Spirit. That time that you log walking outside the Spirit is time when you have chosen not to walk by the Spirit but to walk by the flesh. That is the deed that you have chosen to do. You have chosen to please yourself instead of pleasing God.
You have chosen to not be righteous. You have chosen to walk in unrighteousness. You‟re not going to lose your salvation. But you have done deeds in your body that are not pleasing to God. You confess it. We‟re going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ. We‟re going to give an account for the deeds done in the body.
PART TWO
In 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 10 they‟ve been comparing Paul and Apollos. Paul writes, “According to the grace of God which is given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it.” In other words what he‟s saying in essence is I brought the gospel to Corinth
now Apollas is building on that gospel.
He says, “But each man,” now listen, “must be careful how he builds on it.” Builds on what? On the foundation. What‟s the foundation? “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is,” what, “Jesus Christ.”
He‟s talking about your salvation.
Now watch. He says, “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver and precious stones, wood, hay and straw, every man‟s work will become evident; for the day will show it,” what day? It‟s called the day of Christ. It is called the day when you stand, when you bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. It‟s called the day of the judgment seat, so to speak, because this is what he‟s paralleling it with. Now watch what he says in verse 12. “Now if any man builds on the foundation,” whose the foundation, tell me?
Jesus Christ. “…with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each man‟s work will become evident;” how many men‟s? Each man‟s work. Now what is he talking about?
He‟s saying Okay, we come to know Jesus Christ. He‟s primarily talking to teachers here. But he‟s also talking to you if you give any advice to another believer or any teaching to another believer I am going to be held accountable to God for the time that I have with you.
I‟m going to be held accountable to the message that I bring to you.
I‟m going to be held accountable to my integrity with the text of God. And if I twist it, if I distort it or if I come up with a theme and then try and make other scriptures work in to it just to fit what I want to say, I‟m going to be held accountable to God. If I do it to manipulate you, if I do it to raise your emotions, if I do it to get you to give money, if I do it so that you will praise me, and laud me, and love me,
I‟m going to give an account to God and I have just built on your foundation with wood, hay and straw.
Now wood, hay and straw if I said come back in a year to the next convention. Bring me some wood, some hay, some straw, you could do it. You could go home and manufacture it, so to speak, by putting seeds in the ground and producing it. You can build with that or you can build with gold and silver and precious stones. Now where do you get gold and silver and precious stone? Can you grow it? Can you grow it?
No, you can‟t grow it. So where you get it from, Precious One, is you have to mine it. Mine, m-i-n-e it out of
the bowls of the earth. You have to have some blood and some sweat and some tears, so to speak, to get those jewels out of the earth to discover what is already there. Now listen. This is what is already there.
This is the Word of God by which we live. It matters how you live because, someday you‟re going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ. Someday you‟re going to give an account of the deeds done in this body. Someday you‟re going to give an account of how you‟ve built on another person‟s salvation, on their foundation of Jesus Christ.
Now watch what he says. He says in verse 13. “each man‟s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be, what, “revealed.” Your works are your deeds. It‟s the ergon. You look at work. You look at deeds and it‟s the same thing. He says because each man‟s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test, what, “the quantity of each man‟s work.” Do you know how many ministries are being built with wood, hay and straw?
Do you know that they are being thrown up and they look grand and they look big and they look glorious but do they have the quality? Are they wood, hay and straw or are they gold, silver and precious stone? Well I‟ve got news coming for you. Everything we do as a ministry, everything that my husband and I are responsible for and we are responsible for it because we are the CEO‟s of this ministry and we will answer to God for it.
We‟ll be tried by fire for the day will declare it. All right now, you take wood, hay and straw and you put it into a fire, what do you get? You get a lot of flame and a lot of what? Ashes. You put gold, silver and precious stone in a fire. You don‟t get a big old blaze or anything like that. But when you get through and the fire dies down, what‟s still there, ashes? No, gold and silver and precious stones. So he says this.
“If any man‟s,” verse 14, “work which he has built upon it remains, he will receive a,” what, “a reward.” God is a just God. God is a fair God. Remember, I can‟t even pronounce her name but Yang or Yung or whatever her name was or is. Remember, death worked in her. She picked up her cross. She followed Jesus Christ no matter what it cost her.
You have others that are refusing to go out and give the gospel in the United States and yet bearing the name
Christian.
Would it be fair of God to reward them equally? No because He‟s just and He‟s fair and He‟s righteous and He talks about when He sows the Word. Some brings forth a harvest of thirty fold, some sixty fold and some a hundred fold. The hundred fold‟s going to get a greater reward than the thirty fold or the sixty fold because God is fair and God is just. And He rewards us and the Bible says you be careful.
In Matthew 10 it says this. “You be careful that you don‟t lose your reward. You be careful that you receive a full reward.” And so in 1 Corinthians, chapter 3 let‟s go back there and wrap up this passage. “If any man‟s work,” verse 14, “which he has built upon it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man‟s work is burned up,” now listen it‟s very important so listen carefully.
“If any man‟s work is burned up, he will,” what, “suffer loss.” You say, “But I thought there was no tears in heaven?” Listen. It doesn‟t say that God wipes away our tears until the new heaven and the new earth. And between the time that you are raptured and the time that Jesus Christ finishes His millennial rule on the face of this earth mentioned in Revelation chapter 20, six times in seven verses, between that time you have time to weep but when there‟s a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem and God comes down out of heaven and this present earth flees away and we have this brand new one then God wipes away our tears. Then He wipes away our tears. Then there‟s no more pain.
Then there‟s no more sorrow and then there‟s no more death because the former things have passed away. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 15, “is burned up, he will suffer loss; but,” listen, “but he himself will be,” what, “saved, yet so as through,” what, “through fire.” Precious One, Christianity is all about a cross. It‟s all about living a life of being crucified with the One that sits on the throne. Living that crucified life and the more that you live it, the greater will be your reward. God has called us to a cross. The crown comes later. The problem is; is we want the crown now and we don‟t want the cross. But for those that deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Him, to them there will be a great reward.
This material was brought to you by Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity. Last Call Digest, is a ministry of Michael James Stone, volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. It is an aggragate of Christian Material selected to Bless you and Prepare you for each and every day you read them. May God Bless You as You Do!! Reading these Devotions will help you to prepare daily for life, living, and your Lord. You will hear God Speak To You thru them. Jesus is Coming Very Soon.
Broadcast(B.C.)Christianity, operates by you, with you, and for you. “Freely you have received, freely give” Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can, anyway you can. You will be blessed if you do.LastCallDigest@michaeljamesstone.com
