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For comfort V thyself, our hope, our sole desire 1.
Stop.
There's a lot in this chapter that.
Should really exercise us and.
Ignore the whole word of God is profitable. This is a very.
A chapter replete with the instruction and teaching for us. But it's whatever the brethren say.
Order verse one.
Reading from Second Corinthians chapter 5, starting at verse one. For we know that of our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, We have a building of God, and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this week Rome earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, if so be, that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan, being burdened not for that we would be unfold, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now He that hath brought us for the self same thing is God, who also have given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.
00:05:25
For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor that, whether present or absence, we may be accepted of him from whom you must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.
Knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
We are made manifest under God, and I trust also we're made manifest in your conscience. For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have someone to answer them with glory and appearance, and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is for your cause, for the love of Christ constraineth us.
Because we must judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead.
And that He died. For all that they which lived should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh? Yeah, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. 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 have 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 of shooting their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us.
We pray you in Christ, Dennis, be reconciled to God.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
When the Apostle goes on here to, uh, outline some of the motives for his uh.
Untiring zeal and service for God.
Which would no doubt speak to his detractors who were seeking to question his ministry and his motives. Uh, he speaks here of uh.
That eternal.
Portion that we will have and here it is in connections with our bodies. He's both spoken of a moral transformation in chapter 3 as we behold the Lord.
We look up and see him. We are morally transformed gradually, little by little, as we gaze upon him. That's a moral transformation here. This is a a physical transformation.
The apostle is speaking here of.
Our earthly House of this Tabernacle that refers to our bodies that we are presently in and it's our present condition. And notice it says a Tabernacle or a tent. It's something temporary.
And if through all the persecutions that Paul suffered, sometimes near death, longs and afflictions abide me in every city, and he had the sentence of death in himself.
00:10:01
If that happened then.
He had if, if, if the earthly Tabernacle was dissolved, that is, if he passed through the article of death.
He had a building of God.
That is the glorified body, uh.
New conditions that he would enter into a building of God, a house not made with hands, that was something permanent, eternal in the heavens, doesn't mean that that body is waiting there in heaven, but it means that that would be his destiny. He would be in in heaven with the Lord. So that building of God is the glorified body.
That he was looking forward to.
Umm, he had the, the absolute assurance of it. He says we know that was not to through experience, but that was through a divine revelation. Uh, he had the certainty, and so do we, of salvation of our souls, but also the salvation of our bodies. So there was no doubt in his mind about, uh.
His condition when if he was called on.
To leave this world might just say in passing that Scripture doesn't speak about having a new body. I mean, that's often spoken of. It's not really accurate. Uh, we're going to have a glorified body, uh, the same body that we have now transformed, changed into the very lightness of Christ, Not a new body per Southeast, a new condition that is true.
But not a new body. We're going to have a glorified body.
Umm. And so the apostle goes on to, uh, speak of these conditions.
Umm.
The glorified body, eternal in the heavens, is the is the future of the believer.
And.
Then we will have our redemption. We have the redemption of our souls now through the work of Christ. We do not have the redemption of our bodies yet.
Salvation spoken of in three ways, past, present and future. So, uh, the full redemption is not, uh, yet, umm, enjoyed as it will be when we receive our, uh, glorified bodies.
Sort of changed body support the truth of resurrection, doesn't it? Because.
His own body of glory.
And I appreciate what you say about uh.
Sometimes it says.
Four and 14.
He says, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus.
And shall present us with you.
Now he starts the chapter here in five We know.
And then the language continued as we read down through the chapters here.
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For six, therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord and so on. Verse 11 knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. So I might have missed that one or two, but the point here is that we're reading factual information and you know, you go into a library or a bookstore.
And sometimes you see.
The shelves are marked with the label that says.
Fiction. Well, you realize that if you pick up a book off the fiction shelf.
It's something that's written. It might be based on fact, but much of it.
Not true.
You go to another shelf and it says nonfiction.
So you pick off the book and maybe it's an Almanac.
And they're in that Almanac you have.
Date.
You have history that which has happened and it's their in factual.
Information and so you know, you're reading facts, but the word of God, I believe is.
Nonfiction, and we can read it with confidence.
Knowing that.
Writes something about the future. You would have to question whether he knows what he's talking about. And we have read books, perhaps in school. I remember reading one book, it was called 1984, I believe it was by Orwell. And you know, he made so many predictions in that forecast to what was going to happen.
20 years later, well, it's interesting that some of these things.
Happened, you might say, in a way, but there was so much there that never did happen. But here we're reading about the future, and the Apostle Paul writes with assurance because he knows that.
He's received the revelation from God, and the fact is that we're going to.
After leaving this world.
And these tabernacles that we dwell in in the earth are on the earth complete itself. But we gotta.
And it's a wonderful thing to be able to, by faith, lay hold of this and enjoy it.
I know that it's gonna happen.
It doesn't mean that.
Every person will pass through the article of death. In fact, that is not the hope of the believer. The apostle says here, not verse 4, not for that we would be unclothed because that's not the hope of the believer. Death, it may occur. It has occurred in many cases, loved ones right here.
Our brethren have passed away. They are consciously in the presence of the Lord with unhindered enjoyment of his person communion, but not closed. They do not have their, uh, their glorified body. They're in a brighter waiting room and the the believer in this body, we groan as we get older, the.
Aches and pains.
And there's death and decay and disease in it, in our bodies now because we're still connected with this groaning creation. We don't have a, a glorified body now. Uh, we've grown in this, not grumble as our brother brought out. And it's groaning here not because we are uncertain of the future, not because, uh, we want something, uh, that we don't have.
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That's not the grown here of being unsatisfied.
Or longing for something else. The groan here is because our.
Our bodies at the present time hinder us from the full enjoyment of Christ. There are.
Detractions with the the body.
There's two things we will not have in the glory. I think we've often been reminded of this. We won't have the old nature, thank God, that causes us so much problem down here. Umm, and we won't have this body of humiliation. Uh, it's not really correctly termed a file body. It's a body of humiliation because it's always humbling the believer.
And that's part of God's discipline with us. But in this we groan. That means in this body we, uh, we are still connected with, uh.
This groaning, this corrupted creation, we're part of it, and we earnestly desire to be closed upon with our house, which is from heaven. Well, that's the glorified body that the believer will have. That's the hope that we have.
Not death, not the undertaker, but the upper taker. And so the apostle knew that if that occurred, if he did pass through death, that he would, he would have a house.
Not made with hands internal in the heavens. At least that was the future he was looking on to. When he speaks about mortality being swallowed up of life, verse four, then he's looking for the rapture. That is, if the rapture took place immediately, in the twinkling of an eye, the body would be changed into Christ's likeness. It would mortality would be swallowed up. We'd never pass through the article of death at all.
And, uh, that's what the apostle, uh, was bringing before the Saints here closed upon immediately all the Old Testament Saints who have died in faith. And we who remain on the earth, all our loved ones who have passed away immediately would be raised from the dead and changed into Christ's likeness. In fact, the translation is not exactly correct here, uh, verse 6.
A believer who passes away going home and we would not criticize that, but really home in the IT to be accurate according to Paul's teaching poem is when we have the glorified body, when we are with Christ and in that final condition of glory with the Lord that is being at home.
At the present time, we are.
Present in the body. But we are, uh, absent from the Lord. Now being clothed to having the glorified body is really what is, what is meant by being clothed. We shall not be found naked. How solemn. Those who die without Christ, those who die in their sins, have no covering. They are naked in God's sight. They are. They have no covering for their sin. They have to stand before God.
In their sins, we are not told what kind of a body the unsaved will have. Scripture doesn't reveal that.
But they will have a body when they stand at the great white throne before the Lord and give an account for their lives. So closed upon is the condition of glory that the believer will have when we're with Christ physically.
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Will you make some comment on Philippians chapter one verse 21?
2223.
While being present with the Lord Cam is much better than the remaining in in this scene.
It's better if it's God's mind and we go through the if we pass through the article of death, to be present with the Lord is much better.
Umm, that comes out in our chapter, doesn't it?
But for the best of all would be for mortality to be swallowed up of life. And so the Apostle Paul, he desired to be present with the Lord, an absent from the body, but he was willing to remain.
Among the Philippians for their spiritual growth and benefit if it was God's will.
The fact that it was going to be just him.
So that was when you were hoping the impossible call be with the Lord you love so much.
And then in chapter 2 we have.
Suggesting you see the ultimate thought, the perfect thought is so much better for what it comes, and some will never die. It was a mystery to be reeled in the end of the 15th chapters.
Don't start your desire to be with the Lord, and when the Lord comes with you, with the Lord.
My remark also that sleep is never, uh, is never spoken of in relation to the soul, uh, the.
False doctrines promulgate this error that there's a such a thing as soul sleep and no more consciousness. That is a rank error. The soul is never spoken of as sleeping. The unsaved you pass into eternity. They're in conscious torment.
In a in a lost eternity, and the believer in the conscious enjoyment of Christ, although perhaps not seeing him.
Because the they do not have the body yet. But sleep is always spoken of as in connection with the body. The body is is put as Mr. Kelly.
Translates it put to sleep by Jesus. So the body is sleeping, and it will be awakened at the Lord's coming at the rapture, and it will be raised.
In a new condition of glorified body. But umm, the word sleep is never used in relation to an unsafe person.
They are dead, dead in their sins to begin with, and then physically dead if they when they pass into the next World. We've never spoken of as asleep, but the believer is.
00:30:16
Lord Uh spoke of uh uh livestreams in the city.
Then he had to tell them plainly that he was dead so they could understand what what was really going on.
Well, it's, it's, it's lovely to see that, that it corresponds with every word that the Lord Jesus ever said. There's no, uh, well, I think this or think that whatever the Lord said, it was positive, not wonderful that we can, we can rest on the word of God. Whatever he says is absolutely true.
Just the the thought of the waiting room for the John would be better for us to stay in a temporary state because they are really in the full enjoyment of the Lord say that they don't have their glorified body.
This disembodied state.
You go to see the doctor and you're in the waiting room.
The Lord Jesus said told the thief on the cross. Today shalt thou be with me in paradise?
His legs were broken, he died. He went to paradise. I believe he went to be with Jesus. Lord Jesus said, you're going to be with me today. How wonderful this is to realize that when the believer departs this life.
He enjoyed the presence of the Lord. He's with Christ far better.
But.
How delightful this is to contemplate that God has prepared these bodies, that which will be perfectly suited for the Father's house, for glory.
But you you state the contrast that we find in Revelation.
Chapter 20.
For those that have died in their sins.
They resurrected and they stand before that great white throne.
And.
They're naked to the judgment of God. There's no covering for them. You know Adam and Eve, they knew when they sinned about their nakedness.
And Adam told the Lord, he said.
I was naked and I hit myself, didn't feel comfortable.
Of course he tries to make his own covering out of pig leaves, makes an apron of fig leaves, but he still went and hid himself because that didn't work.
But how beautiful to think that God did provide covering for Adam and Eve.
So I believe it was a little type of how God was gonna provide a covering for the Sinner.
To the debt, the shedding of the the blood of the Lamb, his own dear Son. And through that sacrifice of Calvary, you and I, we have a covering that perfectly suits us for the presence of a holy God. It's a wonderful thing to contemplate, should cause us to rejoice.
You know the prophet and joy, he said. I'm covered with the garment of salvation, clothed with the robe of righteousness.
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Upstanding in Christ, you know that's our cover, is Christ himself. That's where God places.
And when the father brings out the best robe to put it on his son, that comes back from the fire country, and the rags and the ruin.
When I was a little boy, I lived right across from the cemetery and of course we oftentimes played in that cemetery or playground. Uh, but, uh.
You know, I, I went to a place as a little boy where only Latin was spoken. I never heard the word of God. Uh, the only thing I did hear was, uh, that Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh.
And you know.
There was a, there was a tombstone there and uh, it used to scare us terribly rather than we, we would read it and then run away and just be screaming, more or less.
3089 you know, and all the other kids, we all go for a group of kids and here's what it says in Latona Stone. It said, umm, as you are now, so once was I.
As as I am now, so you shall be. Pick up your cross and follow me. Well, we didn't know what that meant. And uh, after I was saved, I went back and looked at it. It was in 1890 that Bravestone was, but it had something peculiar about it because it was a chain on there And then the book 1 great song to the next.
And I think it might have been his wife. But anyway, that chain has long rotted away in the course of the gravestone. Got uh, over half a century older and the lettering under gravestone was pretty, uh.
Hard to see, but when our niece Karen, uh, got married down at Hubbard's, I went to the nighttime open to the graveyard there and the kind of the headstones, they were so old, but there was a lot of Christians buried there because, uh, we saw two that said add something from the body and the president of the Lord. And it was just such a pleasure to see that. And, uh, there was a lot of verses in the scriptures, uh.
On the head of headstones in that cemetery.
But the one that really made my heart rejoice was that was in the body and the present of the Lord. And they're so.
Today call themselves Christians. There are so many people out there that believe one should die that's it and there's.
They, they, they call themselves Christians, you know, and they, they don't believe it because it's not in their doctrine, you know, but it's a doctrine of men, doctrines of devils.
Mike is mentioned for the help of the young people that, uh, the.
This is re uh. This refers to the first resurrecting.
The whole idea of a general resurrection.
Commonly spoken of in Christendom is completely unscriptural. Uh, there's no general resurrection. The first resurrection.
Could take place today. The Lord would would come from the glory and give the shout and we would be, uh, transformed and we'd be, uh, raptured into his presence. That's the first resurrection. Every believer from Abel downward would have part in that resurrection.
The first resurrection.
Might say there was a, there'd be another installment of that at the end of the tribulation period when the markers during that awful period will also be raised. They will be, they will have part in the first resurrection, but uh, the unsaved will remain in their graves. They will not hear the shout and uh, they will not be resurrected in their bodies of whatever kind it is.
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Until the end of the Millennium, the Great White Throne which our brother referred to is the resurrection of damnation. This is the resurrection of life. But every unsaved will then be raised by the power of the Lord and stand before him at the Great White throne, the judge on the throne. And it will be the issue, the result of that meeting there that.
Part of the judgment seat of Christ.
Will be eternal, eternal banishment from God's presence.
So it's, it's important to keep the, it clear that, uh, the first resurrection, the resurrection of life, the Lord speaks of in John 5 is his coming to, uh, to take the church and all the, uh, the Old Testament Saints as we have in First Thessalonians. It's described in detail there. Uh.
Into the glory. That's the first resurrection and every It's only for believers. No unbeliever will have any part in it.
Nsnoise.
All of us that are sitting in a little more body 2nd.
Where are you from? Your place?
That's all formatted and.
As far as change.
This perhaps almost lacking corruption with 50.
Nsnoise.
So maybe change body. I think it's not a new body, but uh, it's as a different, a different charge.
Oxygen is of heaven.
When it says not made with hands, it means not of this creation from the new creation.
Well, while we are waiting for that glorious time, uh, we have here in verse, uh, five now he that has brought us for the self same thing is God. It's gonna be all by the power of God. You'll have no part in it. Uh, you also have given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Well, that is.
Uh, the forecast of what we will enjoy.
In that coming day, we now have by the Spirit of God, the earnest has the thought of, uh, enjoying.
00:45:02
Something before we actually enter into the possession of it.
But he is also the earnest, that is, we have a foretaste of the glory now in these bodies that we live in. We have a four taste of what we're going to enjoy for all eternity. The best illustration of that that I have ever heard was given by I think it was Mr. Burton in one of his writings. He said he took his son for a.
A a trip on the sea. And he had given him a real telescope. And the boy was thrilled with this instrument and he used it in the trip. And as they approached the cliffs of Dover there in England, he used his telescope to look through and see the shoreline. And he says that I can see people walking there.
And his father couldn't see anything.
Just the dim outline of the shoreline, but he could see actually people moving about there, and as they got closer he could see the houses and everything. The telescope brought those things near to him, though his father couldn't see them and couldn't enter into them. And so it is the earnest of the spirit he makes these precious realities.
To be.
Our enjoyment in our souls at the present time. Is that right there, Wally?
It's wonderful to have that capacity to enjoy the future right here and now, and this is made possible to us through the Word of God.
Unfolded to us by the best teacher on the face of this planet, and that's the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.
Can reveal to us wonderful.
Future that we have in Christ, the glory that shines before us as we read the book.
So how privileged we are to have this book in our hands. It's a gold mine.
And it's well worth the time to.
I understand that earnest money was money that was given to show the intention of the person that intended to buy the object and.
And I was just thinking that God has given us His Spirit and that someone has made the illustration like this, that someone put down $100,000 as a down payment on something that was worth $20,000. You couldn't doubt for a moment their intention of purchasing that that thing. And so God has given us His Spirit. What more could he give as proof?
Jesus, chapter one.
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase possession whenever sealers Spirit of God until the day of redemption and the redemption of our bodies. So here's the down payment. We might say the fact that the Spirit of God is set now and the sealer body until the day that the Lord is going to change them in resurrection.
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All that speaks in Ephesians chapter 4.
Grieve not to the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. That's uh.
Ephesians 4 verse 30 I believe umm, the Spirit of God will never leave the believer.
Verse 30 The Spirit of God will never leave the believer. He is now a divine person on the earth.
In the House of God, that's in the collective sense, but also he dwells in the bodies of believers.
There are scriptures that bring that clearly before us. First Corinthians 6.
Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and so wherever we go, go to the theater or whatever, we take the Holy Spirit with us.
He will never leave us there, for the apostle says, don't grieve him.
If we grieve the Holy Spirit of God, which shall last to our shame, we sometimes, perhaps often do, then He will grieve us. You cannot.
Minister Christ and comfort to our hearts if there is unjust sin in my life.
Uh, and uh, it's very easy to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. So we need to walk in that, uh, spirit of self judgment.
So that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, would be free.
To minister, comfort and enlighten our souls and unfold the Word of God to us.
Why? Why should occupy the ground for nothing? Left us here for a purpose to glorify His name.
Proof and so we need to be concerned about that. If also Paul says I, I couldn't find the scripture, somebody might put it for me well unto me by preaching out to the hospital. It was responsibility for what the thing that he'd been uh revealed to him by the Lord and the empowering and the spirit of God. So he made them give him.
Translation is not correct there. Uh, Michelle, uh, as you have brought out, umm.
Or seats there of, uh.
Verse 9.
Uh, wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, that is whether he was still in the body or, uh, whether he was, uh, he passed through the article of death, We may be, it should be acceptable or agreeable to him. Our acceptance is in Christ. That's another thought.
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As our brother mentioned, our, our acceptance is, is through the work of Christ before God. But to be acceptable, that is to be pleasing to the Lord is, is another thing that's our pathway down here is that my motive is that the object to be approved of the Lord. Young people like to be approved by their peers, but uh, who do we want to be approved by?
Uh, the Lord or the world? The world certainly not going to approve us if we are faithful.
You're not going to understand our motives at all, but uh, we should desire to walk in a way that is honoring to the Lord, pleasing to him. And then the apostle goes on for to bring another motive before us. And I think that much of what he says here is in connection, as Michelle has mentioned, with his service for the Lord. And who was a more active evangelist than the apostle Paul?
And just read of them this morning. But he suffered every peril and privation to give the gospel out. And this should be an example for us.
Well, the judgment seat of Christ. We probably won't have time to cover the whole subject this reading, but, uh.
For the young people, it is good to have the proper understanding and sequence here. The judgment seat of Christ, uh, is really in its broad sense. It applies to everyone. Everyone has to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, but at different times and with different results. The believer umm will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, but.
The Lord is not in a judicial character there. He is going to review our lives.
Our actions, our thoughts, our motives, everything will be reviewed, manifest at the judgment seat of Christ, not to condemn us.
The judgment for our guilty, filthy sins was taken by the Lord at the cross. They'll never be raised up to condemn us for all eternity, but our lives will be manifested.
And so the apostle speaks of the broad sense here. The unsaved will appear before the judgment seat of Christ too, but at a different time entirely. Now, when does the judgment seat of Christ take place? Well, not during our lives down here, of course.
Uh, very likely it is shortly after the rapture, uh, in that period of the tribulation, uh, which is at least seven years long. During that period, we will, uh, be manifest that the judgment seat of Christ, our lives will be reviewed. As our brother Bruce Anthony puts it, they'll be reviewing.
Rewarding and rejoicing.
And everyone of us.
Our lives will come in to review, not only since we have been saved, but as it says here, to receive the things done in his body according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad. So our whole lives will come out at that size, that judgment seat, but not for condemnation.
Our sins will not be brought up to condemn us. Our works will be resurrected.
And if there has been anything in your life and mine for the glory of Christ, it will be rewarded and there will be rejoicing. Of course, there's also the possibility, as First Corinthians 3 brings out very clearly, that.
01:00:13
There might be loss.
Maybe you should turn to that verse First Corinthians.
Three, where you have a saved soul but a lost life.
Very exercising. Chapter three. First Corinthians.
We read there, umm, verse 13. Every man's work shall be made manifest. That's the judgment. See the price there for the days We'll declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire.
There will be a searching manifestation, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he has built, thereupon he shall receive a reward. That is a, a believer who laborers according to the mind of God builds up that which is, uh, according to Scripture and uh, there'll be a reward for that service. Here in First Corinthians 3, it's not God that is the builder, it is man that is the builder. It is the responsibility of man that is prominent in this chapter.
And so it goes on in verse 15. If any man's work shall be burned.
He shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire. That's a person who is saved.
But to their works are burned up. There's nothing that abides for eternity. There's no reward now every man shall have praise of God. That is true. Wonderful to think of that. But uh, as a reward for uh.
For our, our service, some will lose that reward, they won't lose their souls, but, uh, the reward and so lot of the.
A prime example of that. He was a man that was truly saved. We'll meet a lot in heaven. A righteous man who vexed his soul every day with the ungodly conversation of the wicked among whom he dwelt where he shouldn't have been. So he lost his testimony there and.
USA delivered and he'll be in the glory, but I'm afraid much of his works will be burned up. Well, we don't want that to happen.
In our lives, we want something that will abide and be rewarded. That reward will go on into the Millennium.
Could distinguish these two also, couldn't we? As to in second chapter 3 ministry on building on the foundation, the apostle Paul is anymore referring to those that were in that line of service, I mean Christian.
And, uh, we will not have any differences of thought with the Lord as to His judgment on what He refused.
We'll be glad to see him.
We used to in school have the science fairs and so you had to do a science project and then you set it up.
For, uh, all the schools to review and then the teachers look at it and then there would be judges and they would come in and they would, uh, evaluate the project and a person would get first, second or third prize. And I kind of think of it in this connection that we're reading here in our chapter because, uh, you know, it was only the project that came under review.
01:05:01
And the person that that did the project.
Uh, they were not, uh, judged. It was the project. And so, uh, I think it's this way here too, that it's the work that's judged and not the person.
But of course, when you come to the Great White Throne, you find there.
That the books are open and instead are judged out of the books according to their works.
The works are brought into review, but it's the persons that are judged and whosoever was not found written the book alive was cast into the lake of fire.
So we see the difference between the two installments of the judgment seat.
At least 1000 years apart.
Hold that fan which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
When I was young, very young, that bothered me. It it almost seems as if.
If I did something for the Lord, maybe I wasn't faithful on it. The Lord wouldn't take a reward away.
But I don't believe that's the thought there.
The Lord has given each to each of us a work to do for Himself.
He has things that we can do for him and it could be we don't step up and do what he's given for us to do.
And if that's the case, you'll raise someone else to do that work. If I don't speak to a soul about the Lord Jesus, perhaps he will raise someone else to do that work. And so in that sense, someone would take my crown.
The Lord is so good and so giving, and He wants to give us all that He can. That's His heart and love.
And.
And then we won't follow through in that which He puts in our heart by the Spirit that we've been reading about, He's given us Spirit.
To prod us into doing that which he wants to do for him. Someone else will come along, He'll move in their heart. They'll do that work, receive the reward.
Ourselves, our God and Father, we just come before me this afternoon and we thank thee for the verses that we've had before us. And oh Lord Jesus, we thank Thee that very soon these bodies of humiliation are going to be changed for those glorified bodies, and Lord will be likely for all eternity. We thank Thee for such a glorious hope, but we pray, Lord, as we wait for thee to come.
That we might be exercised, that everyone of us are going to have to give an account of ourselves to Thee, not to be judged but for our sins. But.
Lord, in view of rewards, we just pray, Lord, that we might seek to honor thee, that what we do in our lives might be agreeable to thee, acceptable to thee, and we might be found redeeming the time knowing the days are evil. We know, Lord Jesus, that thy coming is so very, very near. We just pray that we might walk in a way that's honoring to thee and be lights in this Dark World is getting darker by the by the moment.
And so we just thank you for this time we've had together thus far. We ask thee for thy continued blessing in the worthy and precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.