What a joy it is to know that
we have a home above, in the blessed
house of the Father, where we long to
be with Christ, and where we shall be
in eternal glory.
Shall we read some Scripture tonight in the
New Testament?
First of all, in the Epistles of the
Romans, chapter fourteen.
The fourteenth chapter of the Book of Romans,
reading the tenth verse, and only the tenth
verse in this chapter.
The Spirit of God riding through the beloved
Apostle Paul and saying, But why dost thou
judge thy brother?
Or why dost thou set it not thy
brother?
For we shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ.
Turn with me to the Epistle to the
Corinthians.
The first letter, chapter three, reading from verse
nine through verse fifteen.
Paul again writing by the Spirit to say,
For we are laborers together with God, ye
are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
According to the grace of God which is
given unto me, as a wise master builder
I have laid the foundation and another buildeth
thereon.
But let every man take heed how he
buildeth thereupon.
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, ace, double, 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.
Chapter four, please.
Of the same epistle beginning at verse three
and reading through verse five.
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, for
I know nothing by myself, yet am I
not hereby justified.
But he that judges me is the Lord.
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 heart, and then
shall every man have praise of God.
One more verse in the second epistle, please.
The second epistle of Corinthians, chapter five and
verse ten.
The words of Paul once again writing by
the Holy Spirit to say, 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.
May God bless the reading of his words
tonight, and again we pray that the Holy
Spirit will be the interpreter, the revealer, as
well as the encourager to every one of
our hearts in relation to the truth before
us.
Now may I give a very brief explanation
again concerning the chart as we approach the
theme of our study this evening.
The chart before you on the seven feasts
of Jehovah we have noted has a threefold
application.
There is the primary application belonging to the
nation of Israel in relation to the annual
feast which was their responsibility to keep many
centuries ago when in the land of Canaan.
The second application that we have followed, and
I trust with blessing and interest, has been
the fact that the redemptive purposes of God
with and for the nation of Israel are
also revealed in these types of the feasts
many centuries ago.
Some of the truths that we have covered,
particularly in the latter part of the chart,
the Feast of Trumpets, this morning the Feast
of Atonement, and then we shall have tomorrow
morning, God willing, the Feast of Tabernacles, these
latter three feasts have particularly an application in
relation to the future of Israel.
But then we have also noticed in the
upper section of the chart that God's great
redemptive program for the whole world is also
illustrated by the seven feasts of Jehovah beginning
from the very commencement of time and going
down to the end of time.
You note, as we repeat again, the chart
begins with eternity and it ends with eternity.
And that is the true revelation of the
Word of God.
There was an eternal past where in the
council chambers of that eternity God the Father,
Son and Spirit dwelling purposed and counseled the
program of redemption through the history of the
human race.
Now, as we have already stated and repeat
again, the foundation of His redemptive purposes for
the human race, whether it be for Israel
in relation to their nation, whether it be
for every other man and woman in relation
to the human race, that foundation of redemption
is the death of Christ.
The very shadows and the tithes of the
Old Testament, every altar, beginning with the altar
of Abel, going down to the end of
Judaism in your New Testament at the death
of Christ, those altars spoke to God of
the death of His dear Son.
But all those tithes were consummated.
They were but the shadows until the reality
came to the earth in the person and
through the death of God's dear Son.
May I quote the words of another that
have blessed my soul.
There is that in relation to the life
and to the death of the Son of
God which only the Father is able to
comprehend.
All we can do is to take our
shoes from our feet in adoring wonder and
worship, making no attempt to define what is
indefinable, to penetrate what is impenetrable, to understand
what is not understandable to human creature minds.
Oh, beloved, may I say, there is only
one who knows the greatness, the fullness of
the person of the Son.
That one is the Father and who has
seen His light in its infinite perfection, but
who has also known and will ever know
the value of that death upon the cross
of Calvary.
But thank God that the Spirit has revealed
to the believer the value of that death
for the eternal redemption of the soul.
Now may I give this contrast between the
Old Testament sacrifices and the sacrifice of Christ.
The sacrifices of the Old Testament could never
purge the guilty conscience from its guilt, could
never cleanse it from before a holy God,
could never satisfy the demands of a holy
God.
But may I commend the reading of chapter
10 in the book of Hebrews and the
first section, beginning particularly with verse 5 and
going through verse 9.
And there you have a divine conversation.
It is quoted from the folio psalm and
it is found repeated in Hebrews 10.
And in that divine conversation you hear the
son speaking to the father and declaring, Lo,
I come, in the volume of the book
it is written of me, to do thy
will, O God.
And he reminds the father sacrifice and burnt
offering, thou wouldst not.
And he realizes that the father never was
able to find infinite, perfect satisfaction in the
character of those sacrifices in the Old Testament
times.
But all those foreshadowings, all those types which
had their place pointed to the fulfillment of
the one sacrifice that is provided in eternal
redemption.
Beloved, this morning as we looked at the
Feast of Atonement, that great day of atonement,
that redemption, the forgiveness of their sins on
that day was for only one year.
I'm so glad I don't have to get
my sins forgiven every year.
I know I must confess.
I know that I must confess my failures
and my shortcomings and acknowledge them in self
-judgment to that blessed one whose blood covers
my sins.
Then may I repeat the words of 1
John 1, 7.
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from
all sin.
And what a joy to know as Hebrews
9, 14 declares, He hath provided an eternal
redemption for us.
An eternal redemption.
Praise God when you and I find Christ
coming under the shed blood of His cross
and shelter ourselves under the blood of the
Lamb of God.
We do not find only a forgiveness that
lasts one year.
We find an eternal forgiveness, praise the Lord,
forever.
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified
by that one sacrifice.
O my beloved, may I say again, don't
lose sight of the eternal value of the
one sacrifice of the Son of God.
And we say again with the poet, I
need no other argument.
I need no other plea.
It is enough that Jesus died and that
He died for me.
This morning, beloved, as we saw the great
day of atonement, not only in its primary
aspect with Israel and for them, we saw
the great truth of that coming day when
Israel will be cleansed as a nation, restored
as a nation.
And if you read the thirty-first chapter
of Jeremiah, you will find that God says
in Hebrews 10, He will put within their
hearts His Lord and they will do His
will and they will glorify Him in that
coming day of which we shall speak more
tomorrow in the will of God.
Now, beloved, we have also noticed and we
approach this subject tonight under scriptures we have
read, we have noticed that there is an
earthly application to these feasts in relation to
the future, but there is also a heavenly
application.
Last night we saw the Feast of Trumpets
reminding us of that coming of the Lord
Jesus, the bright morning star, the one who
is coming for His sake.
We saw the contrast between that star and
the sun, the sun of righteousness.
He comes as the morning star for His
bride, for His church, for you and for
me.
And may I state again, I do it
with joy.
My heart rejoices that I belong to the
church age.
My heart rejoices that I am in the
body of Christ, that I am one of
the members of His body, part of His
bride.
I have never been a bride.
Well, take a good look at me and
then look at me later when I shall
share the glory of the bride with you,
my beloved believer.
Oh, my beloved believer, I want you to
understand the position and the relationship of the
bride is more intimate and precious to the
heart of the Son of God.
May I suggest why God, by the Spirit,
has been forming the church during this present
age?
It is to provide a suitable bride, a
suitable object for the eternal affection of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, beloved, He loves Israel, I know.
He loves every redeemed person from the beginning
of time down to the end of time.
But I say, beloved, I take with dearest
intimacy the relationship of belonging to the bride
to be thus united, as you read in
Revelation 19, united in marriage to the Lamb
of God.
And what a wedding it will be when
that glorious bride, He will look upon her
and see her in all the glory of
His own righteous provision together with what she
has been for Him while in this sea.
What a joy it will be.
And He will have a heavenly people as
well as an earthly people in that coming
day.
I say again, thank God for His grace
that brought me into this scene during the
present age to be a part of that
heavenly company which shall be the bride of
our Lord Jesus.
Now, beloved, let me give a reflection upon
our message this morning for just one moment.
We learned this morning that before God will
bless His people in the millennial reign, it
will be necessary to cleanse them, to bring
them through the great tribulation, to purge them,
to purge the dross, and thus to cleanse
the nation and bring it in confession and
in relationship under His blood of cleansed people
to enter into the glory of that land
and the glory of that kingdom.
Now, beloved, you and I may not be
in that land of Israel.
You and I may not belong to that
company of Israel.
And whether we be a Jew or a
Gentile today, who believes on the Lord Jesus?
When a Jew believes on the Lord Jesus,
when a Gentile believes upon the Lord Jesus,
they become a member of the church.
Remember 1 Corinthians 10, 32.
Give none offense, neither to the Jew, nor
to the Gentile, nor to the church of
God.
There you have the three classifications of the
human race.
Jew, Gentile, church of God.
And when a Jew believes on the Lord
Jesus, he's transferred, positionally taken out of his
relationship as a Jew, and in the purposes
of God, he becomes positionally a member of
the church, the body of Christ.
When a Gentile believes upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, likewise he or she is placed in
the church of God, which is the body
of Christ.
And before our Lord Jesus will be united
to that church in holy matrimony, to have
her as His eternal bride.
And may I remind you now, the glory
of that bride, please let the subject of
that glory grip your soul.
For she is going to be a bride
forever.
Read Revelation 21.
And there in that eternal scene that John
describes in the first five verses, he says,
I saw a new heaven and a new
earth, for the former earth had passed away.
And there was no more sea.
And I saw that holy city, New Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, adorned
as a bride for her husband.
Beloved, I believe that particular verse is the
commencement of eternity.
When in eternity that bride will take her
place in the center of that new universe
between the new heaven and the new earth.
But she has been a bride at least
one thousand years, reigning over the earth with
her Lord and her husband.
And still she's a bride after a thousand
years.
Now, you ladies, could I ask you, do
you still feel like a bride?
Well, you know how the bride of glory
wanes here, doesn't it?
The bridal beauty disappears as well as the
bridal feelings, the physical strength wanes.
Oh, beloved, what a joy it is to
realize how God uses human terminology that we
can understand to describe what is to be
the glory of the Church.
For Christ loved the Church.
He gave Himself for it, that He might
sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of
water, by the Word, that He might present
it to Himself, a glorious Church.
And, beloved, may I state, when He presents
it to Himself, we'll have no wrinkles.
We'll have no blemish.
We'll have no spots.
For when I look at you and you
look at me, and I do not speak
physically now, but when you and I look
at each other in our present testimony of
life, you can find wrinkles in the testimony.
You can find blemishes in the testimony.
You can find spots in your brother and
sister.
And that brings us to the theme before
us tonight.
Before we shall be the bride of Christ,
united in matrimony, we have to appear before
Him as that which is called the judgment
seat of Christ.
That will be the great ironing day when
the wrinkles, when that which needs to be
put away forever, shall be banished by His
grace and power as you and I stand
before Him.
Now let me repeat.
Like as Israel will be cleansed nationally, before
going into the millennial glory, may I say,
my fellow believer, and this is a solemn
subject for you and me tonight, may I
say that you and I must stand before
the great judge as we have read in
our scriptures tonight.
Now let me give some qualifying statements first.
There are many people that believe and have
taught.
There'll be one general judgment.
No, the Bible doesn't teach one general judgment.
There are at least four future judgments.
There is the judgment seat of Christ, which
we have read of tonight and shall speak
about.
There also is to come, when Christ comes
upon the earth, and you can read in
Matthew 25, 31 through 46, the judgment of
the living nations, when He will separate the
living of the nations when He sets up
His earthly throne.
There is also written in 1 Corinthians 6,
3, these words, Know ye not that ye
shall judge angels, as the apostle writes to
the Corinthian believers, indicating there is a judgment
of angels.
When that judgment of angels will be, I
don't know.
Possibly at the end of time.
But the fallen angels will appear before the
Lord in judgment.
And then there is a fourth judgment, a
conclusive judgment for the human race.
It is the judgment of the great white
throne, found in Revelation 20, verse 11 through
15.
Now those four judgments differ.
They differ as to time, they differ as
to place, they differ as to the subjects
being judged, and they differ quite a bit
sometimes as to the results.
Our subject tonight is the judgment seat of
Christ.
Now beloved, and I speak to my beloved
believing friends, you and I belong to the
body of Christ.
We are to be His bride.
And we shall stand before Him before His
judgment seat.
We read in Romans 14, 10 those words,
We shall all stand before the judgment seat
of Christ.
And beloved, may I give this thought, Whatever
judgment you consider, there's only one judge.
The Lord Jesus said in John 5, 22,
One person alone in the universe is qualified
to be the judge of all men.
And that person is the Son of God.
May I give you two reasons why I
know He's qualified?
First, because He is dearly very God, omnipotent,
omniscient, as well as righteous, true and holy,
and in all the glory and essence of
His deity, He's a qualified judge.
But then on the other hand, and this
is indeed precious, He is also perfect in
His humanity.
And both as perfect God and perfect man,
He alone is qualified to be the judge
of all the earth.
I'm certainly glad that He's the qualified judge.
Paul said to the Corinthians, You judging me
means nothing to me.
I don't even judge myself.
He said, Judge nothing before the time until
the Lord comes.
He's the qualified judge.
Now beloved believer, let me just state simply,
but plainly, you and I will come before
Him.
The time of that judgment, let's consider the
time of it.
The time of that judgment, according to Revelation
22 and verse 12, we read the Savior
saying Himself, Behold I come quickly, and my
reward is with me, to give to every
man according as his work shall be.
We saw last night the coming of the
Lord in relation to the trumpet judgment, the
feast of trumpets.
And He's coming for us.
And great is the joy, and thrilling is
the truth, that our Lord is coming to
take us home to be with Himself.
But, let us not forget to face the
issue.
The time of His coming will be the
time of our judgment to be brought before
Him.
As Paul said to the Corinthians in 1
Corinthians 4 verse 5, Judge nothing before the
time until the Lord comes.
And when He comes, we shall stand before
Him.
Beloved, may I repeat it?
We thrill at the coming of the Lord
and His precious truth.
We long for it as we sing that
precious hymn tonight.
Oh Lord Jesus, how long, how long may
we shout the glad song, Christ's return and
hallelujah, amen.
True, but beloved, let's realize with solemnity and
seriousness, we shall be brought at that same
time to stand, each one of us, before
the Lord.
Now I'd like you to consider with me,
following the time of the judgment, the scope
of this judgment.
Remember we read in Romans 14, 10, we
must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ.
We read similar words in 2 Corinthians 5,
10.
We must all appear before the judgment seat
of Christ.
And that judgment is all-inclusive, meaning it
embraces and includes every saint of God.
Every believer shall be there.
Now may I remark now, these judgments that
I mention differing in time, place, purpose and
result.
The one we consider tonight, the judgment seat
of Christ, is for believers only.
But it's for all believers.
Remember Paul said in Romans 14, 10, Why
dost thou judge thy brother?
Why dost thou set at naught thy brother?
May I give a timely exhortation?
Please don't criticize and condemn your brother and
sister.
You do not, you're not even qualified.
Neither have you been authorized.
And Paul said to the Corinthians, who were
judging him, Your judgment of me means nothing
to me.
The Lord is my judge.
O my beloved brother and sister, let us
remember, without thus passing judgment, we may have
discernment.
But when it comes to passing judgment, this
is not the prerogative of the believer to
sit in judgment upon our brethren and sisters.
Why?
Because we too will be judged.
We must all stand before the judgment seat
of Christ.
Now may I link it with what we
saw last night?
That blessed rapture.
May I quote the words of Paul again
from Thessalonians?
When he said, The dead in Christ shall
rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
O beloved, what a gathering!
The gathering together of all the saints.
Now I want to tell you something.
They'll all be there.
I have no confidence in any teaching of
a partial rapture.
And neither do I believe my Lord Jesus
is going to take half a bride to
heaven.
You know, when you got married, you married
a whole bride.
Or a bridegroom.
And when the Lord Jesus comes for His
bride, He's taking them all there.
The only qualification.
Dead in Christ.
Alive in Christ.
And what a gathering!
My beloved brother and sister, we shall all
be there.
Some time ago, maybe two or three years
ago, a brother came to me in my
local assembly.
We were having a little time together at
the Christmas season.
Fellowship with the saints.
And having a little meal together.
And it was a happy time.
And you know, he said to me, Brother
John, isn't it wonderful to see all the
believers here tonight?
And I looked at him, I said, Steve,
you know what?
There's two occasions you'll get all the believers
together.
One is when you give them a good
feed.
And the other is going to be the
rapture.
They've got to go then.
How true it is.
Oh, my beloved brother and sister, may I
say you that are redeemed by the blood
of the Savior, you'll be in that gathering.
That judgment seat of Christ will have all
the saints before the Savior.
What a scope.
Then there's another truth about the scope of
it.
And this is more important.
Not only all-inclusive, taking in every believer,
but it will be an individual judgment.
Look at Romans chapter 14 and verse 12
with me, would you?
Read the word for yourself.
It will be an individual judgment.
Note those words in verse 12.
The apostle says, and let me read verse
13 to see the application of the truth.
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 stumbling block or an occasion to
fall in his brother's way.
Now note the words of verse 12.
So then every one of us shall give
an account of himself to God.
Beloved brother and sister, may I say, I'm
glad I don't have to account for you.
And you be glad you don't have to
account for me.
But every one of us must give an
account of himself or herself.
Oh my brother, my sister, please, take the
message to your heart and conscience.
There's a reckoning day coming.
A great accounting to give.
Do you know one time, many years ago,
I sat late at night down in the
kitchen, I recall, when things were going very
difficult and reverses had been coming in financially.
I remember sitting down with my Bible late
at night, and I was reading Philippians, I
recall.
Philippians chapter 3, if I remember correctly, and
the words of the apostle, I pressed toward
the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.
And then I made an analysis.
I took the years of my salvation, how
long I'd been saved, twenty years I think
at that time, but I took those twenty
years, I multiplied them into months, I multiplied
the months into weeks, I multiplied the weeks
into days, I multiplied the days into hours,
I multiplied the hours into minutes, I multiplied
the minutes into seconds.
Do it sometime.
You'll need a calculator to help you perhaps.
But when I got an astronomical figure of
seconds, I looked at that figure, I said,
Lord, all that time I belonged to you,
but what have I been, and what have
I done?
And I must give an account.
Fifty-four years, last month, I found the
Lord Jesus as my Savior.
And fifty-four years to be accounted for.
I say, brothers and sisters, the solemn reality,
faith in, every one of us shall give
an account of himself to God.
This morning we saw that Israel, Judgment Day,
that great crisis will be a national one.
True, there will be some personal reaction.
Bound to be.
Has to be.
But beloved, look, this is personal for every
one of us.
We shall give account of ourselves to God.
What a scope of judgment.
Now think with me, if you will, of
the purpose of the judgment.
Go with me to 1 Corinthians 3, and
we shall see in this section we have
read, the purpose of the judgment.
May I suggest, before going to the Scripture,
the purpose of the judgment is twofold.
First, to reveal the works.
The works that the believer has done in
his and her Christian life.
Second, to also reveal the character of the
believer.
Now let me emphasize that again.
Many times we only speak of the works
being judged.
The works being revealed.
The works being manifested.
But may I say to my fellow brother
and sister, your character as well as mine
will be revealed to us.
Did you ever see yourself as you really
are?
No, you never have.
And you never will until the Lord shows
you just what you were.
You know, other people know you better than
yourself.
My wife knows me better than myself, and
I know her better than she knows herself.
And that's the same for all of us.
Your children know their parents better sometimes than
the parents know themselves.
Others know us better than we know ourselves.
As Bobby Burns wrote, would some power be
gift to give to see ourselves as others
see us.
For many a bondage freers and foolish notions.
And beloved brother and sister, when we stand
before the judgment seat of Christ, we shall
be revealed both as to what we have
done and what we were.
Our works, our character.
Now look at the works in this epistle
of 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
Now let me point out that works are
in view.
Now this is not for salvation.
Now if there be anyone here, may I
qualify this precious truth.
When we stand before the Lord in that
day, it will not be for the question
of our sins.
It will not be for the question of
our eternal destiny.
We settle that on the earth.
And he said, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into judgment or condemnation.
But is passed from death unto life.
That settled.
Praise God!
For we can say there is therefore now
no judgment to them who are in Christ
Jesus.
And what a joy to be able to
say as the poet wrote, There is no
condemnation.
There is no hell for me.
The fire and the torment mine eyes shall
never see.
Then you say, why the judgment?
What you have done during your Christian pilgrimage,
from the moment you were saved to the
end of that pilgrimage.
Now note in verse thirteen and fourteen and
fifteen, I want to emphasize one particular phrase.
The opening of verse thirteen, Every man's work
shall be made manifest.
Go to the end of the verse, The
fire shall try every man's work of what
sort it is.
Verse fourteen, If any man's work abide.
Verse fifteen, If any man's work shall be
learned.
I want you to recognize the purpose of
the judgment is to bring out into the
light what we have done for our blessed
Lord Jesus.
My!
Got to be some revelations.
Someone once wrote these words that I value.
And that day, well someone said these words
one time, it will be a day of
prizes and a day of surprises.
But in that day another wrote, He will
have remembered what I've forgotten and perhaps forgotten
what I've remembered.
For He will be the judge determining what
we have done.
He is the one who is going to
reveal what we have done.
Now don't ever tell me that you know
what I've done for the Lord.
You won't be able to tell the truth.
You're not capable of judging it.
You might see evidences of my work and
testimony for the Lord.
But it will take the Lord Himself to
bring out in complete revelation what I've done
and what you've done.
Every man's work shall be manifested.
And oh beloved, every one of us will
have it revealed.
Then I want you to notice how we
will reveal it.
Note that thirteenth verse, right in the center.
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.
What is the fire?
Now one can recognize, as we shall see
from the results that follow, that the fire
suddenly exposes that which will remain as being
works that stand as well as that which
will be destroyed because they are works that
cannot stand.
But what is the fire?
What is the basis of the judgment?
May I give you two thoughts?
You remember Jeremiah said, or God said to
Jeremiah, is not my word like a fire
and like a hammer that breaketh the rock
in pieces?
And the fire of God's word will undoubtedly
be the testing of your life and mine
in that day.
Paul, when he wrote to Timothy in 2
Timothy chapter 2, he told Timothy that he
should run as an athlete, but he must
run according to the rules.
For no athlete wins the prize even though
he may come to the end of the
race First, unless he has obeyed the rules
of the race, he's disqualified and he loses
the crown.
Beloved fellow believer, let me say this in
just one moment.
You and I are responsible to obey the
word of God and our obedience to the
word of God will be at that day
brought out, or our disobedience as the case
may be, the word of God will be
the basis of judgment.
Have we lived according to his word?
Would he say to us, like he did
to Philadelphia, thou hast kept my word and
not denied my name?
Then another thing, Revelation chapter 1, read it
sometime as you begin at verse 10, and
you'll read from verse 9 and on the
description of the judge.
I know no other scripture that presents Christ
as the judge of all the earth so
vividly, realistically, as well as figuratively in the
symbolic language that is used.
And in that vision that John saw him
as the son of man, his eyes were
as eyes of fire, omniscient, penetrating.
For very frankly, brother, very frankly, sister, when
you and I stand before him, all he
needs to do is just look at us,
because he knows all about us.
He knows all about us.
And he shows us what he knows.
O beloved, what a test.
Now let's see the result of the test,
as far as what comes out, the result.
Verse 12.
Now if any man build upon this foundation,
Christ, at verse 11, has stated, if any
man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, and silver.
Now will you know, this verse tells us
what the Lord will find.
Two classifications of material.
They can be placed in two classifications.
The first three form one class.
The second three form the second.
Gold, silver, precious stones.
Wood, hay, stubble, or straw.
And you can recognize the symbolic language.
And may I give you this thought, in
interpreting many scriptures, our God uses human terminology
to convey eternal truth in his words to
his people.
You and I know what gold is.
You and I know what silver is.
Precious stones, wood, hay, stubble.
We all know what these materials are.
And God conveys a spiritual and eternal truth
by these words.
Gold, silver, precious stones.
Now as you look at these two classes,
you realize the first three will stand the
test of fire and come through.
The last three will burn up, for the
fire will consume them.
And this denotes that we can gain at
the judgment seat of Christ, or we can
lose at the judgment seat of Christ.
There can be works that remain for their
eternal reward.
There can be works that will be destroyed
for their eternal loss.
Now let me briefly give you some thoughts
that convey to my heart the blessedness of
what the gold is, the silver, and the
precious stones.
I'm sure you recognize one seems to be
the best of material, and the next, the
one next inferior to it, and so on.
But may I give you this thought, which
blesses my heart and has.
Gold.
Gold in the word of God is always
symbolic of the glory of God, speaks of
God Himself, and His glory.
That's the city of gold in Revelation 21.
It's the divine righteousness and divine glory of
God.
And God shines out in that glory.
And may I suggest, my brother and sister,
that the greatest thing in Christian experience that
you and I can enjoy is fellowship with
God.
Fellowship with God.
Now let me tell you how.
You remember Solomon built the temple.
And when Solomon built that temple, all the
magnificence of that temple and the value of
it was such because of the tremendous amount
of gold that was in it.
The walls were lined with gold, the doors
were overlaid with gold, and gold was everywhere.
One has written that many years ago the
Society of Architects in the state of Illinois
made an evaluation of Solomon's temple and the
amount of gold and materials that were put
in it.
And at present day, inflationary values, when this
estimate was made, they claimed that temple was
worth 87 billion dollars.
Now there were a lot of buildings that
had been erected larger than Solomon's temple.
But the value of it was gold.
And in that inner sanctuary, the holiest of
all, the walls were lined.
The wood within was overlaid with gold.
And beloved, will you not confess and should
not I?
The best gold that you can ever find
is when you go into the presence of
God yourself.
There's gold in the presence of God when
you and I enjoy fellowship, communion with God.
And then may I remind you too, there
is gold in this Word of God.
The psalmist said, more to be desired than
gold, yea, than fine gold, as he wrote
of the Word of God.
He's a goldmine, the Word of God.
And in that coming day, at the judgment
seat of Christ, what you have known and
enjoyed in fellowship with God will be gold.
And what you have found of the treasures
of God in this book will be gold.
You've got a goldmine.
A friend of mine once said years ago,
John, let's find that old goldmine.
I said, nothing to it.
It had been stripped a long time ago.
I wasn't interested in that old goldmine that
had long ago been forsaken.
But may I say, my beloved, there's more
gold in the Bible than you'll find in
the world.
How much gold are you getting out of
it?
Then may I remind you too, even your
troubles can bring gold for that eternal day.
Let me quote Peter, when he said in
1 Peter 1, 7, that the trial of
your faith being much more precious than the
gold that perishes, though it be fried with
fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Trouble?
Anytime you and I face trouble, you have
the opportunity of indeed mining some precious eternal
gold.
I was in an office of an agency,
Ford agency one time.
An agent came in from the Ford Motor
Company while I was there.
They introduced me.
We began talking together.
And the conversation went to California for some
reason.
And he told of an incident when he
called on a client.
As he stood in the office of that
management of this agency, he saw a car
drive to the front of the building.
He saw a man come out of the
car, just shut the door, the windows wide
open of the car, then come into the
building.
He was introduced by the manager to this
person.
And the manager asked the friend, where are
you going?
Oh, he said, I'm going to the bank.
I've got some gold bullion on the back
seat of the car.
And this fellow said to me, he said,
you know, I said to the man, well,
fellow, you left your windows open in the
car.
You never even locked your door.
And you've got gold back there?
Oh, the man laughed.
Yeah, he says, I've got gold, it's bullion.
But that's all right.
It won't do anybody any good.
He said, why?
He said, before that gold can be used
and circulated, it has to go to the
government's assaying office.
And the assayer, the moment he analyzes that
gold, he can tell you what gold mine
it came from.
He said, no two gold mines produce the
same analysis of gold.
And that's true.
And when I heard him say that, I
said, thank you, Lord, nobody's going to steal
my gold either.
The trial of your faith really much more
precious than the gold that perishes.
And brother and sister, there's gold in your
troubles to be found at the judgment seat
of Christ according to how you pass through
it.
Gold.
Bless your hearts.
Fellowship with God.
Fellowship in the sanctuary with Him.
Fellowship in the word with Him.
Fellowship in the trials of life.
And I know every one of us that
knows the Lord to any degree consents.
He drew us nearer to Himself by our
troubles than He did any other way.
And that's coming out as gold.
Praise the Lord.
Oh, I hope I've got a lot.
But anyway, it's coming out in that day.
Silver.
Fellowship with faith.
That's the next best fellowship.
Remember, Moses built the tabernacle and he put
the tabernacle in sockets of silver.
Uprights were placed in sockets of silver, the
symbol of redemption.
And all that tabernacle in its structure together
is a symbol of the fellowship of God's
people.
And I say to you, next to the
gold, to my heart, is the enjoyment of
the fellowship of faith.
And I want to tell you something, when
you miss the prayer meeting, you lose some
silver.
When you miss the ministry meeting, you lose
some silver.
When you miss the gatherings of saints, when
you know you could be there, you lose
some silver.
Precious stones.
Oh, beloved, I think you recognize what Peter
said, or the Lord Jesus said to Peter
when He came to him in John 1,
Thou art Peter, silent, but thou shalt be
called Cephas, meaning a stone.
For Andrew brought his brother Peter, he brought
a stone out of the miry clay of
this world, and he brought that stone to
the Lord Jesus.
And beloved, out of the mire of sin,
God saved you and me, and we're precious
stones for Him.
How many precious stones have you and I
won?
Now, I want to point out something.
That covers the Christian experience.
First, with God.
Second, with the saints.
Third, your responsibility to the unsaved world.
There's nothing more I can say.
Gold, silver, precious stones in that day.
Wood, hay, stubble, forget it.
You know as much about that rubbish as
I do.
You know more, as much about that as
I do.
One, may I point out, look at the
end of verse 13.
The fire shall try every man's work of
what sort it is.
And may I say, my beloved brother, don't
you be interested in quantity.
Wood, hay, and stubble is quantity.
Gold, silver, and precious stones, that's quality.
And the day is going to bring out
not the amount, but the quality of our
work.
And then you have in verse 14 and
15 the result as they shall be.
If any man's work abide, he shall receive
a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he
shall suffer loss.
Brother, oh my brother and sister, may God
speak to your conscience and mind that you
and I are, should be living with eternal
value in this.
You can lose for eternity.
You will never lose your soul.
And we praise God for that.
But my beloved brother and sister, in that
day of the coming kingdom, you and I
can certainly lose honor and glory by not
living for our Savior as we should.
Character, let me just close with this reference
in chapter four.
The revelation of your character, I wish we
had more time, but we must close with
this.
Verse five in chapter four says, Therefore judge
nothing before the time until the Lord comes,
who both will bring to light the hidden
things of darkness and will make manifest the
counsel of the heart.
And then shall every man have praise of
God.
The hidden things of darkness, the counsels of
the heart.
My fellow brother, my fellow sister, don't judge
one another.
Let you and I realize there's only one
who knows the motive of the heart.
And in that coming day, and may I
say this, and I do it lovingly, and
I do it certainly with comfort to my
soul, there are occasions that one looks back
in their work for the Lord and feel,
we feel sometimes, Lord, I wasn't able to
do what I wanted to do.
I tried, but I failed.
But in that day, though one may have
failed to have accomplished the desired end, that
blessed judge will bring out what the heart
desires, the counsels of the heart, the hidden
things of darkness.
My brother, may I say, I know I'm
up here ministering, but may I say, my
Lord will judge the motive of my ministry
tonight.
My Lord will bring out from my heart
in that day why I was doing it.
The hidden things that you cannot and neither
can I define, but He will reveal.
And I love the words that follow, Then
shall every man have praise.
Oh, you say I can't do much.
Wait a minute.
Let me ask you a question.
How much did the dying thief do for
the Lord?
Oh, I think of that dying thief, the
last one, the last jewel the Lord Jesus
claimed when He hung upon the cross.
And who can tell the eternal comfort that
soul must have been when all forsook Him.
And there in the hour of His suffering,
His deepest suffering, the thief cried out, Lord,
remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.
And for the comfort and blessing of that
sufferer on the middle cross, the ministry of
that dying thief, a gem for eternity, must
have been of eternal comfort and blessing to
the soul.
And though the thief is gone, my, how
many times have we sung about it, the
dying thief rejoiced at sea that fountain in
his day, and there may I and there
have I, though vile as he washed all
my sins away.
Beloved Lord, He's coming, praise the Lord.
I wish He'd come tonight.
But, oh, beloved, we shall stand before Him.
And may I say briefly, we shall be
revealed as to our worth and as to
our character.
My fellow believer, be the Christian.
And may I be the Christian.
God wants us to be.
The greatest responsibility is to obey the Word
of God.
Be the husband He wants us to be.
Be the wife He wants us to be.
Be the father, the mother He wants us
to be.
The son or the daughter, the sister or
the brother.
The Christian to be what He wants us
to be.
And in that coming day, He will reveal
what we have done, and He will reveal
what we were.
My, what a revelation, when He says to
me, John, look, this is what you've done,
and this is what you're worth.
I think I'll be afraid to look.
No, I won't.
For, praise God, the things that would He
instable will be destroyed.
And all that will be left will be
that which was for His glory.
Praise the Lord.
Shall we pray?
Oh, Father, what a day is coming.
We think of that day.
We long for that day.
We yearn for that day again and again.
But Lord Jesus, we who are Thine, are
we ready?
We pray that the result of this ministry
tonight may have its eternal effects on the
rest of our days to bring honor and
glory to our Lord Jesus.
May there be gold and silver and precious
stones in that day for each of us.
We ask, oh, we thank Thee for one
another.
What a time we've enjoyed.
But we pray tonight Thou wilt help every
one of us live with only eternal values
in view till we see Thee face to
face, Lord Jesus.
May the grace of our Lord, the fellowship
of our Father, as well as the Spirit,
be upon us.
Amen.