Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
The Scriptures teach us that all judgment for rewards will be passed down by Jesus Christ, John 5:22.
The basis for receiving these rewards finds its bottom line in the motivation that prompts our service, Heb.4:12. It does matter what we think because our thinking is behind all of our actions.
Was our motivation good or bad? Did Bible doctrine motivate you or did self-ambition and the praise of others motivate you? This is the reason for the all seeing fire of the word as it tests our motivations, I Cor.3:13. Did we produce our good works as a cover up for not being transformed into Christ character? Let’s hope not. This question will also be answered at that time.
Phil.3:20-21 says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our lowly body that it may be fashioned like His glorious body...” The verb fashioned is a future, active, indicative verb, metashematizo, and this word means to change after the figure or fashion of something. This fashioning of the believer’s body like unto the body of Jesus Christ is in the future tense which denotes the fact that deceased N.T. saints who are in heaven at this time are still awaiting this occurrence. It will happen at the rapture of the church.
I Jn.3:2-3 tells us we shall all be like Him, and from v.3 we are told something else. Every believer who has this confidence will continue to allow God to purify him or her as Christ is pure. As one commentator says, “He who stops purifying himself has dropped this hope from his heart.” Lenski.
We can all do better and we must if we expect to win any crowns. There must be the daily inhale, absorption and exhale of the word of God. There must be the daily practice of obeying the Holy Spirit when our sin nature calls us to its obedience.
When our Lord calls us forward to face him, I pray that none of us will have waited until that time to be honest with the Lord. I pray that none of us will have eluded our personal responsibility toward our eternal salvation. I pray that we will have grown tremendously in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. I pray that our lives will have been markedly conformed to His holy image, Rom.8:29.
At this time the rapture of the Church will have just occurred and all believers, winners and losers; both those whose lives were positive toward Bible doctrine, and those whose lives were negative toward Bible doctrine; i.e., the word of the Lord. Each will take his or her place one on one with the Lord, Rom.14:12; II Cor.5:10.
Here are several reasons why it will not be a good judgment for some believers.
1. If we were one of those who had to be bribed to get back into church, or
2. told how wonderful we are to keep us coming to the house of the Lord, then it will not be a good day for us.
3. If we are one who would not lift a hand toward the Lord’s work unless there was something in it for us, then it will not be a good day for us. If we are one who ragged on the servants who tried to lead us in the word, then it will not be a good day for us.
4. If we are one who readily threw in the towel at the first hint of suffering for Christ, it will not be good.
Just as all the unsaved will undergo their judgment at the end of time at the Great White Throne judgment, Rev.20:11 where the issue will be why they rejected Jesus Christ, so will a similar question arise for the believer. What did you think of Jesus Christ after your salvation? What did you think of his word during your Christian life? After all, we cannot separate our love for the Lord from our love of his word, Jn.1:1.
This is the main question which will be asked of us individually, Rom.14:12. Where was our primary attention during time, on pleasing ourselves, or on pleasing Him?
Rom.14:10b “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”
And then...
Rom.14:11 “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
Rom.14:12 “So then... so is the Greek particle, ara, and this word denotes a transition from one thing to another in natural sequence, and secondly logical inference. The inference Paul has in mind is the natural sequence of events that follow directly after we are resurrected and the Church age is over. So then, the next event will be each one's confession as each one of us accepts the verdict of His judgment of our lives. The Greek word everyone, ekastos, means each one separately and individually. Each one shall give a [future active indicative verb of didomi]. Each one of us shall render an account for ourselves.
This solemn occasion is where the buck stops as to our personal accountability as believers. The context in this passage refers to the believers’ knee bowing before the Lord. All to often we use this passage in conjunction with Phil.2:9-11 and we boastfully say, “the lost will one day bow the knee to Christ”, and they will, but not at this time; this is the believer’s time, after the Rapture of the Church when all born again believers will bow their knees to Jesus Christ the Lord.
Too many believers are hoping they will get lucky on that day; that they will be able to talk to the Lord and convince him to side with their way of thinking, but this assumption is foolish. We must never expect the Lord to side with us if we are in opposition to his written word. It only proves the biblical illiteracy of the individual. He will be doing most of the talking and he will not be swayed by anything we have to say. He already has all the facts.
Yes, it is true; none of us who have received Christ as our Savior will ever see the Lake of Fire, and we will spend eternity in glory with the Lord, John 3:16. But when facing eternity, and the rewards which we have the potential to receive and enjoy throughout eternity, will we be qualified to receive any of these eternal rewards? Will apathy toward the Lord and his word be a detriment to our rewards?
When we stand before the Lord on that day, we will face the consequences of our decisions made on his behalf in time. If we have tried to fly under the radar and keep a, so to speak, low profile as a believer, so as not to stir any unrest among our present family or friends we will answer for that attitude for all eternity. Wouldn’t it be best to come clean now with our salvation and live for the Lord now?
Isn’t it wiser to face the possible consequences of being alienated from our friends and family in this life by living for the Lord, than to face the Lord on that day and hang our heads while our eternal rewards go up in a puff of smoke? To me the answer is a no-brainer. A few short years of conflict as we live in obedience to the word of the Lord cannot be compared to an eternity of great reward for that obedience. This is not a hard choice, and it gets easier as we mature.
Will we be able to say what Paul said when he came to the end of his life? Paul confidently proclaimed in II Tim.4:7 “I have fought the good fight and have finished my course, and I have kept the faith.”
Supplemental notes inserted into the Sunday bulletin for this lesson.
There is an order to the resurrections. The word resurrection, from the compound Greek word, anastasis, means to raise up; ana, the prefix preposition meaning up, and stasis from the Greek word histemi means to cause to stand.
The resurrection always refers to a bodily raising up. I Cor.15:23 says every man in his own order, with Christ being first. The word, order, in the original Greek language is tagma. It is a term referring to a military muster, orderly arranged according to ones individual military company.
Jesus Christ - Church Age Believers - O.T. & Tribulation Believers - Millennial Believers
Company A - Company B - Company C - Company D
I Cor.15:20; I Cor.15:51-57; Isa.26:19-21; Rev.11:18b; I Thess.4:13-17; Dan.12:13; Rev.20:4-6
Two distinct resurrections are found in the Scriptures: the resurrection unto life eternal, and the resurrection unto eternal judgment.
I. The Time of the Resurrection Unto Eternal Life
Comes in an order of 4 companies.
Company A - Jesus Christ: Occurred three days after his crucifixion.
Company B - Church age believers: Occurs at the end of the church age [Rapture]
Company C - O.T. and Tribulation believer martyrs: Occurs after the 7 year tribulation period just before the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth.
Company D - All millennial age believers: Occurs at the end of Christ’s Millennial reign.
II. The Time of the Resurrection unto Eternal Judgment
Comes in one raising to the Great White Throne
This bodily resurrection is spoken of as the second resurrection, or the Great White Throne Judgment.
John 5:28-29; Rev.20:5-6; 11-13
Do you have eternal life? Have you been born again? Jesus Christ said except a man be born again he cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior right now. Do you want an eternity without God, without hope, without mercy, without love, without companionship? Our sins separate us from God in time, but Christ came to restore us to God through his sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Don’t let unbelief in Jesus Christ separate you from God forever. Heaven as well as Hell is your choice. No man comes to the Father except by Christ.