And so tonight, as we jump into the first of many areas that we're gonna deal with, there is a lot. When you start, we're gonna begin to look at some end time stuff. And I've told a few folks about this. It is, it's interesting for me because I'm not an end times guy. I really, you know, don't get me wrong, I know that we're to understand, and we really should be knowledgeable, which is where the burden for making sure that God's people here understand what's to come, the layout of how it falls out scripturally, and what it means for each and every one of us, not only leading up to the rapture, but then afterwards as well, what's so important about What is so important about what we leave behind when we're gone? We're gone. What does it matter? I'll give you a little tidbit. When we're gone, everything that we're used to using in technology and all that kind of stuff, all the books that have been written, all the technology, all the audio sermons that are on Facebook and YouTube and everything, you realize that doesn't all just disappear. Unless of course the world does their effort to just completely wash any reference of truth from media. But think about it. Think of all the books. Think of all the online articles. Think of all the searches you can do to find scripture and what those scriptures mean. Think of all the sermons that are archived. Years and years and years of preaching on the truth of things to come. And right now we're preaching on things to come. When it happens and people are in those things that we're preaching on to come, when they're in it, they're looking at it as, whoa, These guys weren't crazy after all. Man, they pegged it. Look what's happening. They'll see it in real time, look back at the preaching and say, oh, that just happened. And there's gonna be things available, and that's why there are some preachers, and I've been listening and heard many of them, and I can't disagree with them. They said it is important that we as God's people, number one, know ourselves what's to come. We're commanded to. But number two, that we leave as much information behind and readily available. Every track handed out can be floating around. I mean, you think about it. You have gospel literature, and even if they try to get the mass bulk of stuff and destroy it, there's going to be stuff just everywhere. people putting gospel tracts on their dressers and just forgetting about it. And all of a sudden crazy stuff happens and they go searching for answers and searching for help. And by the way, where does everybody turn when chaos hits? 9-11. Do you know the most packed out places after 9-11? The church. Do you know who's not gonna be here after the rapture? the church, and if people go searching, they go looking, and they go, what's going on? And they all come back into churches, they're gonna look and say, where's the preacher? Some of them will be there. But when you get down to it, they'll be looking around, they're trying to find all these people that in the past, in moments of mass chaos and moments of unbelievable heartache and sorrow, they're gonna be looking for these people they've always turned to because they mocked and made fun of, but when it came down to it and they're needing help, they only turn to one source. But that source will be gone. But everything that we've left behind will be present. Everything we've handed out, door knocking, will possibly be in their drawer to pull out and say, what was this? What did it say? What did I miss? And so it is important for God's people to be active, knowing what's to come, knowing how close we are, and knowing what, okay, yes, some things that we can look forward to personally, but then once we're out of here, what comes next? What all is going to be faced? by those who did not choose Christ prior to the rapture. And we're gonna deal with the rapture, why we believe in pre-tribulational rapture, and the biblical, not just why we believe it, but the biblical standpoint, the scriptures that back it up. We're gonna look at all that stuff as well, but that's not for tonight. Tonight, I wanna look at the thought you see on the screen right now. We're gonna do a two-part thing tonight and next Sunday. We're gonna look at two throne judgments Okay, now there are several different judgments that take place and all, but there are two specific throne judgments that are mentioned in God's word, and they're not the same, and they're not for the same people. All right, so we are at the imminent return of Jesus Christ, and since we are at that point, many of God's people are eagerly searching for answers as to what we personally will face. What are we gonna face? much less what everybody else is going to face, but what are we going to face? We're going now, we're going to look at this, we're going to investigate many aspects of all that, dealing with the last days, end times, and the tribulation years. We're going to look at some of that late as we go through all this, but tonight, personally, the two throne judgments is our focus, and as they are described in scripture, And so, if you'll go with me, the very first one we're gonna deal with, Romans 14, in verse eight through verse number 12, is gonna be our reference point for this evening. Romans 14, verse eight through verse number 12. And let's just go ahead and read that, and we're gonna jump on in here. Verse number eight says this. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." Now that right there alone, it's talking about the child of God. That is clear that it's not talking about everybody. It's not talking about the creator of all things. It's talking about Lord and Savior, the one in which has bought us, we have placed our faith and trust in, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. That does not apply to just everybody automatically. That applies to the individual who has received Christ as their Savior. They belong No longer, Romans chapter 6, Romans, other chapters we've already dealt with, they no longer belong to sin, they no longer are enslaved to sin, but they live, no longer living unto sin, but unto God, unto the Lord. So we are the Lord's whether we live or die, okay? So it's a focus of, number one, who this is that it's talking to, but also the idea of what these individuals ought to focus on, and that is what pleases God. Okay? What pleases God? I am the Lord's. If I'm the Lord's, then my mind can't be set on what pleases me or what pleases so-and-so or what makes the church happy or what makes my boss happy. It all comes down to what pleases the Lord. I am His. Whether I live or die, I belong to Him. So that is the essence of talking is dealing with the child of God is dealing with the purpose and the main focus that there should be for the child of God. It says in verse number nine, for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived and that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. meaning whether or not we die in the Lord or we're alive until the rapture, regardless, he is Lord of the dead and the living. Death is not gonna have any control over that. God has the power over death, hell, and the grave. So verse number 10 says, 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. Verse number 11 says, For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. So we're gonna look at the account given by the child of God to God, the very first of the two throne judgments as we look at this. And so let me pray, and then we're gonna kind of dig into some of the questions that come up, and then we're gonna try to answer those through scripture tonight. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to look at your word. I pray that you give us clarity of thought and understanding tonight as we dive in and examine what is to come for the child of God dealing with after the rapture, Lord, what we are looking to in this area of the judgment seat of Christ. Would you help us to understand it, Lord, and see clearly through the lens of Scripture and not through our own personal thoughts or what we suppose, but Lord, what you have said concerning this time for the child of God. Would you help us to see it, understand it, or may it challenge us, but also encourage us. And we'd be careful to give you the honor and glory for anything that we learn and anything that we affirm in our knowledge tonight. We'll make sure that you get the glory for it. We ask it all in Christ's name. Amen. And so, For years, preachers have preached about two-throne judgments, and we know that. Many of y'all, like, okay, let's just do a pop quiz, okay? So we said there is the judgment seat of Christ. What is the second? Great White Throne Judgment. And we're not going to that one. We'll wait on that one for next Sunday. But Great White Throne Judgment is the second of the two throne judgments. But now, again, like I said, there's other judgments that are going to go up. One preacher said there's as many as eight different judgments listed through the process of things. But when you're talking about specifically named as throne judgments, it is the judgment seat of Christ, the judgment throne of Christ, or what they call even the Bema, thank you, the Bema seat. And so there is that aspect of it, which is the throne judgment, and then there's the great white throne judgment. Now, the judgment seat of Christ naturally depicts the fact that who is the judge of the judgment seat of Christ? This is deep. Christ, okay, the judgment seat of Christ, okay? And so Christ is the one, Jesus Christ himself is the ultimate judge through the judgment seat of Christ. It is the throne on which he sits, the Bemis seat there as we would recognize it. So this is the judgment seat of Christ. The great white throne judgment you'll find is seen more as a pictorial understanding of God the Father judging a lot more other people, okay? So I don't want to give it away, we're going to leave that alone, okay? But he is having a much larger judgment that is going to be placed, God the Father will. But at this point, for the child of God, we're dealing with the judgment seat of Christ. Now we know, we're not trying to split and say there's two different gods. We know it is all one God, but the focus is on the Son. Okay? The Savior that gave His life that we might understand redemption and forgiveness and God's righteousness imputed to our account. It is Christ who gave His life. It is Christ that sits, the Bible says, at the right hand of the Father, and it is His seat, His throne, in which this judgment begins to take place for those whom He has bought. with His own blood, okay? So keep in mind, this is very important, I want you to understand as we're looking at this, what we think or how we feel about it does not matter, okay? So what we think is gonna happen, how I feel God's probably gonna do it doesn't matter. All that is right on out the window. If scripture teaches the opposite of our thoughts or our feelings, our thoughts and feelings don't matter. There have been many good, and don't get me wrong on this, don't misunderstand me, but there have been many good-meaning preachers that have preached unsupported supposition. concerning these events, especially dealing with the judgment seat of Christ. And they do it for the purpose of getting people to be sober-minded about what is to come. I mentioned to our Sunday school class, there have been many preachers in my time frame. You say, how do you know? Because I heard it growing up. And there were some things that I was taught and led to believe growing up, whether or not it was said directly or indirectly, it led me to the same conclusion, and that was that there were some things gonna take place at the judgment seat of Christ. It scared me. So hold on, I'm gonna answer some of those questions with scripture in a minute. But they preached, and again, hear me out, good preachers, right heart in what they're trying to do. They preached messages that preached really good. Y'all get what I'm saying on that? There's really good preaching because, boy, you can really bring conviction through that. I mean, it oratated, all that kind of stuff. Really good preaching, not necessarily founded in actual scripture. A whole bunch of supposition. And may I say what I got out of it growing up was you need to be afraid. Be afraid. If you don't serve God just right, be afraid. You're gonna answer, now don't get me wrong, you are gonna answer. You and I are all gonna stand before God and we are all gonna give an answer to God for the deeds we've done. But the deeds we've done may not be what you're thinking. They would preach, and may I say here was the purpose. They would preach in order to get people to serve God out of fear. Because fear is a strong motivator. Would anybody agree with that? Fear is a strong motivator. But can I tell you something that's an even stronger motivator? Love. I can either be challenged and I can be scared into serving God out of fear, or I can be challenged and encourage that the child of God serves God because he or she loves God more than anything else. He loved me so much that he gave himself for me. How could I not love him enough to give myself back? So, and again, I'm not saying they're bad preachers. I'm not saying that they were trying to do wrong things. I just think in some ways they came across it in a very good preaching manner, but not really strong foundational scriptural manner. And so I want to try to correct some of that through God's word tonight as we look at this understanding of what does scripture support concerning the judgment seat of Christ. There are a few questions that people ask, and it's probably a lot more than this, but these are some very popular ones. Who are these judgments for, both judgment seat of Christ and great white throne? Who are these judgments for? When do these judgments take place? What happens at these times of judgment? And then one of the greatest questions that comes up, will all my sins be displayed for everyone to see and know? All my works, all my sins, all my actions, am I going to stand with everybody witnessing and all will be known and everybody's gonna know just how wicked I was? when I tried to appear godly, is that gonna happen to me? Now, we're gonna answer that, but regardless of what has been taught in the past, or by the way, who taught it, I don't care what big name preacher taught it, regardless of what has been taught or who taught it, the ultimate question is, what sayeth the scriptures? So, dealing with the judgment seat of Christ, go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Five, now I, like I said many times before, on topics of this nature, you are not looking at the end all understanding individual concerning these topics. I do not have all the answers. I am not the most studied individual. Matter of fact, I am gleaning from those who are, I would say, to be much highly studied than I am on these topics. And yet I can glean and I can go back to scripture and I can verify and I can prove whether or not something being said and taught is true. And if it is true, then it's worth being shared. So I am not the end all answer when it comes to the knowledgeableness of all this, but I can give you scripture and I believe a very solid understanding. And where I have a personal belief or personal hold to a particular mindset, I'm going to verify with you and qualify with you that this is not something that I'm pulling straight from scripture when it comes to this but I will tell you when there is something that I personally hold to because of the consistency of scripture though it may not say word-for-word alright so I'll be very careful with that so as not to to give an idea that well God said this well no he didn't say he didn't say that exactly but I build an understanding from the consistency of Scripture on certain things, okay? You'll see that in a minute what I'm getting to. But 2 Corinthians 5, verse 8 through verse number 10, it says this, we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Amen, hallelujah, I agree. Wherefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. That is not dealing with salvation. That is dealing with pleasing God with my life. Whether I'm here on earth and not in his presence, I still want him to be pleased. And when I get to his presence, I definitely want him to be pleased. If I get in his presence and he's highly displeased with me, it's not gonna be comfortable. Let's put it that way. So I want to be accepted of Him. I want Him to see a well-done child instead of a thou foolish and slothful servant. Go on to verse number 10. It says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Again, this is dealing with the, he's talking to the church, he's talking to the child of God. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. And so this is the judgment seat of Christ. It is the judgment of the deeds done in the body whether they be good or bad. So what is good or bad mean? We're going to look at that here in just a minute in the reference of what good or bad is by what Jesus himself taught. Okay, we're going to backtrack in a minute to what Jesus taught himself concerning the works of the child of God. So, what do we know from Scripture? Well, let's answer some of these questions. Who is this event for? Well, we've already said for the saved, but can I be more specific just a little bit here? In 2 Corinthians 5 verse number 10, it said, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Who is he talking to at that very moment? Well, you're dealing with the church at Corinth. You're dealing with those who have been saved that are part of the bride of Christ, the church, and as a whole, the best way to put it is the judgment seat of Christ by all evidence in God's word and all mentions of anything of this nature from Romans 14 and now it's 2 Corinthians 5. In both scenarios, the reference is to the church, the bride of Christ. It is to the church-age believers. And so there is the church, which by the way, that is the group, the church-age believers, those that are still alive. When the Lord comes in the clouds, we will be raptured, those who have died and have been buried, somehow, someway. I don't have all the answers on how God's gonna do it. He's a lot smarter than I am, and He proves that on a regular basis. He is going to somehow resurrect those which have died, and even if they're, we talked about the cremation versus burial last week, even if their bodies have turned to dust, He has no problem building and put together a new body for them, because by the way, if I'm alive, one of the first things that's gonna have to happen is He's gonna have to create a new body for me in the moment He calls me home. Because this fleshly corrupted body, this corruption must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. How does that happen? Somehow, someway, God creates in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, in a split second, God creates a brand new body for his child, whether living or whether having already passed. There's gonna be a brand new body. The dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remain shall be gathered up together to meet the Lord in the air. We'll all go together. We're not gonna hinder those which are in that sense asleep, those which are dead, those which have passed on before. We're not gonna hinder them. God's gonna create a brand new body for them just like he does for me. How is he gonna do it? I ain't got a clue. And if you can figure it out, I don't know where you're reading it because the Bible doesn't give us all that detail. It just says what's gonna happen, it doesn't necessarily say in every way how it's gonna happen. But God's gonna create new bodies, God's gonna create glorified bodies, and it's all gonna happen when he calls us out of here, but that is the church. That is the bride of Christ. Those that have believed in Christ, the blood of Christ, and have trusted in him and him alone. So when we are caught up, event of the judgment seat of Christ is for those in whom his blood has bought." Boy, there's so much stuff I could go into, I gotta be careful. I'll show you as one preacher put it. If I can find, where's my, there's my handkerchief, okay. Here's how one preacher put it, and I thought it was really, really interesting, very good analogy. He said, Old Testament saints says that their iniquities were covered. Old Testament Satan, and the way he put it is, and I agree with him, the Bible talks about remission of sins. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Remission means removal. It means the wiping away. It means the complete and total non-existence. And so when I receive Christ as my Savior, since Christ has already died on the cross, and that has been done, when I receive Christ as my Savior, my sins are not just covered by the blood, they are completely and totally removed. Therefore, they no longer exist. Not that I'm not an individual that struggles, yes I am, I struggle in this flesh, I struggle with sin, but in the eyes of a holy God, when he looks down at his child that has received Christ as his savior, when he looks down at Bobby Decker and he looks and he sees this individual has trusted Christ and the blood of Jesus Christ has covered the account, the account has nothing to read, there's nothing there. It's been remitted, it's been removed, it's gone. Now Old Testament, it says it was covered. Old Testament saints, their iniquities were covered. And it promised that one day, one day that he would remove them completely. But during the Old Testament time leading up to the cross, they were just covered. So what that meant was that God every year when they followed through obedience and how he told them to follow through the sacrifices and the different things, their sins were covered. Here's the problem, they're still present. It's still there. It's just covered. But when Christ died on the cross, for the church-age believers, it's dealing with now not sins that just get covered, but sins that get remitted, get removed. And they no longer exist to an all-knowing and all-holy God. Now, I hope you're holding on to that because you understand. Now, I know all the arguments that are gonna come from that. Well, then why is it that we are guilty of sin? Why is it that we face problems when we do sin? Because there's still consequence on earth. We're not talking about the fact that there's not consequence to sin. There's consequence to sin in this life. But to a holy God, when he looks on his child, the sins that have been forgiven have been removed. So he has forgiven. The guilt, the stain is no longer there. So this is dealing with the judgment seat of Christ is dealing with those who have placed their faith in Christ. They will stand before Christ in judgment of what they've done since becoming a child of God through the blood of Christ. That make sense? So it is for as a whole, the church age believers. When does the event happen? Well, just giving you an idea. There are a couple different views to it, but I believe in what majority of preachers do hold to. in the fact that it happens following the rapture, following the church being taken out, that takes, if you believe in a pre-tribulational rapture, which we'll talk about why we do, but if you believe in a pre-tribulational rapture, then there's a couple of things that take place, we'll deal with this later as well, but a couple of things that do take place in heaven, while there is tribulation taking place on earth. There's a total of seven years that that's gonna be going on. And there is the marriage supper of the lamb, which by the way, you don't have a supper until you have an actual marriage. There is a celebration of a marriage. What is the marriage? Well, it is the marriage of the lamb. Who's the lamb married to? The bride he just brought home. By the way, when we look at all that, we'll go back into the Jewish traditions of how they went about where a Jewish young man was given permission by his father. The father told him when he was ready. The father told him, go get your bride. He would go travel to where she was. She didn't know when he was coming. She didn't know what all he was gonna be bringing. She didn't know exactly when it was gonna happen. All she knew was she had to be ready at any given moment. He might come across the other hill right there, and when he comes across the other hill with all his fanfare and all that's there, he's coming there to take her, and it's not gonna be a discussion. He's coming to get her, and she's being taken away, and he's gonna take her to where he has prepared a place for her. How interesting, does that sound familiar? That is a Jewish tradition. Where do you think they got it? It is a picture of what Christ, the son, when he is told by the father, go get your bride, he comes, gets the bride, takes her out to the place that he has been preparing, and there will be a full marriage, there will be the finalizing of the bringing together of bride and groom, and this groom has been preparing the place, and a bride who's been waiting, and they'll come together, and there will be a marriage in heaven, and there will be the marriage supper of the Lamb, and the church, God's people, in the church age, the bride of Christ, we will be the bride, we will be the one at the marriage supper of the Lamb, all that taking place while everything else is happening on earth. I'd much rather be there than here. But during that time is also believed to be the timeframe in which that bride when standing before the groom is going to give account of how the bride prepared herself for the groom. And God's people are gonna give an account, and it is believed, and again, there are some that believe that this does not happen, very small faction, but do believe that this does not happen. The judgment seat of Christ actually does not take place until after the seven-year tribulation before he actually, Jesus comes, he sets foot, and then here's Armageddon, he wins the battle, but before he actually initiates his kingdom, there will be a span of so many days, and they go through a whole bunch of stuff, I can't even get into it, a whole bunch of stuff of how they calculate how many days there's gonna be, and during those, I think it's like 35 days, something like that, but in those days of time between the battle of Armageddon and God finishing off and winning the victory to when he establishes his start to his kingdom and millennial reign. Those days will be the days of judgment of the judgment seat of Christ. Kind of puts in a few problems with that, but I really don't want to even get into all of that as a whole. But I will say there is a much greater accuracy to seeing that there be a time frame, in a seven and a half year time frame, there's going to be a time frame of the account given and then a marriage takes place, marriage of the lamb, all these things happen. But rather than just trying to squeeze everything into 35 days. And so there's, again, and there's, oh gracious. Y'all pray for me, there's so much information. It's hard to know what to give, what not to give. I don't wanna bog you down with it. There are several other judgments that do take place. There is a timeframe when the Lord does separate goats from sheep and things of that nature as well. And I believe that's more of after the seven years and all, I believe the goats and sheep separation is probably more the accurate understanding of any kind of a pause in time before the millennial kingdom starts. if there even is a pause, all right? That's a whole bunch of stuff you can get real deep and get lost in it, so be careful with that. We're just trying to hit some of the more surface things of better understanding. So I believe it does happen after the, as soon as the rapture takes place, at some point when we all get to heaven, at some point somewhere during that timeframe, we will be actually standing before the judgment seat of Christ as things begin on earth into the tribulation period. Now, what takes place at this event? Well, at the judgment seat of Christ, this is where judgment of service is brought. We will face the reality. Now get this, this is where we do have to kind of sober up some. During the judgment seat of Christ, the child of God will face the reality of how we obeyed the Lord in areas of direct command of our conduct and our service. If you go with me to first Corinthians chapter 3 First Corinthians chapter 3 and I'm gonna get a minute I'm gonna give you several passages of scripture that you're gonna want to just write down I'm not gonna go to all of them, but you want to write them down to go back to and read for yourself But first Corinthians chapter 3 looking at at Oh, gracious. Hold on. We were already in 1 Corinthians 3. Going back. Dealing with the, we already read that before, but in, where is it at? Verse number eight. There it is, okay, yes, verse number eight. It says, now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. 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, Now we get into where we're coming down to the judgment for service and obedience of command. It goes on verse number 12. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest For the day shall declare it, what day? The judgment seat of Christ. The day of judgment shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Now let me read down to verse number 15. 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. This is dealing with the judgment seat of Christ. It is dealing with the child of God and is dealing with the rewards received by the deeds and obedience done in direct command and direct service that we have given to the one who gave us all. And so as we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we are judged according to our deeds, our service, and here's what I want you to understand. Not according, it does not say we are judged according to our sins. We are judged according to our service. What works have you done? What has been the evidence of the type of work, the following of command, the pleasing of the Lord with your life? What does it amount to? You have six visible evidences that it amounts to. It amounts to gold, silver, and precious stone, or wood, hay, and stubble. Everything we have done since the moment we received Christ as our Savior has been kept account of, and God has not missed one thing. And may I say, it's probably a lot more individual things than we're thinking. It's not just the things that I did, and it is as a whole what I did if I said I did it for Christ, but I received the glory. Y'all remember how Jesus taught? And he talked about those that receive the praise of men, receive the glory of men, and he said they have their reward. May I say that that reward that they've received by the praise of men, even while claiming to be for God, they received the praises of men, and that's not to say that you're supposed to hide everything from man so nobody praises you. What it's saying is that those who are truly seeking for people to lift them up and praise them, oh, bravo, bravo, or better yet, here we go, I'm about to, y'all ready? I'm about to make a lot of people mad, here it is. A lot of churches do this, and some still do it to this day, and shame on them. But men, at the beginning of a service, men will walk out onto the platform, and the church rises in standing ovation. Every single service. Now I could start naming off the names and many of y'all would already know, some of y'all would be shocked. And it still happens to this day and they call that giving honor where honor is due. I call it receiving your reward here on earth and so you get in heaven. Here's the thing, you will receive a reward in heaven because everything done in this body receives a reward. But it's in two main categories and it's of six different types. There is a category that will survive and there is a category that will disappear. Gold, silver, precious stone will survive the judgment of God by fire. Wood, hay, and stubble is going to burn and disappear and it will be lost. And they will look and say, wow, look at that pile. And then all of a sudden, oh my goodness, what happened? And I believe there's gonna be a whole bunch of people who are gonna literally hang their heads. because we had such a big pile of reward. May I say, by the way, examine and look what the Bible says. Look at what it actually says. It says, every man's work shall be made manifest. Oh, there it is. Everything's gonna be known. It's all gonna be known. How does it say it's gonna be known? It be made manifest for the day shall declare it. How's it gonna be declared? Because it shall be revealed by word? No. It's gonna be revealed by fire. May I say I believe personally that we are going to stand individually before God in judgment, and we are going to understand where we did not serve Him, where we thought we served Him, and we did not do for Him what we thought we did for Him, and He is going to give us all the rewards, but it's not all gonna be the good stuff. He's gonna give us, here is your entire collection. Now, between me and God, I believe we're gonna give individual account of each thing. Again, that alone is supposition. You may give account of each individual work as God declares it to you, and between you and him, he talks to you, he deals with you, we stand before him, and he lays out, that was not for me, that was not for me. Well, okay, that was for me. That was not for me, that was not for me. You got your reward, you got your reward. By the way, here's all your reward on that one. But God, it's really ugly and looks kind of subject to being destroyed. Yeah, because it was for you, not for me. Oh, but God, I thought that's what you wanted me to do. No, you knew it wasn't me. It's what you wanted. You just blamed it on me. God told me to. Be careful what you blame on God. We as Christians know all the right things to say, at least for other Christians to believe that we're godly and we're real spiritual. But there is one who keeps account of everything, and there is one who knows every aspect of everything we do, and even that which we do outwardly that looks good, but in the heart it was wrong. We had ulterior motives. And God is keeping count. He's keeping track. But all of these things as a whole, what declares it? What shows it? What reveals it? Fire, not word. The pile is gonna go in God's judgment fire. And what's left behind will say everything that needs to be said. it will be revealed. It says, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. All these things that we think some people, oh my goodness, wow, look what they're doing. Yeah, and when we get there, it's a possibility, not always, but it's a possibility that some, if we are witnessing anything, we will witness the residue. And what's left will say everything that needs to be said concerning what sort of service that child produced in their life. So it's tried by fire. Let me just give you these and I'm gonna try to wrap this up. Here are some areas that I believe, some areas from Scripture that are mentioned as commands, mentioned as instruction for the child of God. It's a very small list of five things, and there'd be a whole lot more if we went through all of them. But here are some things that I believe God takes note of for each child of God that is gonna receive a reward. You're not going to have loss of reward because God forgot something. Everything will be accounted for. Every deed, every little thing will have a reward, but God knows what sort it needs to be. Here's just some ideas. How we treated other brethren. You say, how do you know that's gonna be judged by God? Well, 1 John 4, 20 and 21 does talk about if you say you love God and hate your brother, you're a liar and the truth is not in you. And it goes on to talk about how we are commanded. You say you love God? God, I love you! And he's gonna look and say, well, here's a reward of proof. You hated your brother. You despised your brother. You mistreated your brother. You underhandedly stole from and tried to bury and step on so you could get the next level people in the church. Don't say you loved me and you treated them like that. Here's your reward for your actions as a child of God with the brethren. How you use your God-given abilities and talents. Go to Matthew 25 in 14 through verse number 30, and Jesus is teaching on the talents. I believe that is, that's not specifically pointing to the church, but what it does do is it does teach a principle of understanding that God expects as that master expected those who were given talents, who were, I know that was money, but they were given that which they could invest for the benefit of the one that it belonged to. Listen, your talents don't belong to you. They belong to the one who gave you those talents. Your abilities don't belong to you. They belong to the one who instilled them in you. And He has let you borrow the talent. He has let you borrow the knowledge. He has let you borrow the abilities. And He wants you to use them to bring Him glory. He wants an interest return. And I believe we're going to give an account. For every ability God gave us and we wasted so that we would look good in man's eyes, but we did not do what was needed for God's glory. How about this one? This one really hurts. I hate this one, but it's true. How you spent your time. Give an account of being a time waster. Go to Ephesians chapter five, verse 15 and 16. That'll give you some understanding of where that principle would come from. How about this one? This is one that you can't deny this one. How you witness to others. You understand? One preacher put it this way, and I agree with him. We don't give an account for the number of people we saw saved. We give an account for the number of people we witnessed to. Not everybody witnessed to is going to receive what has been witnessed to them. Not everybody given the gospel is going to receive the gospel. Well, that's on them. We give an account for the witness, not for the result. And we're going to give an account, 1 Thessalonians 2, 19 through 20. deals with Paul and how he talked about their joy and his glory, and all those things are the individuals that he's witnessed to and the ones that have followed through. It's the witness. We're gonna give an account as to whether or not we witnessed. There's several others, but here's one more, and this one hurts us too, how we used our words. Every idle word Every thought, we're supposed to bring our thoughts into subjection, but our words, the things we say, we'll give an account for, they will produce gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, and stubble. Every part of our obedience, service, or lack thereof as a child of God will be rewarded with the six types of reward we talked about there out of 1 Corinthians 3.12. And for this reason, we are instructed to beware of our treasures that we hold dear. You remember what Jesus taught in Matthew 6, 19 and 20? Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. What are those treasures? The rewards. Now this is, I'm gonna get into an area of, I'm gonna show you one quick area of my personal belief on something. And there's a couple of questions that would kind of back that up. But all of our awards, whether temporal or eternal, will be tried by that judgment fire of God, and it will reveal everything. It is my personal belief. According to the consistent teachings found in scripture, that the eternal rewards remaining after the trial by fire will be our individual proof of the love for God that we cast back at His feet. And you say, now where do you get that? How do you know that? Well, I'll give you two questions that you'd have to answer to say that that would be wrong, okay? Number one, how can my eternal rewards be received as evidence of what I did for the glory of God, if then I keep it for the glory of me? Just think about it. I'm supposed to serve God here for His glory to make sure that it is heavenly treasure, gold, silver, precious stone, make sure it is right reward, but it can't be for my glory or it'd be wood, hay, and stubble. So therefore, it has to be for Him, and it has to be according to His will, and according to His guidance and leading. And if I do it here for Him, how is it that I'm gonna receive award, then take it and say, look what I did? I have a hard time thinking that when we stand before God, it's gonna be different than when we're standing here without the Lord in our presence. How is it that I do here and I'm commanded here to do it for His glory, but up there I can keep it for my own? I just have a hard time qualifying that. And then another just logical question. What use will such things have in a place where carnal value has no meaning? By the way, what is my greatest treasure in heaven? What makes heaven heaven? The presence of God. Gold, streets are paid with it. Silver. I'm sure something there is made of silver. I don't know why it doesn't really talk about it. Precious stones. Well, you've got gates of pearl, walls of jasper. He gives you building materials. And all of a sudden, it's gonna be something big for me to brag about. No, I fully believe that when you get down to it, on this earth, we are taught he's to receive all the glory. It doesn't change in heaven. And so therefore, God does not share his glory. He is a jealous God over what belongs to him. And therefore, I firmly believe, according to those principles of what we're taught of how things are to work here for his glory, there it's still gonna be His glory. And so what it's gonna be, since it is the evidence of my service and my love for Him because of His love for me, then the evidence needs to be placed back in the evidence locker, which is gonna be at His feet. And it's gonna be, I believe personally, that which I have left will be what I have when it comes time that everyone says, thou art worthy. Thou art worthy. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor. Holy, holy, holy! Thou art worthy! We're nothing! You! It's you! It's you! And what am I gonna have to cast back at his feet? I go with nothing. I bring nothing with me. What's gonna be there for me? But that which I earned that after tried by fire comes out purer there than it was when it went in. And that which is gone, poof, is wasted and gone. But that which is pure and true for his glory has been now purified to give him more glory. Say, show me in the Bible where God wrote that down and how that worked. I can't, but I can show you in the Bible where it would break the principles of everything he taught concerning the glory of God to get in his presence and change it all so I can receive the focus. Here's my last thing. Oh, gracious, ooh, mercy. Y'all probably done before me. The last question is the big one, and I'm just gonna throw it at you, so just catch it fast. People ask, will my sins be displayed for everyone to see? Simple answer, no. How do you know that? Well, you could go to 2 Corinthians 5, 17 through 19. Go there, read that for yourself. But Psalm 103, 12 says, as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Micah 7, 18 and 19 says, Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities and thou shalt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Why would God forgive and wash away just to bring it back up and shame us with it? It doesn't make sense. It breaks everything you read in the Bible. Why, if I have been forgiven of it, is God going to say, by the way, let me remind you of everything you've done? The Bible doesn't say he brings back the records of my sin. It says that he has the record of my deeds that I did for Christ in this body. You say, but aren't there records of sin? Yeah, of those who have not had their sins washed by the blood. And I'll get ahead of myself just a little bit, but on top of that, that's not the biggest focus. What is the number one thing that dooms those who do not know Christ as their Savior? What is the number one thing? All the records they can bring up of their sins that they're guilty of? No, the number one thing that dooms them, and we'll deal with this next week, is the fact that their name is not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Done. My name is written. That's not in question. The judgment seat of Christ is for the child of God who has served God on this earth. Nowhere at the judgment seat of Christ are my sins strewn out before everybody. Only that which I have done, whether it was gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, or stubble, has nothing to do with my sins. It has all to do with my service. So no. Biblically, you cannot in any way, shape, or form produce evidence that the child of God is gonna have their sins laid out so everybody can witness to know how bad they were. Because the only reason you're in heaven is because we are bad, we are horrible, and we all deserve hell. But the only reason that we are in God's presence and we have eternity with Him and not separated from Him is because it has been washed in the blood of the Lamb. And it has been removed. There has been complete remission of sin. And it no longer, in the eyes of a holy God, even exists anymore. Therefore, guilt cannot exist anymore. It has been forgiven. It has been removed. It is gone. And that which is gone cannot be brought back. It's gone. is no longer present. So can my sins be drug out for everybody to see so I'll be shamed and embarrassed? No, trust me, there'll be enough embarrassment when my pile burns down to much lower than I thought it was gonna be. And I won't have quite what I thought I'd have to cast back. And I say, Lord, I love you. I did, I loved you. I really, really, really, really, really, really did. And I really thought I had more. But here's the proof. I'm sorry it's so little. That alone is sobering. But I don't think anybody's gonna stand up and say, oh, man, you're pathetic. I really think every single one of us are gonna be ashamed of what it should have been. No matter how much it is or how little it is, I believe everybody's going to be a little ashamed of how much it could have been if we would have taken serving Him, living for Him and glorifying Him as serious as we were taught to take it. Judgment seat of Christ, not a judgment of my sin. but a judgment of service, and we all will stand, every child of God will stand before the judgment seat of Christ as to what we did in this body, in this life for His glory. Heavenly Father, we again thank you for tonight, thank you for