Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of receiving the 'Crown of Life' as a reward for faithfulness and endurance in the Christian race, drawing from Paul's teachings in 1 Corinthians and Philippians. He explains that God's ultimate purpose is to unite heaven and earth, allowing believers to reign with Christ in a physical kingdom, and that our actions in this life determine our roles in the age to come. Bickle highlights the importance of living a life worthy of the calling, as not all believers will receive crowns, but those who endure temptation and remain faithful will be rewarded. He encourages the congregation to focus on their spiritual growth and the eternal implications of their choices, reminding them that their love for God is demonstrated through obedience. The sermon concludes with a call to be part of God's leadership team in establishing His kingdom on earth.

We start in that, I'm going to start with an introductory piece that I use so often, I just didn't want to put it on the notes. It's called the Centerpiece of God's Purpose. If you've been here for three weeks, you've heard it three times. I share it almost every week. I'm going to start there for a second, for just a moment, for those that are visiting, because we have several hundred that are here. The Centerpiece of God's Purpose, you can get this on the internet if you're interested in this, because I'm going to do this fast, is Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9 and 10 tells us God wants to join together everything that's in heaven and in earth. He wants to bring the two realms together. That's what Ephesians chapter 1 says. He's going to bring together all things in heaven and in earth. Paragraph A. Paragraph B. Heaven speaks of the supernatural realm, where God's power is openly manifest in his presence. The earth speaks of the physical realm, the place where natural processes take place, the place where human emotions are expressed, physical sensations, and the Lord wants to bring the two realms together forever on the earth. That's called heaven. Heaven coming to the earth. Paragraph C. Paragraph D. God's purpose has always been to live together with his people face to face on the earth. Now, that's a huge statement. God's purpose has always been, he's determined, he's focused, that when this thing is established, he's going to be, he's going, God the Father is going to dwell on the earth in an open display of his glory in relationship to the natural realm with people that have material bodies. They won't only be materials. Our bodies will have to be resurrected, but they will still be physical material bodies on the natural earth. God wants to come down. I mean, on this earth, that's what I'm talking about. This is the most difficult, but it's the ultimate reality in God's salvation purposes. God's purpose was never for us to get saved and go far away to heaven. His purpose was always to bring, set up a situation where he came to the earth and he brought the entire earth under his order and he used his people to bring the earth under his own order. He's going to bring his habitation to the earth. Look at the bottom there. It says Revelation 21. We know it well. It says, God will dwell with them. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them. This is the most astounding declaration from heaven. It's not saying we're going to go to heaven and live with God. He's saying God is coming down to join the, the supernatural and the natural realm together. He will dwell on the earth and the unspoken point, the dilemma that's been solved by Jesus on the cross is that when the father comes to the earth, he won't destroy the earth when he comes because of his blazing holiness. That's the unspoken dilemma in this passage that John is talking about. He's coming to the earth and we think, well, cool. We, you know, we've known that for years. You know, we sing songs about, wait, there is no need for a veil in the old Testament tabernacle. There was a veil, the glory of God was behind a veil because if it was not, it would have consumed the nation of Israel. And the glory of God's behind a veil right now. And the veil is the separation of the natural and the spiritual realm. That's a veil. And if that veil was opened right now, the earth and all the nations would be consumed by the presence of God in a negative way. But Jesus did something so radical, so effective that he is making, we're in the process and that's what the millennial kingdom is about. Jesus is coming down to the earth as a man in a physical body. Yes, a resurrected body, but a physical one as a man, as a Jewish man on the earth, he is going to give leadership to the nations to prepare the nations to receive the father. And he will bring the nations to substantial righteousness. So the father can come down the way that the father sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus. Jesus is here with his leadership team, if you will, which is the people from this age that were faithful. He's going to put him in leadership and they're going to do such a work in the anointing of the spirit that they're preparing the way for the father to come to the earth. So Jesus is looking for a leadership team right now. Look at paragraph E. Jesus is looking for a leadership team and he's looking over 6,000 years from Adam to the second coming, approximately 6,000 years. He's looking over all of human history and those that have been faithful to him and true. I don't mean just those that are saved, those have been faithful. He is choosing them to be on his leadership team to prepare the earth for the father to return. All the saints get to be involved, but he's looking for leadership right now. And that's what the message of the crown is about. That's what the message of reigning and ruling, it's reigning and ruling on a physical earth with a physical Jesus to prepare the nations in righteousness so the father himself can come at the end of it. And then it goes to a whole nother realm when he comes, but it's a thousand year period. The scripture says that to the Lord, one day is like a thousand years. So it's the one grand day of human history. The one grand day, Jesus rules the nations for one day, for 1,000 years, and it will be sufficient, his leadership, to pull this thing off, to establish it in such clarity, righteousness, the father will actually come to the earth and dwell there forever. And it's this earth, the new earth is this very earth here transformed and renovated, but it's still this very earth right here. It's amazing what we're called the kingdom of God. Paragraph E, Jesus will rule the earth with the natural processes not suspended, yet significantly enhanced by the supernatural dimension of the spirit. We just kind of automatically assume that at the second coming when Jesus comes, everything that's natural will somehow just evaporate. No, the natural realm, the earth realm, God created it and said it is good. He likes it. He wants the earth realm and the spirit realm to come fully together forever on the earth. Paragraph F, there's three types of people that will be on the earth when Jesus returns at the second coming. When he comes in the sky, there'll be three types of people. The redeemed, the redeemed will be raptured at the time of the second coming. The reprobate, those are the ones that take the mark of the beast, they will be killed. But there's a third category called the resistors. That's just my term, you can use whatever term you want. They don't take the mark of the beast, but they haven't been saved. That's the group that will get saved, will get converted, trained, and repopulate the earth with natural bodies. And with resurrected bodies, we will interact with them and disciple the nations in the fullest sense of the word. Paragraph G, as Gentile believers, we most naturally think, the most natural thing, most of us are Gentile believers, we most naturally think of Jesus as God, good, in the supernatural conditions of heaven, that's where he is right now, we emphasize his deity, we emphasize worshiping as God in the supernatural conditions of heaven, we emphasize him as the son of God, all of that is good. But the Jewish paradigm is quite different. They think of reigning with the Messiah as a man in the natural conditions of the earth. The Jewish mindset is very different than the Gentile, but the truth is, the combination of both of those paradigms. Neither one of them is completely true. Israel is looking for a man to come to the earth to rule it, and they want to rule with him. Gentiles are looking to go far away to worship and leave here God, they want to worship God. We think of Jesus as the son of God, they think of the Messiah as the son of man, the truth is both. He's coming to the earth as fully God, fully man, and bringing both realms together. Okay, let's go now to receiving the prize. So that's just my little introduction I like to give often, because as fundamental as that is in the Bible, and you will find this is supported from Genesis to Revelation, most believers I talk to are clueless about those, about, I made about 10 points, they're clueless on about six or seven of them. They're just thinking, huh, I'm just going to be whisked away and go worship on a cloud and just hope in a million years I don't get bored, I'll apologize to God if I do, but they're kind of worried about heaven, they know it's going to be good, but they're a little bit nervous that the Lord hasn't really connected the dots, you know, Lord, we've got really active minds, I hope you've got something planned for us up there, and he does, he's bringing the heaven to the earth at the second coming, and we're going to, we're going to have dominion, we're going to exercise dominion and bring the fullness of what's in God's heart to pass on the earth and the natural and the spiritual realm together, and it's exciting, and the Lord Jesus right now is picking his leadership team for 6,000 years from Adam to the second coming, he's picking the people that are going to lead in ruling and reigning and doing the things that are near and dear to his heart in that one grand day of history. This is really important to Jesus that he does this right, he doesn't get two chances, he has one chance, and he's, and he's not doing it himself, he's doing it through his people, and he will choose those that are faithful to impart righteousness to those that are in the natural realm in that time, and he will only choose those that were faithful when they were only in the natural realm, without resurrected bodies, because that, their mandate is to bring the nations who are in the natural completely, that's it, to bring them to righteousness, he's only choosing people who chose that when they were in the natural, only in the natural realm during this life. This was very clear to Paul the apostle, Paul had a real clear goal in his mind, he wanted to be involved in the establishing of the kingdom on the earth in the kingdom age when Jesus returned to the earth, you'll see in a few minutes Paul was really focused on this, this was not a secondary idea to Paul, Paul's main goal in life wasn't to get as big of a ministry as he could on the earth and then take his chances in the resurrection, his biggest goal was to do things in the earth in a right way to please the Lord, to win people to the Lord, to live in righteousness, but he wanted to be involved in bringing the kingdom to the nations in the full sense of the word that is necessary to do to bring the fathers back so that the father would actually dwell on the earth one day, and he talked to the saints, he prayed several times, I have them the verses at other places in the notes here, if you didn't get the notes you can get them on the back or you can get them on the website, one of his big points is he said this a number of times, he urged them to walk worthy, he meant to be worthy to be involved in the establishment of the kingdom in the age to come, he said walk in a way worthy, he goes even if you die, even if you're suffering, don't worry as long as you're worthy it's going to be okay, he's not talking about being worthy of being forgiven, no one's worthy of being forgiven, forgiveness is a free gift, he's talking about being faithful so the Lord will choose him and the people he's praying for the Lord would choose them to be involved with Jesus in establishing the kingdom of God on the earth in a primary way, in a leadership role, and of course the first objection that people have is I don't want to do it, be faithful so I can do something later, and they have the idea that I don't want a big ministry where I'm rich and famous in the age to come, and it's not about that, it's having a function that is near and dear to Jesus's heart and working together with him to bring God's purposes to all the nations of the earth, it will be real, like he was really talking to the apostles, he really met with them to help them bring the kingdom to Israel in that elementary way in his first coming, that initial way, he's going to be interacting with his people in the same dynamic way, so I've heard people, it's a contradiction, they don't see it, if you ask them do you want to rule and reign, the Lord, I don't really care about that stuff, would you have liked to have been one of the 12 apostles, oh that would have been awesome, that's the exact same dynamic, he's looking for a leadership team to work with, with the natural and the spiritual dimensions to bring the righteousness to all the nations, he wants to work with people, it's about working with him, Roman number one, we know this, I'm just giving you the verses, we're not going to even go through them, paragraph a, all believers, all believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, I give you several verses there, every single believer, this isn't to determine if you're saved, if you're set, if you're not saved, you won't be at the judgment seat of Christ, the judgment seat is the Greek word, the behemoth seat, which was the reward seat, it was the seat of rewards where the Olympic judges gave the gold medals or gave the crowns out to the athletes in the ancient days, that's what the behemoth seat is, it's the place of reward, it's the place where the trophies are handed out, every believer will stand before the behemoth seat, but not every believer will receive rewards, we will only receive rewards according to our consistency and faithfulness to the Lord and particularly in the secret place of our heart, the part of our life that nobody sees, they may see you doing it with their eyes, but they don't know what's going on in your heart, paragraph b, there will be a vast difference in our capacity to experience the glory of God in the age to come, we will not all have the same capacities, we will all have diverse capacities and our capacities will be related to our obedience in this age, well it will not matter at all how big your ministry was in this age, it will only matter how big your heart was in righteousness, when I stand before the Lord, he's not going to say did you preach in stadiums, he's going to say what was the measure of the obedience of your heart and the measure of your meekness and the measure of your revelation of the word as before me, what was it and that's all that he's going to ask me, he's not going to ask me how big things were, yet we're so locked in to getting a bigger following, the Lord says get your mind off of that, it's good to have people be impacted, I like big, I like big because it's more human beings being touched, not because bigger helps anything to any of us on the judgment seat of Christ and the beam of seat, we're all on a race and we're going to stand before the judges, there's only one judge but I'm using the olympic analogy, the runners will run and the athletes will participate but they will stand to receive their trophy on that day according to how they ran and of course the race is decades long, it's the race of our life in the faith, somebody met the Lord late in life, their race is short but it's our life after we were born again, that's our race, we have one race to run and it goes on through decades in many cases, one race but as one star differs from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead, now people don't like this, well they do and they don't, I've been talking on this for years so I've ran into so many emotions and they don't like it because it really matters what they do but then they really like it because it really matters what they do so the pressure that it really matters is the very thing they want, they want their life to really matter and so many people, it's very normal if you're like this, they're kind of caught, if it's true, oh no but if it's true, everything I do in my heart's important, no matter how boring and mundane the day is, every single hour of my day, the Lord, it's important, meaning it has value, I don't mean every hour is serious and weighty but every hour has value to God and so many have read the Bible in a way, in a wrong way, where they, it doesn't matter, it's all the same when we get there and people usually have a reason they want it to be that way, there's unsettled issues in their life, they don't want it to matter, they want it all to be the same when we get there but then if it's all the same when they get there, which many people, you know, they like to think that it's completely not a biblical idea but then they're bored in their life here because they have nothing that really matters so they're really in a catch-22. Others have said man this is heavy, I go that's right, this troubles me, that's good, that you're getting, that's called the fear of the Lord, no this is like really heavy, no that's called blessed are they who mourn, blessed are those who have poverty of spirit, you're getting it. If this does not trouble you, you have not understood the gospel in its most fundamental dimensions, which I would say, I say this with sadness in my heart, the majority of the body of Christ in our nation has a distorted view of what the message of the gospel is even about. I'm talking about the broad strokes across our nation. Millions understand it but many millions more are confused by it. They think it's somehow getting a hold of grace of God so they feel more comfortable while they're sending and they take their best shot hoping for heaven. They try to get as much friends, as much fun, as much they can get on this side and maybe a few people will listen to them in their ministry and that is, that's not what the kingdom of God is really about. Paragraph two or Roman numeral two, receiving a crown in the age to come. Paul was focused on this, crowns are not given to every believer. I know that's troubling to some people because they think, oh no, then it really matters what I do. It's absolutely right and this is something that Paul the apostle was really focused on. Paul was locked in to getting the prize of the upward call in his life. He went to the highest call that God had for him in his life. We'll get to that in a minute. Paragraph A, there are nine references to believers receiving heavenly crowns, nine of them. The crown, it's called the crown of life in James 1. It's called the crown of righteousness in 2nd Timothy 4. It's called the crown of glory. These titles I believe refer to the same reward. I believe they're all the same crown. I don't think it's it's different crowns. I believe there's different nuances, different dimensions of the one crown. Jesus is talking to the church in Revelation 2 and he said, don't fear the things that you're about to suffer. The devil is about to throw some of you into prison. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to be faithful till you die. I mean, this is Jesus in the resurrection, you know, visiting John and Patmos. John, go tell them. Some of them are going to prison. It's the devil doing it and some of them will die in prison. I can see John going, Lord, do I really need to tell? Yes, this is important because it's really going to happen. I just imagine being the pastor that communicated that to the congregation. Be faithful till you die and if you do, I will give you the crown of life. He's not talking about being born again right now. He's not promising they will be born again. He's talking, they're already born again. That's why the devil's coming after them to test them because they're already born again. Paragraph B, the crown of life is a crown for the way we lived our life on the earth. The Lord's going to give us a crown because of how we lived in this life and it's a crown that is releasing the life of God in the age to come. So it's a two-fold dimension. It's the way we live this life and it's a crown that depicts the measure of the life or the glory of God. The life of God, the glory of God that he's going to give you in the age to come. The crown of life refers to a heavenly reward a believer receives for faithfulness. It is not synonymous with being born again. I've taught this over the years and I'll teach it for a few weeks in a row and I just get a lot of people stirred up about that and they're desperate for it to be equal with being born again so that every single person is the same so that it does not matter. There's no implications to what they're doing right now. Once they prayed the sinner's prayer. They want to follow the Lord pretty much but they don't want to follow the Lord to this degree to where it really matters. The days of our life matter and beloved you can't it's like an ostrich you know put your head in the ground and then hopefully the bible changes. The bible's not going to change if Americans don't vote for it. Like I get people get together and they say I said you can't move the bible. You can't shift truth because it's unsettling to you. You have to shift. The bible will not shift. It just won't. There's two, paragraph c, there's two greek words we've gone over this a number of times lately that describe crowns in the new testament. One is the diadem. That's the crown of a ruler but that's a crown that mostly the rulers inherited that crown. They didn't do much they were just born into the royal family. They received that crown. There were local rulers you know governors and mayors and and then you know the the emperor but most rulers uh uh they inherited it and they passed it down through their lines somehow or through friendships or deals. But there's another kind of crown the Stephanos crown and the Stephanos crown had nothing to do with uh who you knew or what family you were born in. The Stephanos crown was was only won by what you did in the race. 100 percent based on your performance. Total different type of crown the Stephanos crown. It wasn't who you knew and it wasn't what family you were born in. You didn't inherit it you earned it and you earned it in the sense of the athlete ran the race and they worked out. And we don't earn it in the full sense of the word because there's nothing we can do to to get paid this well. There's nothing possible you and I could do that would that would merit us getting this kind of kindness from God. However God does require that we obey him in our heart. But we're not earning it by any sense of the word. It's we're giving God a little bit and he's giving us a whole lot. He's giving us the eternal city and eternal life in his own heart and we say yes and try and walk in humility a little bit. You know we press into to to grow in it and the Lord says I'll give you everything if you do that. If you don't do it it will be trouble. It says in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 that if someone competes in athletics Paul says he is crowned he gets the crown if he of course competes according to the rules. This wasn't the diadem. He didn't receive the diadem. He received the crown because it was earned. It was gained through the performance in the games. Paragraph D. The crowns are not given to all believers but only those that endure temptation by consistently walking in obedience. It says here James 1. Blessed is the man that endures temptation. You understand temptation must be endured. Temptation we say no to it today. It's unrelenting. It's there tomorrow. It must be endured. We must resist it over and over and you've heard it for years. Some of you have been in the kingdom for a while. I've heard this for many years. I can't take it anymore. I'm worn out. Of course I always say I try to you know not say the first thing I say but I get around to it. Well your options aren't very well if you quit. You don't have very many I mean you don't have very good options. When the person says I can't do it anymore I'm just too tired. I'm too worn out. The only other option is just let the devil destroy him. I said there really isn't another option but you hear it all the time that temptation wears people down. Temptation must be endured. Blessed is the man who endures it for when he has been approved that's by the Lord. When the Lord at the Olympic judges table so to speak when he at the as the as the judge of the races when he approves a person for that crown then only those people get that crown if they've been personally approved of by the Lord because it's a crown that has authority in it and it has authority in the age to come. It has a dimension of glory and only the Lord can approve a person to have that crown. That says the Lord will give the crown of the person has been approved he will receive the crown of life and it's the Stephanos crown it's not the diadem it's a crown that has been gained through participating with the grace of God by running the race with diligence and endurance and with patience etc etc. James 1 tells us God will give that crown he will promise to give it to the people who love him. The crown that you receive by the grace of God is a is a statement of the measure of the love you had for him because you're the only person that can give God your love. Your love is unique. Nobody else can give God your love beside you. He wants it and the love is expressed in adoration for sure but the love that he's wanting is more than adoration. He wants love that chooses obedience under the fire of temptation. That's what he says in John uh 14 verse 21 you can just write it down John 14 21. It's to the person who keeps his word this is the person that loves him. He said to the person that obeys my word this is the one that loves me. It is good to come together and to give uh affectionate declarations of our of our love and our affection to him that is good he likes that but it it is not that costly to say words to God in a worship service though it's still meaningful to the Lord. What is costly is that you endure temptation in the secret place of your heart and then you say words I love you I love you but the crown is a measure of the love that you expressed in the fires of temptation just to tell you don't have to look for temptation temptations everywhere it's just all the powers that be want us to sin more and to quit following God heart. I mean the voice is all through the body of Christ just pull back just relax don't worry about it that the voice is everywhere seek God less and live in compromise more the voice is everywhere in the church and outside the church and the devil sees to it. Paragraph E top of page 2 verse Peter 5. Peter's talking about the crown of glory. I believe it's the same crown of life. This is a crown that he gives to those that are faithful in leadership and if you've never been in leadership you might think leadership hey I want to be in leadership and I encourage you if you want to be in leadership to go with that go for it just do it the right way don't like manipulate and push and get mad at people that don't recognize you just serve and serve and serve but the Lord Peter tells the elders verse 1 the elders among you verse 2 I want you to take care of the flock how by serving them not by compulsion not because you get in trouble if you get caught not serving he goes don't serve him by compulsion by human compulsion because you get in trouble if you get caught that you were you were you lack diligence serve them willingly and serve them eagerly it says that is hard work having been a shepherd for 30 years to do it willingly and eagerly takes a lot of resolve in a man or a woman's heart to do that being on the staff of a church or being a full-time ministry is not what this is talking about it's talking about what you do in that position serve eagerly and serve willingly and in all things serve don't do it for yourself serve get connected to their purpose in God and God's purpose for them he goes on to say be examples later on in verse 3 be examples don't lord it over don't be bossy and pushy be examples in your righteousness and if you do this verse 4 when Jesus appears you will receive the crown of glory the crown of life but only the leaders that actually pour themselves out this way the crown of glory and I don't believe that it's a special crown for leaders but I believe that leadership is a special is a uh has uh its own unique fires of conflicts of conflict and whether you're leader over 10 or leader over 100 or leader over a thousand either realm it does not matter if you're over 10 you've got enough conflict to know what I'm talking about if you're over 10 people I guarantee you you've heard regularly you're wrong I don't like your spirit why do we have to do that I'm not gonna go that direction and so you don't have to be leader over thousands if you lead and stay willing serving and eager it is an amazing uh testimony of the grace of God that you have endured temptation paragraph g the crowns speak of one's accomplishments it speaks of the acts that are done by the grace of God is respond to of uh in responding to in faithful obedience to the Lord the crowns will be cast down before the Lord the crowns are not talking about their born again experience the elders aren't casting down before God the fact they were born again they're taking what was earned what they labored in the grace of God and they work together and what I mean by earned I always mean that with an asterisk I don't mean that you earned it you deserved it because we do we do level one and God pays us level 10 it's never fair it's like exaggerated to the extreme in the grace of God but a crown is are those accomplishments that you've achieved in the grace of God and more often than not their accomplishments at the heart level it's whatever we've gained in our obedience is our crown and that crown is cast before the before his throne and I believe that when the elders cast their crown down they mean it they mean it it's not it's not show they mean whatever we have gained in the grace of God it is literally yours we it is yours and they put it at his feet of course you can't outgive God the Lord's the ultimate giver the Lord says I receive it it's really mine but I'm really giving it back to you because I got plenty where that came from but my point being is the elders that I believe that many in eternity will take that which is theirs they will be so in love with God and so grateful for his goodness because whatever whatever dimension they've achieved they brought a one and God brought a 10 God paid them with a 10 for a one worth of effort but they do have to give the effort it's real the efforts real but it's nowhere really comparable to earning it like an athlete would be would earn it even though that's the analogy that Paul uses is the athlete paragraph H I believe that a relatively small percentage of believers will receive this crown I assume the numbers in the millions but compared to all the the believers in history there's probably two to three billion counting a great harvest at the end of the age well we don't know but I'm guessing two to three billion so I believe that the percentage is small Paul compared the receiving these crowns we'll get to that passage in a minute to an athlete to winning a crown in the ancient athletic games and in the ancient games only a small percentage won crowns of the games not everybody who ran the race only a couple of people won crowns in the athletic games and that's the analogy that Paul is drawing on purposefully I I just did a just a quick study on the Olympics and the Olympics less than 10 percent get medals so there's about 10 or 11,000 athletes and less than a thousand get a medal and I'm not making that a spiritual percentage my point being that it's obvious that when 10,000 run or 10,000 participate only a thousand that's just a that's just a obvious even in the natural and that's the analogy Paul is using paragraph I the point of a crown is to indicate those who win a victory in the race and of course the victory we're wanting to win isn't against somebody else so that's where the analogy breaks in we're not racing against another person what we're what we're competing against is darkness growing in in our life the resistance of darkness is what we're competing again against we're not competing against one another the Lord doesn't have a small number of crowns in heaven he has plenty of crowns but he's not going to give them if people have not been faithful the Boston marathon or whatever marathon you know there's thousands running I don't know the number but only a few of them get the top prizes and though all the born-again believers are born again of course they all run the race but there's only a certain kind of response that the Lord gives a crown to I want that to trouble you the reason I want that to trouble you because I want to be a good shepherd a shepherd I don't want you shocked by this one day so I lived in Kansas City two years I never heard that I want to trouble you because I care about you I want to trouble you because I am contending for your greatness before God I'm not trying to put a burden on you I'm trying to connect you to reality because reality won't change because the American modern church doesn't like the reality that the Word of God says it's not going to change faithfulness is required for the crown paragraph J I talk a little bit about how people think the crown of life is synonymous with justification by faith James 1 the context of James 1 is not justification by faith the context of James 1 receiving the crown of life is enduring trials and not giving up that's the context of the passage chapter 1 verse 2 to 12 he's talking about resisting temptation as a believer and becoming perfected in our faith and our obedience he's not talking about unbelievers becoming born again he's talking about believers being perfected and matured in their obedience the responding to trials in a godly way that's what James chapter 1 verse 2 to 4 all the entire chapter I mean the first part of the chapter is about that the each one of these crown of life crown of righteousness crown of glory they are all in context to maturing believers none of them are in context to unbelievers getting saved or the offer of of being born again none of them are that context you study them out paragraph K crowns can be lost Jesus is talking at revelation 311 he says hold fast what you have hold it fast you're going to have to that's the same ideas endure temptation endure make sure nobody takes your crown what an interesting concept how could another person take your crown and here's how a person could take your crown they can give you say saying K a seductive doctrine and it's always a doctrine of grace they seduce people with people don't seduce people with doctrines of you know hardship come over here I'll tell you a secret doctrine of how you're going to get judged you know nobody gets seduced by a doctrine of hardship or difficulty people get seduced by false doctrines with the term of the grace of God all the way through it it's prophesied in the word of God many times than the last days the grace of God would be turned into the preaching of it would be turned into licentiousness it would be turned into that which promotes lewdness the teaching of the grace of God it actually happened in the early church but it's going to happen at the end as well and the way that a man can take your doctor your crown is by winning you over to deceptive doctrines of grace and you losing your zeal in God and your perseverance and your endurance and then you lose out and it's real and and it can be traced down to the influence of somebody that seduced you theologically and there's huge ministries all over this nation that are seducing multitudes of people with with uh perverse presentations of the grace of God it's perverse it's the idea that a person could be saved if they come up and say a prayer you can't be saved unless you repent you come on the person come say lord i receive you to my heart forgive me jesus goes no i won't you have to repent i'm not going to forgive you because you prayed the prayer i will forgive you when you repent and when you line up with my kingdom and my word i have no doubt that jesus has turned down multitudes of prayed prayers i you know i i don't watch the tv that much but i hear it here and there just if only you'll pray this prayer that you can have the assurance like ah no no then they walk out thinking i'm saved no you're not you might i mean the lord is good enough to where sometimes it really connects sometimes i've seen people just mumble a prayer and i mean the witness of the spirit hit him their life was transformed well praise god you know you think you got it all figured out and it just goes the other way i love that though but we need to talk about the jesus that says no to the person who asked for forgiveness he doesn't promise forgiveness to who asked he promises forgiveness to people who repent it's really true saw pleaded for forgiveness the lord rejected him he saw pleaded for forgiveness the lord rejected him because there wasn't truth in it paragraph m well no what we got i guess we got hit l it's kind of right there some who are justified by faith will suffer loss but they will still be saved look what it says here in corinthians it says if anyone's work is burned that person will suffer loss but the person is still born again but they've suffered loss loss of what what can you how can you be born again and suffer loss he's talking about loss of reward loss of their crown is what they're talking about they're not talking about loss of their salvation in this passage says in second john 8 says look to yourself i like the nas which is the new american standard of the niv look to yourself that you do not lose the things you work for but that you would receive a full reward the new king james i believe uh messed this one up they said look to the things that we and and it has john working with them i'm sure john worked with them but i think the burden of it look to yourself i'm going to ask you a question are you looking to yourself do you look at yourself i don't mean morbid introspection are you asking the holy spirit to lead you and guide you are you reading the sermon the mount and measuring your heart are you looking to yourself so that you do not lose the things you gained and you work for and you receive a full reward because the truth is a believer can receive less than the full reward and it's not talking about receiving less than full forgiveness the forgiveness is settled but there's a full reward there's forgiveness and there's reward and there's full reward paul the apostle wanted the full reward in his life paragraph m many teachers will arise in the church in their time in times large followings who suddenly let dangerously distort god's grace they promote deceptive doctrines of grace they pervert god's grace by reducing it to receiving forgiveness without repentance or they reduce the grace of god by making people comfortable while they're sinning without repenting it's the grace of god that makes people comfortable while they're sinning that's not the grace of god that is a perversion that's a that's a dark doctrine a deception says here in jude 4 certain men crept into your midst unnoticed these are teachers and the body back in jude's day the apostle jude they didn't even know they were false teachers they crept in they were in the midst they were teaching nobody knew they were off base he goes they're ungodly he goes they're not showing you their ungodliness when they're in the pulpit they're doing it in somewhere else here's what they do when they're in the pulpit they teach the grace of god in a way that causes the people to have confidence to walk in lewdness they teach grace in a way that that gives confidence to sin instead of confidence to repent when we teach grace it gives people confidence that the repentance will will be received and the lord will give us a new beginning yet a thousand times in a row he will still give us a new beginning true grace teaching gives us confidence that our repentance is worth it and it matters but it must it we must repent for grace to operate paragraph n eternal life it talks about receiving the crown of life eternal life it's the greek word zoe most of you know that the zoe the life of god is so much bigger than forgiveness when it says the crown of life it didn't say the crown of forgiveness it's the crown that is related to the entire life we have in the age to come it's the called the crown of life some have reduced the crown of life to the crown of forgiveness but that's not what it says because in their mind they've made god's life they've made eternal life about forgiveness only no forgiveness is the way in but the life of god sharing life with god is obedience and intimacy and partnership with god forever and ever that's what the life of god is about it's about sharing heart and partnership and agreement and obedience to him that's what the life of god is about feeling his love and being empowered to give it back some verses and i really appreciate these verses they emphasize the entry point into eternal life which is forgiveness i love the entry point i love the forgiveness part but the kingdom of god is not mostly about forgiveness it's mostly about living together with god in obedience and an intimacy and agreement from heart to heart with each other paragraph oh i just mentioned here that the reason many uh you'll read some commentators and they will reduce these passages to meaning being born again because their whole lens of reading the bible is mostly about getting forgiven for their sins and then going away to heaven to float on a cloud to sing worship songs and what the bible is about is a kingdom coming to the earth and real people being selected from the human race to rule with jesus and bring the whole world to righteousness so the father can return the kingdom of god is about a king coming to the earth and he runs he's running a kingdom and he wants god's order established he wants partnership i love it how misty says it she goes he's a king he's not a hippie he's establishing a kingdom not a hippie commune he's wanting to establish a kingdom on the earth and he wants people to come into righteousness with him and work with him to establish a kingdom not a commune i love it she says he's not a hippie he's a king he really wants us to do what he says he means it and he has the power to back it up and he will back it up it's not a joke to him roman numeral three let's just read the passage roman paragraph a we'll read first corinthians 9 this is one of the classics and i just i won't read the text or i mean the my comments around it you read those on your own if you want to now paul writes this at about 53 a.d and the timing is important and i have the timing you don't have to get it right now but you can read the notes to get the time i'm gonna give you three passages and it's 53 a.d then the next one is about 60 to 62 eight or 10 years later he writes another time about this then another five or six years later he writes about it again and each time his thought progresses the way he talks about himself changes each time he writes about this it's important to to get the approximate dates here and it's not that you have to get the dates exact but you need you need to know there's they're different three different seasons in paul's life these three passages first corinthians 9 24 and then philippians chapter 3 and then 2nd timothy 4 these three are critical chapters in understanding paul's view of paul's reward and paul's motivation for living for reward those three chapters are are massive but here he is about 53 a.d he says in verse 24 he's writing to the corinthians do you not know that the one who runs in a race they all run you know the boston marathon i don't make a couple thousand run or whatever but only one receives the stefanos only one person receives first first prize now paul's not telling the people in this passage there's only one in the body of christ he's not saying there's only one person who wins there's only one way to win and that's wholeheartedness that's his point there's only one way to carry your heart in this age and that's in wholeheartedness he says goes on to say run in a way that you may obtain it what is the it that you want to obtain it's the prize what is the it it's a prize he's telling christians to run so they will obtain a prize he's not telling them to run so they can become born again they're already born again verse 25 he's going to develop it now everybody competes for the prize now he said prize two times he hasn't told us what the prize is but he is in a minute it's going to be it's a crown the prize that he's running for is a crown he says now the natural athlete he's temperate in all things which is disciplined a a a marathon runner is disciplined in all things if they're a champion they're world champion now they do it to obtain a stephanos a crown he goes it's a trophy or it was really a wreath it was a very temporal crown but he goes we run to obtain an imperishable crown now right there he says it the the prize is the imperishable crown he's after paul is running with one thing in mind in terms of his own personal receiving he's running because he loves god he's running because he loves the people but in terms of his own personal uh uh improvement of his own life he's going for a imperishable crown he calls it the prize two times he calls it the imperishable crown here he goes verse six therefore he tells us he opens his heart therefore i run thus not with lack of focus not with uncertainty because i am very clear what i'm after i am after a prize and that prize is called an imperishable crown now notice in verse 26 he says the word therefore he goes i want you to connect my focused running with the idea that i want a crown he goes i want you to connect the two the word therefore connects the ideas he goes i'm not running just for the fun of it i'm running because there's a prize and a crown in my reach now he goes on and he says i discipline my body i bring my body into subjection why he goes because or lest what if i preach to others about the crown and i'm disqualified he goes what if i proclaim about this race of this prize and i myself don't receive it he's not talking about losing his salvation here that's not what paul's doing he's already written you know a good portion of the of the he's written a part of the new testament he's an anointed apostle he's not talking about i will become disqualified and therefore end up in the lake of fire that's not what he's talking about he's talking about disqualified in the race to run the win a prize which is an imperishable crown okay let's go to top of page four we're gonna go forward about seven or eight years or so eight to ten years let's just say that now it's 60 ad or 62 ad you can't quite get it nailed down but it's seven or eight seven to ten years later now he's writing to the philippians let's go to philippians three this is eight to ten years later he's going to talk about that prize again he's going to bring it up in verse 14 let's look right down at the bottom in verse 14 he says i press towards the goal for the prize he's after that prize and the prize is the upward call of god that's what he's going for here he goes i want the upward call meaning the heavenly call the upward is the heavenly he wants the call that lasts for eternity he's not he's not pressing in so he can become born again he's already born again he has the assurance of his salvation he is pressing in for a what he calls for the prize of the upward or the eternal or the heavenly the heavenly calling on his life and his calling is to work close with jesus in the age to come to bring righteousness in the earth he goes i want it i want this desperately i don't want to lose this i don't want to be disqualified now he goes on we'll just begin in verse 11 and follow with that if you can philippians 3 verse 11 if by any means i may attain to the resurrection from the dead he's talking about again he's not some of the resurrection of the dead in the technical sense of being born again he's talking about that he wants to attain to the glory that's in the realm of the resurrection and it's the prize he's talking about i mean imagine paul he's in prison and i've read some commentaries that paul is hoping that he will become born again i go i'm sure paul's convinced he's born again he's talking about obtaining a dimension of glory that is in the resurrection realm that's what he's talking about which is the prize verse 12 not that i have already obtained it he goes and not that i am perfected my obedience is not complete yet he goes i still got another another lap to run in the race my obedience my race is not over my obedience isn't complete till i go to the day i die he goes i'm pressing on can you imagine a man in prison with this focus i'm pressing on why i hear he says it real clear i want to lay hold of that for which jesus laid hold of me that's the upward call that's the call that's upward the eternal or the heavenly call he goes i want to lay hold of the thing that jesus had in my in his mind when he laid hold of me and i haven't laid hold of it yet he's not talking about being born again he's talking about experiencing something in the age to come his calling it's his calling in the age to come he's contending for his calling in the age to come by the way he lived in this age look at that that i lay hold of that which jesus laid hold of me and most people that i've heard preach this over the years i've only heard it a couple times in you know years of listening to preaching most people say i want to lay hold what they're thinking about i'm going to press in in my prayer life so i can break through and have a revival in this age and paul's not talking about that paul's not talking about laying hold of more power in in in his current life although he certainly wants it he wants more power he goes i want to lay hold of the thing for which i was separated in the mind of god for when he called me i want to make sure i lay hold of it it's the upward call it's his call in the age to come is what he's contending for verse 13 i don't count myself to have it yet i don't have not laid hold of it i've not apprehended it but one thing i do i forget the things that are behind me and when you forget the things that are behind you it's the bad things so there's no condemnation but it's also the good things so there's no offense god you're not treating me right i've lived in prayer and fasting i've obeyed you and this is all you've done paul says i forget the things that i've done the good and the bad and i'm just pressing on focused one guy is tripped over his guilt for the past another guy is tripped over he doesn't think god's treating him right he thinks he deserves more of the blessing of god right now because he's thinking of his past both of them trip trip you if you go there he goes i forget the things which are behind and i do one thing i reach for the things that are ahead i press for the goal of the prize of my heavenly or my upward or my eternal calling is what he's talking about now if you think that's just for paul read verse 15 he says let as many that are mature that are spiritually mature let them have this mindset my question is do you have this mindset if you're mature in the in the word of god you will have this mindset i'm not i'm not trying to be uh overly naked i'm trying to brace you for the for the difficulty of of this this mindset is very rare in the body of christ in our nation it's considered weird i'm not troubled by that in one sense i'm saying i'm only saying it for for your sake people will will really press against you if you go for this they will not like it because they will think that you're assuming they should be going for it and they therefore they think you're judging them but here's what paul said if you're mature in the word if you're mature in your character you're going for this mindset what he just said here okay one more passage f now it's about six or seven years later you got to put the three passages together first corinthians 9 philippians 3 and 2nd timothy 4 they're each a few years apart he's in prison again it's his second time in prison well he's in prison several times second time in roman prison f he's in prison this is the final epistle that paul writes the final letter he writes look what he says second timothy 4 verse 6 i am being poured out he means in his imprisonment i'm being like an offering a drink offering to god is an offering to god his obedience in prison he goes but the time of my death my departure is now here he goes i know i'm going to die i'm not getting out and the lord's made it clear to me i'm not getting out of prison i fought the good fight i have finished the race there it is oh he loves it he's been on this race for decades paul's been on this well you've been on the race some of you for five years two years some of you 10 or 20 years whatever i have finished the race i kept the faith he doesn't mean he's he kept you know he was born again he means much more than that he means i stayed focused with confidence i kept my confidence in the things i believed in that god told me finally look at verse 8 finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness finally he knows see back at philippians 3 he goes i don't have it yet now it's six or seven years later he goes i know it's mine it's within my reach i have the crown and some people get tripped up on this they go what's the lord will give to me on that day not only to me but to all who love his appearing and then you'll read commentaries he'll say that means it's for everybody most christians i know do not love the idea of the end times his appearing is talking about the whole scenario the word of god talks about of jesus preparing the nations for his entry the whole scenario most christians have no entrance interest in the concept of all that's involved the appearing of the lord most believers do not love his appearing they love their life in their ministry not as appearing that's a troublesome thing to them now the idea if they're appearing means he might show up today and then we all go up they love the idea of an instantaneous rapture but that's not what paul's talking about because there is no rapture that gets us out of the trouble we go through it his appearing is the whole context of preparing the nations for him to come to prepare the nations for the father and it's a heavy duty thing and most believers that i've known over years don't even think about that scenario let alone love it he says to the people who love it and instead of just disappearing because people instantly go to the idea of i would love him to come tonight he may come tonight i assure you he's not coming i guarantee you he's not there's many things that have to happen there's a clear biblical plan there's a scenario that has to be unfolded not that i grasp it all but there's some big things you can't miss and jesus is saying do paul saying if you love the whole scenario the whole plan of god in jesus returning to the earth to disrupt the nations if you are totally committed to that and you love it you'll have this crown because you will be a person of unusual dedication and focus and vigor towards the lord well i'll give you one more since we're at the end verse eight i mean h have the worship team come up look what paul prays in h he tells the thessalonians he goes when he comes in that day he'll be glorified in his saints look at verse 11 therefore pray always that our god therefore we pray always for you that our god would count you worthy of the calling now paul's praying that god would count them worthy he's not praying that god would count them worthy of being forgiven of their sins he's talking that god would strengthen them so that god would see their obedience they would be counted worthy of the calling they will have when the second coming comes he's talking about the calling that is released at the time of the second coming beloved did you know you have a calling that's bigger than your calling on your 70 years on the earth you have a thousand year assignment coming after the 70 year assignment do you know you got another assignment after the thousand years i don't know much about that one but i know a little bit about the thousand year assignment and we got an eternal assignment coming after the thousand years and you know that there's some people that won't be counted worthy by god they'll be forgiven they'll be in heaven but they won't be counted faithful by god to enter into their calling in the age to come amen