Resurrection And The Judgement

But moving down through 2 Corinthians. I'm oftentimes sobered when I prepare and study and on Sunday morning, it's just sobering. It's good for me.

I'm glad that I have opportunities to share because it helps me to be in the word more and to be corrected and to be admonished. And so this morning, this message can be a very sobering one for all of us. And I trust that you allow your heart to be to be sobered.

Let me give you a little bit of review. We're in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'm going to look at verse 6 down through verse 11 here in just a minute. But we've been following this old covenant, new covenant comparison.

And we've seen how that even though Moses in the presence of God got those tablets with the commandments on that and his face shown in glory, we have a greater glory. And that glory is found here in chapter 3 verse 18. It says that we all with an open face beholding as in the glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord.

We have this, the Holy Spirit within us and the Holy Spirit is able to bring out of us a glory, a brightness, a shining and a beautiful promise here in the New Testament. That glory comes because we looked at chapter 4 verse 7 because we have this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. So you have a treasure in an earth and vessel, your physical body.

And that treasure is able to bring forth the glory. And then we talked about in verse 8, 9, 10 and 11, we need to be broken. Remember I brought a vessel up here and we broke the vessel that the light could shine out of that vessel.

And so he talks about here in verse 10, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus inside you might be made manifest in and through our bodies. We have to go through affliction. We have to be willing to bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.

And then last time, which is about two or three weeks ago, last time we moved into the idea of a resurrection. I mean, why would anybody bear about in their body the dying of the Lord Jesus if there's no hope after life? Why would we do that? Paul said, we're men most miserable if we live this life of suffering and persecution and we're hated by the world if there's nothing afterwards. Hey, if there's nothing afterwards, there's no resurrection.

Let's eat, drink and be married. Tomorrow we're going to die. So he talked about the tabernacle that we have, this building made that's going to corrupt, but we're groaning for a new house which is from heaven.

And I spent a lot of time last time on verse 3, if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. Naked. We're going to talk a little bit more about that here today, what it means to be naked.

But oftentimes when the Bible refers to the resurrection and a new body, it also mentions judgment. And whenever you see resurrection, that resurrection is to judgment. That resurrection is leading into judgment.

Revelation chapter 20 talks about the dead rising at the great white throne judgment. We'll look at it here in just a minute. And that resurrection is for judgment.

That their works would be tried and their eternal destiny would be established. And so resurrections lead to judgment. And here this morning, Paul is going to move right down into this idea of judgment.

Some are going to be judged to everlasting life. Some will be judged to everlasting damnation. So I'm going to read here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And we're going to take five verses and look at them.

Let's pray before we do. Heavenly Father, we bow our hearts this morning before you and your word. And we acknowledge, Lord, the sobriety of your word and the authority that is in it.

And that someday, as we're going to see, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. To God. And Lord, may that reality impress upon our hearts.

The need to fear, to tremble before you and to set our life in order. And to be prepared for this resurrection that is coming. Lord, bless our morning here this morning.

As we open up your word, we invite your spirit here to help us. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, I'm going to read 2 Corinthians chapter 5, starting in verse number 6. Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.

Now, yes, the Lord is in us and his spirit is in us. But we are absent from him in the sense that we're not able to see him. We're not able to walk with him in the sense of holding hands and communicating.

Like we are going to be someday when we have a new body and we'll see him face to face. Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Therefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we might be accepted or may be accepted of him.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. I want to just impress that upon you this morning. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

That everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. Well, I'm going to try to do that here this morning.

Persuade men and to encourage you to ponder. I believe the Bible is the truth and I believe these words here are the truth. And so with every resurrection, when you get a new body, a new house, with every resurrection comes a judgment.

And I believe that when the Lord resurrects his people, when the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, that those who are his are coming up out of the grave. Those who are alive will be caught up. We've talked about that.

And we'll meet the Lord in the air and we will face at that time a judgment. It's called here the judgment seat of Christ. The judgment seat of Christ.

Romans chapter 14 verse 10 says, But why didst thou judge thy brother? Or why didst thou set it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Why are you in the business of judging your brother? Listen, your brother is going to stand before the judge of all the earth. You're not the judge.

Why do you judge your brother? And so there is this thing called the judgment seat of Christ. It's mentioned actually two times in Romans here and in 2 Corinthians. But I want to share something because many people's minds are a little confused on this subject.

There are two judgments associated with resurrections. And I'd like you to hold your finger here and turn to Revelation chapter number 20. And I'm going to read a passage here that deals with another resurrection.

And I want to take some time here to explain and read this passage. In Revelation chapter 20 starting in verse number one, this is after the return of Christ. Revelation 19.

And in Revelation 20 verse 1, it says this, And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. Now, I know a lot of people have a problem with that thousand year idea and all of that.

But I do know this. The angel is going to come down. He's going to grab the devil.

He's going to chain the devil. He's going to cast the devil into a bottomless pit. I mean, we agree with that.

We can all agree to that. And he's going to bind him, says here, for a thousand years. Verse 3, And cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled.

And after that, he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded.

These are people who are dead or died for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, when which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. And they live. They live.

Now, he saw the souls of them, these who had been martyred, these who had already died, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Verse 5, But the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Now, that's important. This is the first resurrection. And so what's going to happen when the Lord Jesus comes? Those who are saved are going to be caught up and they're going to meet the Lord in the air.

This is the first resurrection. All of God's people. And they will live and reign with Christ for a thousand years.

That's what we're told there. They'll live and reign with the Lord for a thousand years. Look at verse number 5. But the rest of the dead, that's the unconverted, lived not again until the thousand years were finished.

So you have this resurrection, the saved, the first resurrection, those that reign with Christ. And at the end of that thousand years, the rest of the dead, the unconverted, are also going to be raised up and they're going to face judgment. Verse 6, Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection.

Do you want to be part of the first resurrection? Happy and holy are people who have part in the first resurrection. When the Lord Jesus comes. If you miss that one, you're in trouble.

You're in trouble. You only got one other resurrection and it's not going to be a pretty one. We're going to see here in just a minute.

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such the second death. This here is, this resurrection is called the second death.

On such the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. So listen to this.

When you get resurrected here and you meet the Lord in the air, you don't have to worry about this one coming. It has no power over you. The second death.

Verse 7, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth and they compassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city and fire came down from God out of heaven. And devoured them.

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. Now here's the next resurrection. This is the resurrection of the dead.

And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, excuse me, small and great stand before God.

And the books were open. And another book was open. So dead people stand before God.

And the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.

And they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

A resurrection to death, not to life. This is a second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

So you have a resurrection here when Jesus comes. Those are judged and they're given rewards. And we're going to look at that judgment this morning.

But I want to clarify which judgment we're talking about. We'll talk about this judgment this morning. But after the resurrection of the just, there will be a thousand year period.

And then the dead, the lost, are going to be raised. And they're going to face also judgment. So everyone here, make it practical, is going to be raised up and stand at one or the other judgment.

You're either going to be at the judgment seat of Christ when Jesus returns. Or you're going to be at the great white throne judgment when the thousand years are expired. And that's pretty simple there from what we're told.

So there's two judgments. The living and the dead. Jesus said some will be raised to life and others to eternal damnation.

But here, going back to 2 Corinthians, just to clarify, here we're talking about the judgment seat of Christ. People have said it this way. Here's the judgment seat of Christ.

This is the great white throne judgment. Two different judgments. Two different resurrections.

And two different destinies for those who face this judgment. So Paul, in 2 Corinthians, is going to address this one here. The saved.

And the judgment that they are going to face. So let's walk down through here. And I want to bring out a few things here.

Look at verse number 8 with me. We are confident. Are you confident today? Are you confident to know that you're going to be resurrected? And you're going to stand before the Lord in peace? Are you confident? He says, we are confident, I say, and willing.

I want to talk about that for a minute. Willing. Willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Are you today willing and desirous to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord? You know, so many people today are trying to hold on to life. They're trying to find ways to live as long as they possibly can. But you find in the Bible, Paul's attitude was not that way.

He said, for me to live is Christ, but to die is what? It's gain. In other words, he looked forward to getting out of this world. So many people today are trying to hold on to life.

They're trying to hold on to this world. And I'll tell you why they're trying to hold on to this world. It's because they love this present world.

They love this present system. They love their husband. And that's okay to love your husband.

I'll show you this in a minute. They love their wife. They love their children.

They love their grandchildren. And to think of them leaving this world and leaving those loves behind is something that they don't desire. You know, newly married right up here in the front.

You know, a new baby. You know, Jesus said, whoever loves wife and children, father and mother, brother and sister more than me is not worthy of me. It's not worthy of me.

And so when you think about our loves, you know, it ought to be this way. Lord, you know, I love my wife. And Lord, I love my children.

Lord, I love the brethren. But you know, Lord, I love you more than all of them. And I would much rather come to be with you than to stay here.

Even though I love them, I love you more. You know, the truth of matter is, most of us, it's I love you less. And I'd like to stay here.

And I'm going to do everything I can to hang on to life here as long as I possibly can. So how many of us, a challenge for all of us, I think is, how many of us view death as a game? As a game. And are we willing and desirous to leave this world and to go to the one we truly love? You know, you can imagine the Lord there in heaven and, hey, it's time for you to come up.

Oh, I don't want to come up to you. I want to stay here with these people I love. Oh, you love them more than me.

Now, I think we're going to love the people here. We'll love our wives and husbands and children. Don't get me wrong.

But if you love them more than me, you're not worthy of me. Amen. That's what he said.

I'm just here to teach the Bible. So Paul, he was one who took up a cross. He lived a very difficult life.

He suffered. And to go and to be with Christ was gain. Many live an easy, comfortable life, a pleasant life.

And to leave it, to go to be with Christ is not gain. Nor are they even willing. And so many people today are trying to save life.

And I realize there's challenges there. You're young. You're getting married.

You have children. And all these wonderful things. But never let those things take the place of your affection for the Lord Jesus.

We ought to say, I love Him more. Let me give you Paul's statement in Philippians 1. He said this regarding his own life. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

But if I live in the flesh, that's here, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, I want not. For I am in a strait betwixt two.

I'm in a strait. I want to go and to be with Christ. But I want to stay to help you people.

He says, I am in a strait betwixt two, having the desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. You believe that? Far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

So that's someone who is spiritually minded. Someone who has true faith in the Lord. And I want to go.

It's far better up there with Him than to be here. And so just those thoughts to get us started here when we think about resurrection and judgment. Verse number nine.

Let me read eight again. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him.

Whether I go, Paul is saying, or whether you go, or whether you stay, we labor that we might be accepted of Him. Now, this passage here, this verse, has a lot of meaning to me. Because probably 15 or 20 years ago, I was studying the Bible.

And I came to this passage. And I thought, no, wait a minute here. I thought we were accepted by His grace.

You know, this seems to go contrary to this idea of I'm accepted by the grace of the Lord. Ephesians chapter one says, He has made us accepted in the beloved by His grace. And here it reads that we labor that we might be accepted of Him.

Now, that troubled me. And anytime I get into the study, and I look at something that troubles me, I start looking into it. I want to make sure everything fits here.

And there's something, this was troubling. I have to labor to be accepted of Him. I thought I was accepted of Him by His grace.

So I looked up the word accepted. And here's where I, this has happened a couple of times in my study, previous study times. But these are two different Greek words.

And they're all translated the same English word, accepted. And if you don't understand what's behind that word accepted, that's translated word, then you won't understand what is trying to be taught here. And so I believe we ought to do some study.

I'm not going to go into a deep study here. But in Ephesians chapter one, six, it talks about being accepted by His grace. That word accepted means something that is freely bestowed upon someone.

Accepted by my free grace. You are accepted in the beloved by my free grace. And that's what it says there in Ephesians.

But here, this word is different in 2 Corinthians chapter four. And it means to be well-pleasing, to be well-pleasing. Jesus said, I do always those things that please my father.

And so actually, how we should read this is, wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, we may be well-pleasing to him. And anybody knows this. My children, they are a mahor because they were born into my family.

But that doesn't mean they always please me. And they ought to strive to be well-pleasing to their father and mother. But I don't accept them.

I don't make them mahors of my children because they're well-pleasing. They are my children because they were born into the family. And so we are accepted by his grace.

We're born into the family of God. But we please him when we do right. And we, as it says here, we labor for him.

Verse number nine says this, wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. Now, I like to share with you what I believe is the truth. And you've heard me say this before.

But there's going to be a judgment coming. You're all going to stand. I'm going to stand there.

And it's going to be on the basis of, it says here, wherefore we labor. Amen? We labor. We labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

The pleasing is found in labor. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Now, we see this throughout the Bible.

As soon as Paul gets converted, what's the first thing that comes out of his mouth? What do you want me to do? Right? And the Lord says, here's what I've got for you to do. I've got a work for you to do. And here's where I want you to start.

And immediately, he's at the work. But notice verse nine. It says, wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

Do you know that God has saved you in large part, not only to redeem you, but to put you to work. Amen. To put us to work.

You know, the Baptists used to say it this way. I like this saying, win them, wet them, and work them. You know what wet them is, get baptized.

Win them, wet them, and work them. And that's a good concept. God has saved us to work us.

And so someday you're going to stand before God. And you're going to be judged based on your work, your labor. What you did for the Lord.

Now, I realize there's two types of labor. And I know we get these oftentimes mixed up. But there's labor of the hands.

There's labor that we ought to do to provide for our families. And if any man provides not for his own, he's worse than an infidel. And it is our responsibility to labor, working with our hands.

That we might have to give to them that have need. But there's also another labor. I will call it the labor of the Lord.

Laboring in the Lord's work. And that deals with His people. It deals with His church.

Laboring in the work of the Lord. Now, keep this in mind. If when God set the principle of a husband should be a provider, that principle covers every culture.

It covers the unconverted. It is like don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie. Those are principles that cover every man.

So if you're here today and you're a man, you ought to provide for your family. Amen. And God said it.

And if you're a Muslim, you ought to provide, man. If you're an atheist, you ought to provide. It's a principle of God that the man, the husband, believer or unbeliever, should provide for his family.

However, you are the only ones that can labor for the Lord. The Muslim can't. The atheist can't.

And our labor that we do for Him, it says here, is what's going to cause us to be accepted or pleasing to Him. Now, there's an Old Testament concept. And I think many people are dragging that concept into the New Testament.

In the Old Testament, there were these people called Levites or priests. And they are the ones that did the service of the Lord, the temple, the house of God. And everybody else could go off and do their own business.

But when the New Testament comes, things change. The New Testament makes not only one tribe priest. Guess how many of us are priests? We're all priests.

Peter says we're a holy priesthood. So there is no special group. There is no special tribe.

There is no special position. But all of us are to be priests. Revelation 1, 6 says, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God.

So you've been washed in the blood of Jesus. You're not only a king, but you're also a priest. You're a Levite, a spiritual Levite, attending to the house of God.

And this has been a problem in the church for years. Like, well, that's the preacher's job. That's the clergy.

You know that word. You don't find clergy in the Bible. That's the clergy.

We pay them. They do this work. And we, we don't do much of anything.

But that's not biblical. That's caused a lot of problems in the church. Every one of us are priests unto God.

It's a new covenant reality. And so if you look here at verse number nine, wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, we might be accepted of him. For we must all, every one of us, appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

Are you, question this morning, application. Are you, are you being pleasing to him? Well, you know, when Paul writes this letter, he said, I, I, I, I labor that whether present, I go to be with him or absent, I'm still here. I may be accepted or pleasing to him.

Are you being pleasing to him because of your labor? Think in your mind for just a minute. What's your labor in the kingdom of God? What's your labor? What are you laboring in? I know we live in a society where labor is oftentimes thought of making money and busy, busy, busy, busy. But what is your labor? What is your labor for the kingdom of God? What are you doing for his kingdom? Jump over here to, and we're going to see this more in chapter five, but look over to verse 17.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.

And it's given to us the ministry of reconciliation to it that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself and not imputing their trespasses unto them. And that's committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now, then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us.

We pray you in Christ did be reconciled to God, for he has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Look at verse one of chapter six. We then as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.

You know, we're going to see that here in just a little bit, the grace of God in vain. That God would pour out his grace upon you to get to work and that you would not get to work. You would not do work.

It is God which worketh in you. And that grace, Paul's going to talk about that grace here in just a little bit, but grace. And so God has made you a new creation to make you a minister of reconciliation, to put you into the work.

I don't want you to stand before the Lord that day if we all resurrected up and called up to meet the Lord. We're up there in the clouds and the Lord says, time for judgment, time for the steward to give an account of his stewardship. So here we go one by one.

Don't say to me, brother Jerry, you didn't prepare me for this one. What am I going to be judged on, by the way? Well, is God's grace producing labor in you? It ought to. And I thought about some practical things here, but not to be an advertiser, but you know, we've got many opportunities here to serve.

I think it would be a much better situation here if we had people waiting in line. Waiting in line for a children's lesson. Is it my turn yet? I want to teach.

I want to help. I want to participate. We have young men back there participating in taking care of the tapes.

We have people participating in mowing the grass. We have those who are participating. We're trying to participate here and trying to keep the children, teach the children in the afternoon.

We have a Columbus or had a Columbus minister. We're going to have it again. We have cleanup.

We have all kinds of things here that we can wash the saints feet. I love this idea. Somebody can pick up this idea of taking the young people and finding a work project.

I go driving along, I see a dead tree and wonderful for someone to say, I'm going to gather five or six, ten young people and let's go cut the tree down for free for that individual and take the wood out and bless them. So many opportunities like that. But somebody has to be willing to labor a lot of young people here and looking for opportunities to serve, waiting for a leader, having messages, teaching many things that we could do to edify the body, to wash one another's feet.

And go with me back to first Corinthians in his first letter. He talks about this same thing. First Corinthians chapter three.

First Corinthians chapter three. You hold your finger in second Corinthians. We'll be back there in just a minute.

But first Corinthians, excuse me. Yeah. First Corinthians chapter three.

I'm going to start reading in verse number eight. This is the same context here. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward.

According to his own. What's the next word? Labor. Here's reward and labor.

Every man will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God. You are God's husband or you 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. God's grace was working in me, Paul says. And I came to that church at Corinth.

There was no church there. And I began a church and I preached the word and I taught and I edified and I established a foundation by the grace of God. It wasn't me.

It was the grace of God in me. I laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. Others are building on top of it, edifying the church.

But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. And so this idea of being a laborer. We are laborers together with God.

In his work. So you've heard it here this morning. Someday you're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

If you're a child of God and you'll be judged according to your labor. Your labor. Now flip back with me.

I'm going to come back here to this one. Paul mentions the judgment seat twice in 1 Corinthians once and in 2 Corinthians. But notice what it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. This is something that may trouble some.

In verse number 9, he says, Wherefore, chapter 5, verse 9, Wherefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we would be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad. Now, when I read that, as a young believer, I'm thinking, Oh, boy, looks like the Lord is going to bring my sin back up.

Here we go. And I'm going to be judged about whether or not, you know, all my sins are going to be brought back up. And good or bad, it says, right? It don't sound good, does it? I thought the Lord forgave us.

I thought the Lord cleansed us. I thought he cast our sins into the deepest sea. How is it that I, as a Christian, will stand before God and give an account of all of my sin? Well, I don't believe that's actually what it's teaching us there.

And I want to show you what good and bad is. Because sin is atoned for. And the Bible says that God does not reckon impute sin unto us.

Amen. And when God forgives someone, he forgets. Wouldn't it be awful if the Lord would bring up everything after he said he forgave it? Just like some people do.

They forgive and then they bring it up five years later or 10 years later and keep reminding you of that. But what is good and bad here with reference to their labor? Well, back to 1 Corinthians again, chapter 3. And here's what good and bad represent. Or here's what it means with regards to good and bad.

Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 again. I'm sorry to have to have you turn so much. Verse 11, For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus.

That's being born again. Now, if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones. How many of you think that's good? That's good, right? What's the next three? Wood, hay, stubble.

What do you think that's bad? That's bad. So you have good and bad right here. In this judgment, gold, silver, and precious stones.

That's that which endures the fire. It endures the judgment. God is going to look upon your works.

His eyes are as a flame of fire. He's going to see right through you. He's going to know your motivation.

He's going to know whether your work is of the Spirit of God, or whether it's self-centered, whether there's glory for you or glory for Him. And all that work or labor that you've done, that is not Spirit-led and Spirit-directed, is going to be consumed. Whoa, so much for all that.

And it wasn't gold, silver, and precious stones. It was wood, hay, and stubble. So the Bible says it's going to be both good works, good and bad, the labor.

Now many people labor. There's a lot of laborers. As a matter of fact, Matthew 7 says, many will come to me and say, Lord, I prophesied in your name.

I did many wonderful works. I did so much for you, Lord. He'll say, I didn't even know you.

Jesus said of the Pharisees, he said, all your works you do for to be seen of men. So we can do what we do, all for the wrong purpose. This gets back to the grace of God.

Is it God's grace that's doing the work through you? Brother Eli hadn't been here for a while, but Eli would say, man, it's got to be the Spirit of God. Is the Spirit of God motivating me, or am I motivated by some other source? Is it my selfishness? Do I do what I do to get a name for myself? Do I do what I do to get a position for myself? Do I do what I do to get praise for myself? Many people do. Or do I do what I do truly for the glory of God? Selflessly.

I don't care if I get any glory at all. Jesus said, I do everything to please Him. And that's truly a motivation that comes from the Spirit of the Lord.

In the same book, you don't have to turn there, but in the same book, Paul writes these words, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace, which is bestowed upon me, was not in vain. This is important.

All that God has graced us with. All the power, all the blessing and the gifts. The grace which is bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all.

Yet not I, He acknowledges this, but the grace of God which was with me. It's not me. I'm not the one who's driving this thing.

The Spirit of God, the grace of God is compelling me. Amen. You know, if it's you, you're going to burn out.

If it's the Spirit of God, you won't burn out. Because the Lord never burns out. And so when the judgment comes, the Lord, Bible says in Revelation, is eyes of fire.

He's going to look down through you. You're going to be like, oh, I'm naked. But you see in everything, every motive, every thought, every intent.

He looks right down and says, here's where you actually labored for my glory. Motivated and led by my Spirit. I'm going to give you a reward for that.

And this stuff here that you did for me in my name, it's all self-ambition. It's all selfish. It's all about your own glory.

You had motives that were ungodly. It's bad. So when the Bible says good and bad, it's referring here to gold, silver, and precious stones or wood, hay and stubble.

Verse 13 says, Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire. And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. That's what the issue is.

What is the source of it? What source? 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. So when the Lord raises up His people, and we're called up to meet Him, there's going to be a judgment.

It's called the judgment seat of Christ. The Lord's going to look into each of our hearts. He's going to see our labor.

I don't believe He sees our sin. He'll see our labor, our work, our labor for Him, and we'll get rewarded, basically. But we're going to be judged based upon what we've done in this body.

Are you ready for that one? I mean, I believe it's going to happen. It's the truth. And only those, that's why it's important to walk in the Spirit and not just put on a show of Christianity.

Because that show, if it's a motivation, well, I'm going to just put this show on or this appearance, that all's going to come to nothing. Amen. Amen.

I remember as a young preacher up at Hiles Anderson College, and I still can remember me preaching on the night bus, coming back from Chicago, and I preached on, you know, this passage here about, here you have this semi-truckload. I use the illustration of works for the Lord. Semi-truckload, big.

You know, we were the big church, First Baptist Church, and big events and big crowds. Everything was big. Truckloads.

Yet if it's wood, hay and stubble, it's all going up in flames. Better to have just a little tiny piece of gold that's pure than to have a bunch of labor that ultimately is going to be burned up. So there will be people, it says in verse 15, that will suffer loss.

Oh Lord, you know, I labored for you all those years. Yes, but look at your motivation. You're right, Lord.

And that's why the Bible says every mouth will stop. You're right. I did it because I wanted to date that girl there in the church, and I went there every week because I was seeking after her.

I had a motivation. Oh, I like that guy, and I like that church because there's a guy there. I do what I do to please him and please her or fit in.

That's all wood, hay and stubble. So our reward here is based upon our work and the quality of it. So let's go back to 2 Corinthians and finish up here.

2 Corinthians, again, chapter 5, verse 11. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. Now that's written to the church here.

Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your conscience. The context here is the judgment seat of Christ.

How many of you get a little fearful if you have to stand before your boss? I remember I had to go in when I worked in Indiana. I had to go maybe every six months and have this kind of a report, and I went and sat before the boss, and he'd tell me how I'm doing and what I did good, what I do bad. It made me a little nervous.

To stand before my superior and to give an account for what I was doing. Can you imagine standing before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? You just think about this. Standing before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who laid his life down for you, who gave you everything you needed, and you walk in there and realizing that I blew it.

I just blew it. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. That's an amazing thought to stand before the Lord and say, Lord, you gave me salvation.

You gave me the Spirit of God. You gave me these gifts. You gave me your grace.

You gave me forgiveness. You gave me all these things, and here's what I have to show for it. So knowing the terror of the Lord, I told you, what was it, three months ago, I got picked up with my little scooter and Tommy, and driving in Mount Vernon without a helmet.

I didn't know I was supposed to have a license. I needed a license. I got pulled over by the police.

Tom and I did, and I thought they'd have mercy on me, but they didn't. So I had to go in and talk to the judge, and I sat in there. There's about 20 of us sitting there waiting for the judge to come in.

I was a little nervous. Standing before an earthly judge. I can't imagine sitting in a seat and waiting to stand when the King of Kings comes in, who's done so much for us, and he says, now give an account of your stewardship.

What you've done in your body, whether it be of good quality or bad. So there will be a time when you'll need to give an account of your stewardship. So friends, I have a concern about my stewardship.

Probably you have a concern about yours. Let's make sure that we're ready to give an account for what we've done in our body. How we've labored for the Lord.

And here's something I, again, learned at the Baptist Church. I think it's a good thing. When I was in the Baptist Bible College, if it's something that should be done for the Lord, it should be done the best you can do it.

Would you agree with me on that? I mean, this idea of I'm doing it for the Lord, but I'm giving a half-hearted effort. And we give so much more diligence and effort when it's talking about the mammon, the mighty dollar. We make sure everything is just right, and we plan ahead, and we get it all done according to the rules and regulations, because it has to do with mammon.

But when it comes to the Lord's work, it's like, oh, well, who cares? I'll throw something together. And maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. Is that how you serve the King of kings and Lord of lords? Not at all.

So we should be putting some effort into what we do, and letting the Lord direct us. I want to read one more verse. You don't have to turn there, but it's a verse I just quoted a little bit ago.

Romans chapter 14 says this, 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. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. It's going to happen at both places, saved and lost.

And then the next verse says, So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Young people, you won't be able to say, Dad, Mom, come on over here and take my place and give an account for me. Or brothers, can you help me out here? You're going to have to stand before Him alone.

That's an amazing thought, isn't it? Everyone shall give an account of himself to God. You know, someone once said in the choir of life, you can fake it and get by when you've got a hundred other people singing with you, but someday you're going to have to sing a solo to the Lord. You're going to have to sing a solo.

It's my turn to stand himself. So Paul says, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. I'm here to try to persuade you.

Persuade you. He talks about being clear in his conscience. I want to persuade all of you because I care about your reward.

I not only care about your eternity, but your reward in heaven. You have a reward coming your way, and you want to have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. And so labor.

And I have no doubt that God is working in you to do of his good pleasure. I know many of us want to do our own good pleasure, but we have a lot of opportunities here. There's a lot of opportunities in the world to labor for him and to do his work.

Must I go and empty handed? Must my dear redeemer meet not one soul with which to bring him, not one trophy to lay at his feet, the songwriter said. So let's labor. Yes, I believe sins are gone.

Sins are forgiven. But it's going to be your labor. I want to reward you.

As a matter of fact, I'm working in you to do these things. My spirit is compelling you to labor in the fields, to labor for my people, to wash the saints' feet, and I'm going to reward you for it. So let's be prepared.

How many of you like to get up here and have a solo? Sing. If I called you up here right now, sing a solo. Probably Caleb would enjoy it.

Get up here and sing. I like to sing, but it still makes me real nervous to get up here and sing before anyone. That's why you haven't seen me do it.

It'd be a children's lesson here. But every one of you are going to stand before the Lord, the King of Kings, and you're going to give an account for what you've done in that body of yours, your labor. So let's be sobered by that and think, what can I do, Lord? Not just try to start doing things, but get on your knees and say, Lord, motivate me to will and to do of your good pleasure.

Why don't we all go to our knees here, and we'll have a word of prayer. Maybe Brother Chris, and how about Brother Sean? Brother Chris, you two pray, and then I'll close this. Just let's open up our hearts to the Lord this morning, and we'll have a word of prayer.

Brother Chris, you want to start? Father in heaven, we just humble ourselves here right now before you, Lord. We realize, again, all that you have done for us. Father, how you have equipped us and given us all that we need, Lord God.

And I just pray that I, myself, and each one of us would labor and work for you, Lord God, in a way that is pleasing to you, that we could honor you and bless you and bring glory to you for all these things, Lord God. Work in my heart, Lord. Give me visions and understanding of what you have for me personally.

And do that for each one of us, Lord God, that we can be busy, Lord, about your work and not just about ourselves. Cleanse us from self-centeredness and self-righteousness, Lord, and help us to look to you. Thank you.

Thank you, Lord God, for teaching us today. May we glorify you in this life, we pray in Jesus' name.