this Sunday, I'm going to preach
in College Grove, Saturday and Sunday actually, and Aaron's
going to preach here in the morning, and Donnie Bell will be here
Sunday night. I've entitled this message, Rewards. Rewards. You can see where I
got that title. For whosoever shall give you
a cup of water to drink in my name, Because you belong to Christ,
verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Now, this man is giving a cup
of cold water for Christ's sake, because you belong to Christ.
And the Lord says with regard to this man, he's not going to
lose his reward. Now, what does that mean? Now, notice it says, whosoever
shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name. Now, everything
we do, we do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what
do I mean by that? If I pray, I pray, Lord, hear
this prayer for his namesake. I have no other reason as to
why this prayer would be heard, only that Christ would present
it to you. Acting in his name is a repudiation
of all personal merit. I'm coming only in the name of
Christ. I love the scripture. I quote
it so often. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. Now, everything the Lord does
for us is His response to His Son. That's who we're resting
in. That's what we're resting in.
Everything God has for the sinner, he gives for Christ's sake. And notice again in this verse
of scripture, for whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink
in my name, because you belong to Christ. That's the motive,
because you belong to Christ. Motive is everything. Let me
read a couple of scriptures. Would you turn to Luke chapter
14, verse 12? Then said he also to them that
bathed him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not
thy friends, nor thy kinsmen, nor thy brethren. nor thy rich
neighbors, lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense
be made to thee. If I scratch your back, you'll
scratch mine. That's the motive. But now make us to feast, call
the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be
blessed, for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed
at the resurrection of the just. One other scripture, turn to
Colossians 3. Verse 23, And whatsoever ye do,
doesn't matter what it is, whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the
Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive
the reward of the inheritance. Now, this reward is an inheritance. It's because of your connection
with somebody else, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll receive
the reward of inheritance. Now, what is the reward of every
believer? I said that wrong. Who is the
reward of every believer? The Lord said to Abraham, I am
thy shield. And I am by exceeding great reward. Now, what could you add to that? What could you do that would
make that better? Christ himself is my reward. I am my beloved's and he is mine. Now quite often, And quite erroneously,
when religious people speak of rewards, they speak of DIFFERENT
rewards that'll be handed out on Judgment Day according to
your own personal obedience here on Earth. As a matter of fact,
I actually had a preacher of a Reformed Baptist church tell
me my enjoyment of Heaven will be in direct accordance to my
personal obedience here on Earth. That is how I will enjoy heaven. Abraham and Lot. Abraham and Lot. Big difference
between those two men as far as what we can see in there.
Abraham, the father of the faithful. Lot, a seemingly worldly Man, there wasn't very much about
Lot, if you would look at his life, that you would be encouraged
about. There are believers that are
a discouragement. There are believers that are
an encouragement. That's just so, you know that.
Now, does that mean that Abraham is gonna get a higher reward
in heaven than Lot? You know, our flesh thinks, yeah, Yeah! But that is contrary to the Scripture. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
20, a very familiar passage where this is dealt with. For the kingdom of heaven is
likened to a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning
to hire laborers in his vineyard. And when he'd agreed with the
laborers for a penny a day, he sent them out into his vineyard.
And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing
idle in the marketplace. I guess they were too lazy to
get up to 6 o'clock. And they didn't show up till 9 o'clock.
And here they are standing idle, seeing what might be in it for
them. Maybe they were hoping nobody would hire them, but they
felt a responsibility to be out there. So there they are at night.
And he said, go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever
is right. Don't miss that. whatsoever is
right, I'll give you." And they went their way and he went about
the six hour. Noon, where'd these fellows been? I guess they'd been in bed and
didn't get up to 11 o'clock and got there at 12. Three, what
have these guys been doing all day? But he hired them, there
they were. And then about the 11th hour,
verse six, He went out and found others standing idle, and he
saith unto them, why stand ye all the day idle? And they said,
because no man has hired us. He saith unto them, go ye also
into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right. Same thing he said
to the eleven-hour workers. Whatsoever is right, that shall
you receive. So when evening was come, the
lord of the vineyard saith unto his stewards, call the labors,
give them their hire. Now that higher is the same word
that's translated reward in our text, higher. Give the laborers
their hire, beginning from the last into the first. And when
they came that were hired about the 11th hour, they received
every man a penny. It's what he said was right. Verse 10, but when the first
came, they supposed that they would have received more Wouldn't
you make that supposition with regard to yourself? I would.
He worked an hour. I worked 12 hours. What was he
doing all day? How come he didn't get here till
5 o'clock at night, 5 o'clock in the evening? And here I am
being at it ever since 6 in the morning. They supposed they would
receive more. And they likewise received every
man a penny. They got the exact same thing. And it was right. God always
gives what is right. And when they'd received it,
they murmured against the good man of the house saying, these
that have wrought but one hour. And thou hast made them equal
unto us, which have borne the burden and the heat of the day.
We see what they thought about their master service. It was
a burden. They didn't enjoy it. People
who are working for a living like this with the Lord never
do. They're doing what they think they have to do. But he answered
one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not
thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is and go thy
way, and I'll give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it
not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is I not
evil because I'm good? So the last should be first and
the first last for many called, but few are chosen. We have a
very similar story in 1 Samuel chapter 30, where Ziklag is raided. David goes off with 600 men to
get his wife back. and their goods back. The Amalekites
had taken everything. And so they go after them, and
when they're after them, 200 of the men were too faint. They
couldn't even ford the creek. They were just tired. They said,
we're going to have to stand back. So the other 400 went after
them, and they recovered everything. They recovered all their wives,
all their children, all their spoils, and they got the riches
of the Amalekites too. They came back very wealthy.
And they come back and the scripture says, all the sons of Belial. You know who they are? All the
sons of the wicked one. These people were bad people.
They said what would come natural. We get all the spoils, they get
none because They didn't do anything. We did everything. Maybe they
didn't take care of themselves, and here they were in such bad
shape, they couldn't get across the creek. We could, and we deserve
the spoils. David said, nope, everybody gets
the exact same thing. And this was a memorial in Israel
forever. forever. Read it when you get
a chance this week. 1 Samuel chapter 30. So the Bible
is very clear upon this subject of handing out rewards based
on, I mean, how many different rewards are there? Those must
be millions. I mean, this person gave 10%, this person gave 50%
of his effort. Another person gave 99%. You've
got all these different rewards to hand out. Now, you know, that's,
Ridiculous is about all I can say about that. That's ridiculous.
Somebody believe in something like that. Do you actually think
you deserve a reward? Do you think that? You know,
I hope you get one if you do. Do you deserve one though? Absolutely
not. I know I don't deserve any reward.
You know, when we've done all we can, we're supposed to say,
I'm an unprofitable servant. You know what that word unprofitable
means? Worthless. Worthless. That is every believer's
view of themselves. They don't believe they have
a reward coming, some kind of reward for their particular obedience. And as far as that goes, so do
you want to be exalted above your brother in Christ? You want
to be up here and he's down there and you can look at him and say,
huh, if you would have been as obedient to me, you'd have this
reward I had, but you weren't. Why? That's contrary to love. And let me tell you what it's
really contrary to. It's contrary to the reward. I am thy shield. I am thy exceeding
great reward. And are you going to add the
foul ditch water of something you've done and add that to him
and think, I'm going to get better out of this? Well, it's ridiculous,
isn't it? It's ridiculous. So I realize that men abuse,
well, what it is, it's works in grace clothing. Somebody says,
well, I don't believe you can earn justification, that's by
grace, but your position on glory will be determined by your life
here on earth. That's works in grace clothing,
nothing else. And that being said, the Bible
has a whole lot to say about rewards. In the Lord's first
sermon, Sermon on the Mount, turn with me there. Verse 12, Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven. Chapter 6, Take heed that you
do not your own before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you
have no reward of your father, which is in heaven. Therefore,
when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets, that they may
have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. Verse four, thine alms may be
in secret, and thy father which seeth in himself shall reward
thee openly. Look at the last phrase of verse
five, speaking of the hypocrites who pray to be seen of men, they
have their reward. But that person who truly prays
in secret, thy father would see it in secret, last phrase shall
reward thee openly. There's so much references throughout
this chapter to rewards. Look in Matthew chapter 10, verse
41. He that receiveth a prophet in
the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he that
receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall
receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink
unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in
the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no
wise lose his reward. Now we have a reward mentioned
three times in that passage of Scripture. Now, I realize that
your average religious person say, see, there's three different
rewards. I mean, you got a gold reward for the prophet, you got
a silver reward for the righteous man, and then the bronze reward
goes to the person who just gives the cup of cold water. There's
one reward, never forget that, there's only one reward, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the prophet's reward, he's
the righteous man's reward, and he is the reward of that person
who gave a cold cup of water. Now this word reward is also
translated wages and hire. It's you being paid for what
you personally have done. The wages of sin is death. Same word. The wages of sin is
death. God will pay his debts, and the
wages of sin is death. When the Lord of the Vineyard
came to the 12-hour workers, And the one-hour worker, he said,
call them and give them their hire, give them their reward,
give them their wages. And what about that one-hour
worker? He said, he's going to receive
what is right. The reward of God is always that
which is right. Matthew 16, 27 says, For the
Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with all
his holy angels, and he shall reward every man according to
his works. Is that what he said? You will
get exactly according to your works. God will pay you what
you have coming. No partiality. No favoritism. Everybody will be rewarded according
to their works. Revelation 22, 12, And behold,
I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man
according as his work shall be. You and I will be rewarded according
to our works. You're familiar with that passage
of scripture, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Verse 10, we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Now, if I'm rewarded by God,
I'm not rewarded and treated as if I never sinned, although
I really did. I'm rewarded because I never
sinned. I'm given exactly what I deserve. Now listen to this scripture,
1 John 4, verse 17, as he is. Did he ever sin? No, no. He never sinned. He kept God's
law perfectly. He never had a sinful thought.
He never had a sinful motive. He never had a sinful desire.
He loved God with all his heart and soul and strength and mind
and might, and he loved his neighbors himself. As he is, not so will we be, But as he
is, so we are, present tense, in this world. You see, God has made a way to
be just and to justify the ungodly. It's called the gospel. The gospel
makes it what my Lord did on Calvary Street. He made it to
where I've never sinned. That's what justification is.
I have never sinned. You see, Christ bore my sin.
Christ put it away. He made it to be gone, and I
receive the things done in my body, and they're all good. That
is the work of Christ in behalf of his people. Now, I was talking
about Abraham and Lot. If you didn't have the New Testament
account of Lot, you know what you'd think? You'd think he wasn't
saved. That's what you'd think. You'd
think this guy couldn't have been saved. You'd read his account,
you'd read his decisions, and he made some terrible decisions,
he did some terrible things. And you would say, this guy couldn't
be saved. I mean, at the level of his disobedience,
even lingering in Sodom, not wanting to leave and having to
be pulled and yanked out, his drunkenness with his daughters,
the incest, he was a mess. He was a mess. What does God, the Holy Spirit,
testify concerning this man? Just lot. Now that just means
not just one or just, no, that's justified. Just lot. That righteous man. His righteous soul. That is God's testimony of every
believer. When you're brought into heaven,
God's gonna say to you, Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Everything you've ever done has
been pleasing to me. Enter thou in to the joy of thy
Lord. Every believer is righteous. Now, understand this about the
blood of Christ. The blood of Christ is not a
whitewash covering. You know what whitewashing is,
is when the dirt's still there and you just put the paint over
it and can't see it, but it's still there. It's still there. Can't be denied, it's still there.
You might not be able to see it, but it's still there. But
the blood of Christ makes it to where there's no sin there.
Now, turn with me to Romans chapter four. Romans chapter 4, verse 4. Now to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If salvation is
by works, that means your reward is God's payment to you for your
good deeds. But what about this reckoning
of grace? This accounting of grace? Now, we're there in Romans
chapter 4. Let me tell you what this looks
like. Verse 6. Now, remember, this
is a quotation from Psalm 32, 1 and 2. And David wrote this
Psalm down after the event with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. This is when he wrote this down. Paul says in verse six, even
as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom
God imputeth righteousness without words. And that's the reckoning
of grace. And here's what it is, saying,
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now your sin is most real. My
sin is most real. Well, I thought you said it was.
No, I'm not saying I wasn't. I heard a preacher say recently,
you ought not ever feel guilty about your sin. I don't get it. I mean, David felt guilty when
he wrote Psalm 51, didn't he? I mean, he felt remorse over
his sin and so on. And yeah, you ought to feel remorse
over your sin. I ought to feel remorse over
my sin. But the point is, all the things
that I'm guilty of, they're all true, they're all real. God didn't
charge me with them. He charged them to his son. They
became his. Now that's the reckoning of grace. My sin became his sin. He took
my place. His righteousness becomes mine. Every believer knows the reward
is the reward of pure, free grace. You know, if you're enabled to
be By his grace, more of an encouraging believer than another is. Do
you pat yourself on the back? No, you're more of a greater
debtor to grace than he is. Our song is always, oh, we just
sang it, oh, to grace. How great a debtor, daily, I'm
constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works. Aren't
you thankful it's that way? Not of works. Lest any man should
boast, not of works. As it's written, the elder shall
serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob by thy
love, what grace. Jacob have I loved." That's a
gracious love. It's a reckoning according to
grace. And there is no reward apart
from faith. Speaking of the Word of God,
David said in Psalm 19, 11, By them is thy servant warned, and
in keeping of them there is great reward. I'd like you to turn
with this scripture. This is not something we turn
to very often, but turn to Proverbs 24. Verse 14. So shall the knowledge
of wisdom be into thy soul. What is the knowledge of wisdom?
The gospel. The gospel of Christ. So shall the knowledge of wisdom
be into thy soul. And when thou hast found it,
then there shall be a reward. And thy expectation shall not
be cut off. Now, faith is expectation, isn't
it? It's a confident expectation. I've got an expectation that
on judgment day, I'm going to be perfectly received and stand
before God without guilt, and I have an expectation that everything
that happens between now and then is working together for
my good and His glory. All of it. All of it. And what
a reward that is, just to know that. The expectation of faith,
the gratification of faith. Hebrews 10.35 says, cast not
away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. What's our confidence? That everything
God requires of me, he looks to Christ for. That's my confidence. You take that away, I don't have
any confidence, but that's my confidence. Isn't there great
reward of peace and joy in believing that? Knowing that all God requires
of you, he looks to his Son for." Now turn with me to Luke chapter
6. Luke chapter 6. We read about rewards here. Verse 27. But I say unto you which hear,
love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Bless them that curse you. And pray for them which despitefully
use you. And unto him that smiteth thee
on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh
away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every
man that asks of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods.
Ask them not again. And as you would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if you love them
which love you, what thank have ye? And that's the word grace.
Where's the grace in that? For sinners also love those that
love them. And if you do good to them, which do good to you,
What thank have ye? For sinners also do even the
same. And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive,
what thank have you? For sinners also lend to sinners
to receive as much again, but love your enemies and do good
and lend hoping for nothing again and your reward. There we have that word. Your
reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the
highest, for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Be ye therefore merciful, as your father also is merciful. Judge not. You know what the
reward for that is? You shall not be judged. That's
a good reward, isn't it? Condemn not. What's the reward
for that? You shall not be condemned. Forgive. What's the reward for that? You
shall be forgiven. Give. What's the reward for that? It shall be given unto you, good
measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over shall
men give unto your bosom for the same measure that you meet
with all it shall be measured to you again. Now, It's better
to forgive than not to forgive. The reward's in forgiving. It's
better. It's better to give than to not
give. You can't out give God. These are the actions of the
new nature that God has put in you. If you do any of these things,
it's Christ in you. Don't you know that so? It's
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And he gives you the grace to
do this and reward you for doing it with the joy of doing it.
What a blessed reward this is in following Christ. Somebody
says, well, what about gaining and losing rewards? The Bible
says something about that. Okay, turn with me to 1 Corinthians
3. Verse 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, For other foundation can no man
lathe, and that is lathe, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man
build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood,
hay, and stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest for
the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire
and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which
is built there on, he'll receive a reward. There's the word. If
any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he
himself shall be saved. yet so as by fire." Now, in the
context, Paul is talking about preachers. He said, here's the
foundation, Jesus Christ. Now, you can use gold, silver,
and precious stones, the gospel, wood, hay, and stubble, anything
that's not the gospel. I've seen preachers who I think,
I wouldn't say they don't know the Lord, but the foundation
they're building is built upon church growth and all that kind
of stuff, and the gospel gets lost. And he says that person
who's built on gold, precious stones, their work will abide. the one who has wood, hay, and
stubble, they're gonna suffer loss. Do you know what that means?
They're gonna see, and it's a day, it's not in heaven. It's not
on judgment day. They're gonna see right now that everything
they did, not one person was saved from it. Not one person
had the gospel revealed. Now that's, I don't know how
else to interpret that, but he talks about being rewarded, and
what is the reward? Seeing folks who believe the
gospel. What is the not reward? Seeing that not one person believed
who you, when you quote, built your ministry, it's an offensive
thing. And that's what he seems to be
saying. Look in 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9. I had somebody write me about
this recently. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to
glory of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me
if I preach not the gospel. Now, what he means by that is
if I don't preach the gospel, I'll be damned. That's exactly
what he means. Woe unto me if I preach not the
gospel. That scares me to death. I don't
want to be somebody who does not preach the gospel. Verse 17, for if I do this thing
willingly, I have a reward. There's the word. If I preach
the gospel willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will,
A DISPENSATION OF THE GOSPEL IS COMMITTED UNTO ME. I HAVE
TO PREACH IT ANYWAY, EVEN IF I HAVE A WRONG, ROTTEN ATTITUDE,
I'M STILL MADE TO DO THIS. Now look at verse 18. WHAT IS
MY REWARD THEN? WHAT IS MY REWARD? Verily that
when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without
charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. That's the reward.
The reward for obedience is obedience. And he gives you the grace to
obey. If you obey, he's giving you the grace to obey. And the
reward is, I didn't abuse my charge. I didn't abuse my power
in the gospel. That is the reward. Now, this thing of reward, there
is verily a reward for the righteous in there. The reward is Christ
himself. What a blessed thing. Christ himself. And it's, The
reward of perfect righteousness. Because of what Christ has done
for me, I deserve this reward. It's the reward of grace. It's
a reward that comes through faith. And it is better. Everybody knows
this. There's reward in forgiving,
isn't there? You feel better. You feel better. It's a blessing. There's a reward
in being merciful. There's a reward in being generous.
This is not talking about trying to earn certain brownie points
and favors. That's not it at all. Somebody
wants to say that's legalism. Well, no, it's not. No, it's
not. There's verily a reward for the
righteous. And I want to be faithful in
preaching the gospel. I don't want to build on wood,
hay, and stubble. And that's scary, isn't it? The
Lord talks about those who build on wood, hay, and stubble. It
says all their works are going to be burned. And he says they'll
be saved. Now, he said that. I would look
at those people and say, well, they're probably not saved. But
Paul said, they'll be saved. They believe the gospel. But
so as by fire, they're going to see all their works burned
up. And I don't want to see that. I want the people I preach to
to be people that the Lord has saved and not people that were,
quote, built under my perceived ministry, which was nothing but
wood, hay, and stubble. May the Lord enable us to seek
His reward, not the way religion does. But I'm so thankful that
I know that the reward I have, I deserve it. And it's because
of Jesus Christ the Lord. Let's pray.