Would you turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 9? I've entitled this message. Rewards. Rewards. Let's begin reading
in verse 16. 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. For if I do this
thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will,
A dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. What is
my reward then? 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. rewards. Now Paul says, if I do this thing
willingly, what thing? Preach the gospel. What a privilege of grace to
know the gospel and to preach it. I was thinking while we were
singing those hymns and listening to that special, I was thinking,
we are so blessed. What mercy the Lord has shown
us. What grace. What a blessing to believe the
gospel, to know the gospel, to preach the gospel. Now, Paul
says, if I do this thing willingly because I want to, not simply
because I'm afraid not to, but because I want to, there is a
reward for me in that. And what is that reward? Bigger
crown and glory? Bigger mansion in the sky? No,
everybody in glory is going to have the same reward. You know,
the Lord said to Abraham, behold, I am thy field and thy exceeding
great reward. If Christ himself is your reward,
what could possibly be greater? Now, the reward that he speaks
of is named in verse 15, he says, what is my reward then? Barely,
verse 18, what is my reward then? Barely that when I preach the
gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge that
I abuse not my power in the gospel. Now, the reward for willing obedience
is being enabled to do the right thing. And that is a reward. Oh, the
joy. Of doing what is right. That's
a reward in itself, isn't it? The joy of doing what is right,
the reward for obedience is obedience. Not abusing your privileges in
the gospel, but he says, if I do this thing against my will, I
still have to do it like Jonah, the reluctant prophet. You know,
Jonah did what he did, not so much willingly, but because the
Lord made him to do it. Let me ask you a question. You
take somebody who does something willingly and someone who does
something in a not so willing fashion. Who's going to enjoy
what they're doing the most? Who's going to enjoy the Lord's
blessing the most? That one who does what he does
willingly. Now, you know the answer to that
question. Now, like I said, I want to speak on this subject, rewards. Does the Bible teach that there
are rewards for the believer? Absolutely. Yes, the Bible does
teach that there are rewards for the believer. Now, that does
not mean differing degrees of glory in heaven. That doesn't
mean one person is going to have a better place in heaven than
another person. You know, Matthew Chapter 20
totally destroys that notion. Remember the fellow we preached
on this just a month or two ago? The fellow that worked one hour
was given the same thing as the fellow who worked 12 hours. Now,
our Lord is dealing with that subject at that time. Every believer
gets the same thing in glory, and there's a reason we're saved
the same way, by grace. By grace. Now, that doesn't mean There
are not rewards here on earth. You know, nobody ever seeks the
Lord without some desire for personal benefit. For a reward,
if you will, I read that passage of scripture in Hebrews chapter
11, verse six, he that cometh to God must believe that he is
and that he is a what? A rewarder. Of them that diligently
seek here. If you diligently seek Him, you
will most assuredly be rewarded for that search. And you never
seek the Lord without some desire for personal benefit out of it.
If you didn't think you'd get anything out of it, you wouldn't
do it. Now, maybe you ought to, but you still wouldn't. I know
myself enough to know that if I don't get some kind of benefit
out of this, if there's not some blessing to me, I'm not going
to do it. And really, that's just the way
we're geared. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. Psalm 58, verse 11 says, Verily,
there is a reward for the righteous. Speaking of keeping God's commandments,
David said in Psalm 19, verse 11, in keeping of them, there
is great reward. Now, I'm interested in having
this reward, whatever it is, aren't you? I want this for myself. You know, John warned us about
losing. Not receiving our full reward
is what he said. Not receiving our full reward. Now, whatever
that means, we're going to investigate that in a minute, but I don't
want it to happen to me. Whatever this reward is, I want it, don't
you? Whatever it is, I want the reward
of following the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, before I go on with this,
I want to remind you of a couple of things regarding this thing
of rewards. This reward, you shouldn't be discouraged. This
reward is a reward of grace. Always, this reward is a reward
of grace. Now, don't let that leave your
thinking. When we talk about rewards, we
have a tendency to naturally think about earning something
and merit and so on. That's just the way we think. This is a reward
of grace. Let me show you this in Scripture.
Turn to Romans, Chapter 4. Romans, Chapter 4. Verse 1, what shall we say, then,
that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath
found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to
glory. But not before God. For what
saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was candid
unto him for righteousness. Now, to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If you believe that
this is some kind of payment, you've just left grace, is what
he's saying. You've left grace. To him that worketh is the reward,
not reckoned of grace, but of debt. In other words, you're
thinking, God owes me this. God's obligated to give me. I've
done this. Now pay up. Pay up. No, can't be that way. Verse 5, But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Now, the reward is of grace,
and I love thinking about this. You take every aspect of salvation.
I don't care what aspect you're talking about, every aspect of
salvation, it's all of grace. Now, I try to think of the different
aspects of salvation, and you've got to begin with election. How
much of election is by grace? How much of it has to do with
you deserving to be chosen? Well, you know, it doesn't have
anything to do with your work, good or evil, don't you? It's a grace. What about being justified? When
God takes a sinner and makes him just before him. How much
of that is by grace? If you're justified before God,
if you're actually not guilty before God, listen, if you're
a believer right now, you're not guilty before God. You don't
have anything to be guilty of. You're perfect in God's sight.
How much of that is my grace? What about redemption? The payment
of your sins? How much did you have to do with
that payment? How much of it did you pay? Our
brother just thanked the Lord for the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing for me to pay.
He paid all the debt. What about regeneration? Being
born again? Being given a new nature? How
much of that is by grace? How much of that do you contribute
to? You know that if you're born
again, born from above, you know it's the work of God's grace
alone from the beginning to the end. What about preservation?
What about the fact that you've held out this far? What about
the fact that you desire to hear the gospel tonight? And 20 years
ago, you desire to hear the gospel or last year you heard the guy
that doesn't matter however long with the fact that you persevere.
How much of that is by grace? You know, in reality. The sins that you haven't committed. How much of that is by grace? Everything you haven't done,
it's only the grace of God that's kept you from it. Every aspect
of salvation, I don't care what we're talking about, is by grace,
including the reward. God gives you grace to do what
he requires you to do, and then he rewards you for doing it.
Now, is that grace or what? God gives you the grace to do
what he requires you to do. And then he rewards you for doing
it. Now that, my dear friends, is
grace, isn't it? This reward is the reward of
grace. And you know, God's way of counting
things as far as rewarding is not like ours. You know, the
Lord said the last shall be where? First. And the first, where are
they going to be? Last. You know, I love to read
that story of the widow's two minds. The Lord was watching
those people cast their gifts into the treasury, and the scripture
says many cast in much. And there was a certain widow
that cast in two minds, which make up our thing. The scripture
says, you know, that's two cents, two pennies. What good would
that do toward paying our bills in this place? What kind of contribution
would that make? I mean, it's pretty negligible,
isn't it? If somebody put in two cents, you know, you'd think,
well, that's... Do you know what the Lord said about that woman?
He said, I say unto you, she hath cast in more than they all. Now that's the way the Lord counts.
He said, for they out of their abundance Cast in, but she out
of her want had cast in all the living that she had. You see,
the Lord counts different than we do. You know, somebody gave
a $10,000 gift. Wouldn't that be helpful? Somebody
else gives a $20 gift. Well, the Lord looks at the heart.
The amount that, you know, the amount doesn't mean a thing.
It's It's the heart. It's the motive. You know, the
Lord looks more at what you keep than what you give. That woman
gave all she had. It's the motive. The Lord looks
at the heart. He counts different than we count,
doesn't he? It's a reward of grace. And the
way the Lord rewards is just different than our way of thinking.
The Lord uses this a lot, has a lot to say about this. Turn
with me to Matthew chapter 6. I want us to look at some scriptures
where he talks about rewards. Verse one. Take heed that you
do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise you
have no reward. of your father which is in heaven. But when thou doest thine alms,
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine
alms may be in secret. And thy Father, which seeth in
secret himself, shall reward thee openly. And when you pray,
thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that
they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet. When thou shut thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly. Now, I'm interested in this,
aren't you? Look in verse 16 of the same chapter. Moreover, when ye fast, Be not
as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces,
that they may appear to men to fast. Verily I say unto you,
they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest,
anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto
men to fast, but unto thy Father, which is in secret. And thy Father,
which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. There is a reward for this. That's
what the Lord says. Turn over to Matthew chapter
10. Verse 39. He that findeth his life shall
lose it. And he that loseeth his life for my sake shall find
it. He that receiveth you receiveth
me. And he that receiveth me receiveth
him that sent me. 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. Let me repeat, as David said
in Psalm 1911, in keeping them, speaking of God's commandments,
there is great reward. Now, you think about this in
your own experience. The command to believe, to simply
believe the gospel, to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe
that what he did is enough to make you perfect in God's sight.
I want you to think of the joy you experience when you really
believe that. Oh, the joy and the peace of
believing. You think of the joy you experience
when you really believe that everything God expects of you,
He looks to His Son for, and you're complete in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You think of the peace you receive from that. You think
of the rejoicing you have in that. Isn't it wonderful to simply
believe the Gospel? Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to take Him at His word. And it is. There's a reward in
faith, isn't there? There's a reward in believing.
You benefit. Oh, what a reward. But you think
about how wretched you feel when you're filled with unbelief.
I mean, it's a miserable feeling. There's no joy in that. There's
no peace in that. There's nothing but wretchedness. But there's a reward to simple
faith. You see, there is such a thing as being rewarded And
there is such a thing as losing your reward. And this is part
of the Scripture. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
3. Now, I know that Paul in this
third chapter of 1 Corinthians is talking about preachers and
the foundations they build on, whether they build foundations
of just preaching the gospel, gold, silver and precious stones.
And he talks about those who veer off and use wood, hay and
stubble. The first application of this
is to preachers, but it's not just to preachers, it's to all
of God's people, but beginning in verse 13. Every man's work
shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because
it shall be revealed by fire and that fire shall try every
man's work of what sort it is, and I don't have any doubt that
that's talking about a trial here on Earth. That's not talking
about Judgment Day. This is talking about trial here on Earth. The
Lord will will expose to you, through whatever he sends your
way, what you're really made of. Now, he's going to try every
man's work to see what sort it is. I want to know what sort
mine is, don't you? I don't want to be on wood, hay
and stubble. I want to have the foundation
of gold and silver and precious stones. Now, he says, your work
will be tried to see what sort it is. Verse 14, if any man's
work abide which he is built thereupon, He shall receive what? A reward. If any man's work shall be burned.
He shall suffer loss. He himself should be saved, yet
so as by fire. Now, I could talk all night about
what this means from the scriptures, but let me let me give you some
examples about this thing of rewards and the reward that every
believer experiences in this life. There's the first thing
that came into my mind. Humility. Humility. How many times do we read this
in scripture? He that humbles himself shall be what? Exalted. Is there a reward for
humility? He that humbles himself shall
be exalted. Every time you humble yourself
before the Lord and you will be brought up. You see, the Lord
resists the proud, but what does he do to the humble? He gives
grace. He gives grace. To the humble. You humble yourself, you shall
be exalted, you exalt yourself, you shall be a base. There's
a reward in humility, just like there's a reward in faith. Think
about giving. Think about the act of giving. I'm talking about what we give
to the cause of Christ, or just the whole general principle of
being a giving person. You can't really separate the
two. They go together, being a giving
person. You remember what the Lord said about giving in Acts
chapter 20? He said it is more blessed to
give than to receive. Now those are the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. to give than to receive. And how blessed we are in giving. And the Lord blesses the generous.
I want to read a passage of Scripture to you from Malachi chapter 3,
verse 10. Listen to this. Bring ye all the tithes into
the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house. And prove
me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open
the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing. that you shall
not be room enough to receive. That's the words of the Lord.
And somebody says, are you teaching tithing? I'm not even going there. You know, I'm, I'll tell you
what, I'm teaching giving. The Lord's teaching, it's not
me, this is the Lord's word. And he says, you bring the tithes
into the storehouse. And he says, see, if I won't
pour out a blessing so big, you won't even be able to receive
it. You know, the scripture says,
God loveth a cheerful giver, doesn't it? Remember that scripture?
Isn't it a blessing to be cheerful? Wouldn't you a whole lot rather
be cheerful than bummed out and depressed? God loveth a cheerful
giver. I love that scripture. But in
not giving, how miserable we are, there's no blessing in that.
You know, I've watched this over the years. Usually when there
is wretchedness in an individual's life, just wretchedness, they're
always miserable and depressed, or wretchedness in a home, they're
not generous people. You can just write that down.
God will not bless a lack of generosity. It's not going to
happen. But where there is generosity,
there is his blessing. Here's another example. You remember
when the Lord said, when you're called to a feast, chapter 14,
what direction did he say to go? When you're called to a feast,
what seat do you take? The highest seat? What did he
say? The lowest seat. You take the
lowest seat and genuinely believe that that's the one you got coming
to you. I don't mean condescending to take the lowest seat. I know
that's not what the Lord's talking about. Well, I'm going to take
the lowest seat. I'm going to act humble. You know, whenever you act humble,
it's so filled with wretched pride. Don't act humble. Be humble. There's a big difference. But
he says, when you take the lowest seat, what's going to happen?
You're going to be called up to a higher one. But when you
take the higher seat, what are you going to end up doing? You're
going to begin with shame to walk down to the lowest. And
there again, he says, everybody that exalts himself shall be
abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. If you love,
what happens? You'll be loved. If you have no friends, there's
a reason. He that would have friends must
first show himself to be friendly. He that saves his life. I read
that passage of scripture. You save your life. You seek
to save your life. You seek to do whatever it takes
to keep you from having to pay in this thing of confessing Christ,
all the problems that will bring on you. So you save your life.
What does the Lord say will happen to you in saving your life? You'll
lose it. But he that loses his life. from my sake and the gospels,
the same shall find it. You see, you can't seek the Lord
or serve the Lord in vain. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
7. Verse 7. and it shall be given you." Well,
I asked and it wasn't given me. Who am I supposed to believe,
God or you? If you asked, it would be given. Now, what you might have been
doing was trying to strike a deal with God, bargain with Him. If
you do this, I'll do that. No, He doesn't hear that. But
if you ever ask, if I ever ask, our Lord promises, it shall be
given. He said, seek. And what's the
reward for seeking? You shall find. Knock. What's the reward for knocking?
It shall be opened for everyone that asketh, receive it. And
he that seeketh findeth, to him that knocketh it shall be opened. What man is there of you whom,
if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask
for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being
evil. And you know, I love the way
the Lord speaks to us here. He's talking to his disciples
at this time. He's not talking to unbelievers. He's talking
to his disciples. And he says to these fellows. He says, if
you then, being evil. You reckon any of them thought,
why's he talking to me like that? No, they knew he's hitting the
nail on the head, didn't he? If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, and you do, don't you? You know how to give good gifts
to your children. How much more shall your Heavenly Father give
good gifts to them that ask Him? You know, the Lord said to His
disciples in John chapter 13, verse 17, He talked about washing
one another's feet. I love that passage of Scripture
in John chapter 13. He gave this, he said, follow
this example. It's not an ordinance. It's an
example to follow, this thing of washing one another's feet.
And you know what he said in verse 17? He said, if you know
these things, happy are you if you do them. Just knowing won't make you happy.
Happy are you if you do that? Let's look at another passage
of Scripture in Luke chapter six. I love this passage of Scripture. I find this so challenging and
yet so encouraging. Verse 20. Luke chapter six, now this is
this this passage of Scripture is about rewards, rewards here
on Earth. Verse 20, And he lifted up his eyes on
his disciples, and said, Blessed be he poor, for yours is the
kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now,
for you shall be filled. Blessed are you that weep now,
for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men shall
hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company
and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the
son of man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap
for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the like manner did their
fathers unto the prophets, but woe unto you that are rich. But
you've received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for
you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now,
for you shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men shall
speak well of you. For so did their fathers to the
false prophets. But I say unto you which hear, love your enemies. And this is what our Lord is
telling us to do. 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 smites 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 asketh 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 you? For sinners also love those
that love them. And if you do good to them which
do good to you, what thank have you? 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 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. Now this is a word that is to
describe every one of God's children. Be ye therefore merciful. Filled with mercy and pity and
compassion. As your father also is merciful. Now, look at this. Here's look
at these rewards. Judge not. And what's the reward
for not judging? You shall not be judged. Well, that's a reward I want.
Judge not. And you shall not be judged.
Condemn not. What's the reward for not condemning? You shall not be condemned. Forgive. And what's the reward for forgiving? And you shall be forgiven. Give. And it shall be given unto you. Good measure pressed down and
shaken together and running over shall be given to your bosom.
For with the same measure that you meet, It shall be measured
to you again. God will measure out your reward
in the basket that you bring. If you're merciful, that's how he'll
treat you. You judge not, you won't be judged. You forgive, you'll be forgiven. Now, what a blessing. I want
these rewards, don't you? The rewards of the righteous.
What a reward there is in obedience to Christ. And we lose our reward
here on earth by disobedience. John said in John, in 2nd John,
verse 8, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which
we brought, but that we receive a full reward. That's the Word of God. I don't
know what all it means. I really don't. What all that
full reward is. But I know this. I want it, don't
you? I want the full reward. I don't want no half reward.
I want the full reward. I want to follow, I want to be
like Caleb. You ever want to say to Caleb,
he had another spirit in him. He followed the Lord fully. And I want to be somebody who
follows the Lord fully. And I don't want to lose my reward.
Now, you know as well as I do that that's not talking about
a higher degree of glory. That's not talking about a bigger
mansion or a bigger Cadillac in heaven or any of that foolishness
that goes on in the name of religion. It's not talking about that at
all. But here on earth, verily, there is a reward for the righteous
in me. And in keeping of his commandments,
there is great reward. One other scripture, Mark chapter
10. Beginning in verse 28. Then Peter began to say unto
him, Lo, we have left all in a fall of thee. And Jesus answered
and said, Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left
house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or lambs for my sake in the Gospels, but he shall
receive an hundredfold when Now. In this time. And that's obviously
not talking necessarily about getting 100 more houses, you
know, if you lose your house, you'll get 100 return. That's.
You know better than that. But listen to this. You cannot
possibly fail in obedience to Christ. In obedience to Christ. Failure. Is it possible that encouraging? Now, what what all is going to
happen in obedience to Christ? I don't know. He takes care of
that. But in obedience to the command of the gospel failure
is impossible. Now, remember, these rewards
being spoken of don't think it's not God paying you back for what
you've done. It's a reward of grace, but when we seek him in
any aspect, we do it believing that he is a rewarder. A rewarder. of them that diligently
seek Him. And my prayer for myself and
for you is that we might be described as people who diligently seek
Him. I tell you what, there is a reward
in diligently seeking. Let's pray together.