I love every verse of it. I can
remember one time when I was feeling just about as low as
I've ever felt. I was out of town preaching somewhere,
and this has been several years ago. I'm almost ashamed to admit
it, but I thought, I'm just quitting preaching. I thought I'm getting
out of this. I was trying to figure out, what
am I going to do? You know, I mean, that's how serious I was. I was trying
to think, what am I going to do? I certainly didn't feel like preaching
where I was at. And I remember how that song
spoke to me. Though Satan should buffet and
trials or flow, let this blessed assurance control. That Christ
hath regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for
my soul. What a wonderful hymn. Turn to
1 Corinthians chapter 3. I want to read verses 8 through
15. I've entitled this message, Will you have a reward? Will you have a reward? Let's begin reading in verse
8. Now he that planteth and he that
watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor. For we are laborers together
with God. You are God's husbandry. 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, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take
heed how he buildeth thereupon, for other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Now, if any man build upon this
foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every
man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it,
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 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." Now think of what is being said.
We read of the foundation Christ himself. I love the way he said
that no other foundation can no man lay than that which is
laid, which is. Jesus Christ, I just love the
way that sounds. He is the foundation. And we read. of the kind of house
that will be built on this foundation. We read of two different types
of houses, a house of gold, silver and precious stone. Now, that's
not talking about diamonds. That's talking about marble and
granite, which was used in the building of the temple. Now,
these are the building materials of the temple, gold, silver and
precious stones. And we also read of a house with
a wooden frame, stubble used to make mud bricks for the walls
and straw grass for a roof. Now, one building will stand
up to the fire and one building won't. Everybody's building is going
to be tested by fire. Mine will. Years will. It's a sobering thought, isn't
it? Every building, the building you have is going to be tested
by the fire. The man whose building stands
up to the fire, that's the building made of gold, silver and precious
stones. Scripture says he will have a
reward. That doesn't say that. He shall have a reward. Look in verse eight. Now, he
that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall
receive his own reward according to his own labor. Now, that's
talking about a reward somebody will receive according to their
labor, according to what they have done. And that word labor
carries with it the idea of a weary toil because of a lot of effort. That person who has this weary
toil that he's speaking of will receive a reward. Look in verse
14. If any man's work abide the fires
which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. Now we read of that person who
will receive a reward and then look at the description of this
person in verse 15. If any man's work shall be burned,
He's got that house of wood, hay, and stubble, and it doesn't
stand up before the fire. He shall suffer loss. He will not have a reward. He shall suffer loss. He shall
be saved, yet so as by fire. He's like the fella in a burning
house. His house is on fire. He's pulled
out. He's saved by the skin of his
teeth and everything that he had, everything that was important
to him was burned up. Now, that's the picture before
us. I gave an accurate description of what he's saying. Now, the
big question is, what does this mean? What does this mean? Now, remember,
you can only interpret scripture with scripture. And the scripture
never contradicts itself. Not once. The Bible doesn't teach
one thing in one place and then turn around and teach something
else in another place that's contradictory to what it taught
in the one place. That never happens. The Bible has one unified
message. And it's not teaching one place
one One thing, one place and something else somewhere else.
Now, remember that regarding the scripture. And if I don't
remember that, I'm going to have so much trouble with so many
things that are said in the Bible. Remember, you need to be able
to throw the entire book at any passage of scripture and see
how it lines up with the rest of the book. So when we look
at this passage of scripture, and it's a very sobering passage
of scripture, isn't it? I think, well, I don't want my
house to be burned up. I want to receive this reward
that he's talking about, don't you? Whatever it is, I want to
receive this reward. I don't want to see my house
burned up and I don't want to be saved so as by fire. It doesn't
sound good, does it? I sure don't want that happening
to me. Now, what is he teaching? Well, I do not believe that this
teaches different rewards in heaven. different positions in
glory, which are assigned according to your works here on earth.
You know, I heard a preacher in this town on TV talking and
he was talking to his congregation and he looked at his congregation.
I mean, this guy was so arrogant. He looked at his congregation
and said, many of you are going to be shining my shoes in heaven. I thought that guy's going to
be amazed when he wakes up in hell. And that's exactly what's
going to happen to him. I know the guy doesn't believe
the gospel. Meaning, what an arrogant, horrible attitude. You're going to be shot in my
shoes in heaven? I mean, what do you think happened? That's such
a perverted view of what heaven is in the first place. You remember the parable of the
workers in the vineyard? That's where we had the teaching
of scripture regarding what you're going to have in heaven. That's
where the Lord is actually teaching concerning that. And remember
Matthew chapter 20? The fellows who worked twelve hours and the
fellows who worked one hour. What did they receive? The exact
same thing. Now that's where the teaching
on positions in glory is. They thought, we should receive
more, we work more. And they were given the exact
same thing. Now, Christ Himself is our reward. Do you believe you could add
something you've done to what he's done and make it a little
better? Do you believe that even for
a second? Is there anything that you've
ever done that you would put on top of what he's done and
it gets you a higher reward? You know, I shudder at the thought
of that. I tell you what, if you think you deserve a reward
for anything you've done, I hope you get it. I hope you get it. But I know anybody that has any
teaching of the Holy Spirit at all know that there's nothing
about anything they've done that deserves a reward. I know I don't. I believe that. I know I don't.
Put your efforts and add them to Christ's righteousness and
come out better? That's just not going to fly. Listen to the
Scripture. Now to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of
grace, but of debt." That means God owes you this
reward. That's not going to fly, is it?
God will not be indebted to any man. Salvation is by grace. I do not believe that the Bible
teaches different rewards in heaven which are given according
to your personal obedience here on earth. Matthew chapter 20
just blows that out of the water, doesn't it? It just doesn't teach
that. However, I do believe in rewards
here on earth. He speaks of those who receive
a reward. And he speaks of those who suffer
loss, who have no reward. They shall be saved, yet so as
by fire. The Bible teaches. Wages earned. And that's the word I'm using.
Wages earned here on Earth, according to your labor. Look what he says
in verse 8 of our text. Now he that planteth and he that
watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor. Now the Bible says we reap what
we sow. That's a principle laid down
in scripture. Let me show you a few scriptures.
Turn to Luke chapter 6. Let's begin reading in verse
31. And as you would that men should
do to you, do you also to them likewise? I wish that would come
into our mind every time we make any kind of action. For if you
love them which love you, what things 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 as 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, as
your Father also is merciful." Oh, may this characterize everybody
in this room. A merciful person. Don't you want to be that? Verse
37, let's go on reading. He says, Judge not, and you shall
not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not
be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. You see this reaping and sowing
principle? 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, with all it shall be
measured to you again. If you're truly merciful, you're
going to receive mercy. If you give, it's going to be
given to you. Now, that is what our Lord says
in that passage of scripture. He talks about that person who
is merciful, great is their reward. That's the word that he used. Look at Mark chapter 10 for a
moment. Back a few pages to Mark chapter 10. Verse 28. Then Peter began to
say unto him, Lo, we've left all and have followed thee. And
what he's saying is, what's in it for us? We've left all and
followed thee. What are we going to get out
of this? 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 lands for my
sake and the gospels, but he shall receive in a hundredfold
now in this time. Now in this time. Not just in
the time to come. Now in this time. Houses and
brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions
and in the world to come. eternal life. Now, you see, he
says in this time, you're going to receive these things. And
you know what? You say, well, I've not received
all kinds of houses and lands and so on. You know, I know a
lot of people who, if I needed a place to stay, you'd let me stay with you, wouldn't
you? And I'd do the same. We have many houses, don't we?
In that sense, many houses, many lands. In this life, we reap what we
sow. We get out of it what we put into it. Now, I realize it's
His grace that enables us to sow in the first place. You know
I believe that. It's His grace that enables us to sow in the
first place. But it's still true. We reap what we sow. Paul said,
he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. And he that soweth to the spirit
Shall of the spirit reap life everlasting? Look at in 2nd Corinthians
chapter 9 for a moment. Verse six, he's speaking to believers. He says that this I say. He would
sow it sparingly. He shall also reap sparingly. But he would sow it bountifully. He shall reap also bountifully. Now that's God's word, and this
is a principle that is just simply true. You and I reap what we
sow in this life. We get out of it. What we put
into it, that's just a principle, a law laid down in Scripture.
Now, let's go back to our text in First Corinthians, Chapter
three. Now, the first application of
this passage of Scripture. This is a message to preachers.
And that's the first application, that's what the context bears
out. This message is a message to preachers. He says in verse
5, who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom
you believe, even as the Lord gave to every man. I planted
Apollos water, but God gave the increase. So then neither is
he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that
giveth the increase. Now, he that planteth and he that watereth
are one. And every man shall receive his
own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together
with God. You are God's husbandry. You
are God's building. Now, he's talking about preachers
and he talks about the church. You are God's husbandry. And
he's talking about ministers and preachers. Now, he says they're
one that one who plants and that one who waters. They're not in
competition. I better not be in competition
with a preacher of the gospel. Wondering who's. Being the most
successful and all that kind of stuff, you know, that that
kind of attitude is so evil. That's all you can call it. He
that planteth and he that watereth are one. Now, that person who plants and
waters will be individually rewarded, not according to their success,
but according to their labor. This is very important. Look
in verse eight. And every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor, not according to his success. But according to his labor, according
to his faithfulness, that's what that's a reference to, according
to his faithfulness. You know, there's only one measure
of success for preaching. There's only one measure of success.
It's not how many or how few. It's faithfulness. That's the
only measure of success. You know, as far as that goes,
you don't have anything to do with the success. If the Lord makes it to where
there's a thousand people here who believe the gospel, it's
the Lord that did that. If there's, if I'm preaching to two people,
the Lord did that too. And you know, the fellow that
preaches to two people might be more faithful than that person
who preaches to a thousand people. How the Lord rewards that person
is according to not their success, but their faithfulness. And you
know, this is so important because a preacher, men particularly,
men identify themselves by what they do. You want to do well
at what you do. You want to be successful at
what you do. You don't want to be a failure. You want to do
well. Well, how do you, if you're preaching the gospel, how do
you know if you're doing well? You know, preaching is different
than anything else in this sense. You can measure whether you're
doing well by how successful you are on your job, how much
money you're making or how it's growing and so on. But you can't
do that in preaching because that isn't, You don't know what's
going on when it comes right down to it. You don't know what's
in the hearts of the people you're preaching to. The only measure
of success is faithfulness. It's required in a steward that
a man be found what? Faithful. What do you want in
a preacher? Faithfulness. That's what you
want. Now, you'd like him to be brilliant
preachers and feel all I guess you know you like it but what
you want is somebody who's going to be faithful to God's Word
and tell you the truth. Isn't that what you want? Faithfulness. It's required in a steward that
a man be found Faithful, now they will individually be rewarded,
not according to their success or their labor, but their faithfulness.
And I have no doubt that many have labored in obscurity with
little or even no outward success who will be rewarded more greatly
than some who have been given more outward success. Look in
verse nine, we are labors together with God, you are God's husbandry.
You are God's building in the context. He's clearly speaking
of ministers of the word. Now, Paul says in verse 10, according
to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master
builder, Paul says, I'm the architect. And what he meant by that is
he knew it was a grace. He wasn't proud of this. You
know, he said in another place in Ephesians chapter 3 verse
8, Unto me who am less than the least of all the saints is this
grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ. Now, he knew it was a grace,
but who did God use to expound the gospel more than any other
man? Paul the Apostle. He's the one God used to expound
the gospel. And he calls himself, not with
pride, he calls himself a wise master builder. I'm the one the
Lord has used. He's given me the wisdom to expound
the gospel. I mean, good grief, he wrote
over half the books of the New Testament. Maybe more than that. I can't remember. But he wrote
a lot of them. And he's the man the Lord used
in that sense. Now, he says, according to the grace of God,
which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the
foundation. And another buildeth thereon.
He's talking about a preacher building on the foundation that
he's laid, but let every man take heed how he builds on. Now, I have laid the foundation. Now, if you know anything about
building, I don't know very much about building, but I do know
this. What is the most important part
of the building? It's foundation. And if the foundation is not
good, none of the building will be good. No matter what you do,
the foundation is by far the most important part of the building.
And Paul says, I have laid the foundation. And what is that
foundation? Look in verse 11. He says, For
other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which
is Jesus Christ. And I love the way he says this.
He doesn't say the foundation is what you believe about Jesus
Christ or what you understand about Jesus Christ or a certain
doctrinal creed or statement. He says the foundation is Jesus
Christ Himself. Remember what our Lord said to
Peter? Thou art Peter, and upon this rock, this foundation rock,
I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Now, what's he talking about?
What foundation rock? Peter's confession of him. Thou
art the Christ. Thou art the anointed, the anointed
prophet, priest, and king. Thou art the Christ, the sent
one of God. We believe and are sure Thou
art the Christ. Now, the Lord says that's the rock I'm going
to build my church on. Jesus Christ is the only foundation. He is the only true and living
God. He is the only message of the
Bible. He himself is the only ground
of salvation. He himself is the only object
of faith, and he's the only one who gets all the glory. And here's what the Bible means
by this. I'm going to quote a passage of Scripture from Ephesians chapter
4, verse 32. He says, Be ye kind. Be kind. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one another. This is
talking about this merciful person forgiving one another, even as
God for what? You know the answer to that,
don't you? Even as God for Christ's sake had forgiven you. He didn't
forgive you because you forgave or because of anything in you.
He didn't forgive you because you believed or repented. He
didn't forgive you for anything in you. He forgave you why? For
Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Jesus Christ
Himself is the foundation. Now, we preach Jesus Christ. Now, if I'm going to talk about
Lynn, what if I said, I'm going to tell you about Lynn. Lynn
cooks for me. Lynn cleans for me. I start talking
about all the stuff Lynn does for me. Have I really talked about Lynn? No, I've not talked about her
character, have I? I've not talked about who she really is. I've
just talked about stuff she does for me. You see, when we preach
Christ, when we preach Jesus Christ himself as the only foundation,
we're not just talking about the things that he does for us.
We preach him. He himself, we preach his character,
who he is. what he's like, what he accomplished.
We preach him. He himself is the only foundation. And every preacher is called
upon to build upon this foundation. But Paul says, take heed how
you build there on. Look at verse 11. For other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay and stubble. Now we read of two kinds of buildings,
one made like a temple, gold, silver, and precious stones,
and some made of wood, hay, and stubble, which will not stand
up to the fire. Now look what he says about this.
Verse 13, 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 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. Now, this is important. Both
of these houses were built upon the foundation, weren't they? They were both built on the only
foundation. They were not built upon error.
They were not built upon a false gospel. They were built upon
the foundation. Now, what are these houses made
of wood, hay and stubble? Materials that will not stand
before the fire. Now, we know that this man preached
the gospel. He preached the only foundation. I don't have any
doubt. I understand what this passage
of Scripture is talking about. I've seen it. I pray the Lord
will deliver me from this. I've seen men who believe the
gospel, but they wanted to do well. They wanted to succeed. I understand that. Don't you?
You want to do well, don't you? Whatever you do, you want to
do well, don't you? You want to be successful at that. And I can
understand somebody having that kind of attitude. But they start
getting taken up. Well, how can I tell if I'm doing
well? Well, it's growth. How much the church is growing?
What all's happening? You know, and so on. And so anytime that
kind of thinking enters in, you're going to use flesh in order to
build it up. I want to see more people come.
And I do want to see more people come. But any time you get that
kind of attitude, you're going to start trying to appeal to
the flesh. The foundation is preached. But how many preachers
have you seen go into intellectualism and appeal to the intellect?
Because there's some people that really appeals to it. Boy, I can really
catch these people. And somebody else, he's more into emotionalism. There's some people who are so
emotional, if I could just move them, then they'll be coming here and they'll find
this appealing to them and somebody else is some kind of form of
legalism. There's always somebody that
is going to like that. It's something other than the
gospel. They preach the gospel, but they muddy the waters. They
muddy the waters in order to build the church, in order to
get more people coming and so on. And you know what Paul says?
Everything they did is going to be burned up. And what they're
going to find out is that not even one person was converted
through that. Maybe the church grew. But not
one person was truly saved through that mess. The Lord does not
use error. Why should he? He didn't need to. I was listening to a guy preach
a few weeks ago in a place where I was preaching. And he was preaching
on the altar call. And he was tearing it down, showing
how wrong it is and so on. And he had me convinced the altar
call, the way preachers use it, is wrong. But he had me convinced.
And then when he finished, he said, now I'm not saying God
doesn't use this. I thought, what? I went up and asked him
about it. I said, what did you mean by
that? If it's wrong, God doesn't use
it. Why should he? He only uses the truth. Now, this fellow is going to
see everything that he did burned up. And then we read of the house
made of lasting, durable building materials. Here's this this man's
message, his method, his motive. All right. He is faithful. That's what could describe him.
He is faithful. That's the one word that best
describes him, faithful. Like Caleb, the faithful dog,
he's truly a pastor after God's own heart. Well, his work is
going to be tried by the fire. And if the people he preached
to, when they go through these trials, when they go through
these fires, if they end up being real, he's going to receive a
reward. Now, what is this reward he receives?
It says he receives a reward. What is this reward? If the people
prove to be real, he does get a reward. But what what is it?
Well, turn first Corinthians chapter 9. In the same book,
he tells us what the reward is. I'll tell you what I know in
my own experience. If you prove to be real. That's my reward. The joy I'll get out of that,
I'm talking about here on Earth. You know, there isn't anything
that rejoices me more than to see somebody prove to be real. That's my reward. I don't want
to have everything burned up and see that there wasn't anything
to the people I was preaching to because I was using unjust
methods and so on. I don't want anything like that.
My reward is here on earth is seeing the people I'm preaching
to actually love Christ. And they persevere through whatever
the Lord sends them. Now, look here in First Corinthians,
Chapter 9, Verse 7, 16. Paul said, For though I preach
the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, nothing to be proud
about, nothing I can say, well, I'm special because of that.
He said, No, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. Now, what does he mean by that? Woe unto me if I preach not the
gospel. I'll tell you exactly what he
means. If I don't preach the gospel, I will prove to be nothing
more than a reprobate. Woe unto me if I do not preach
the gospel. Now he says in verse 17, if I
do this thing willingly, I have a reward. If I preach the gospel
willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, a dispensation
of the gospel is committed to me, well, what is my reward then?
Well, that I get a great big mansion and a raise in salary
and all these... No. What is his reward? When
I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without
charge that I abuse not my power in the gospel. You know what
the reward is? You know what the reward for
obedience is? Obedience. The reward of knowing you've
done the right thing. And there's no reward like that.
Just knowing that you've done the right thing. Like Paul said
at the end of his ministry, he said, I've fought a good fight.
I finished my course. I've kept the faith. And what
satisfaction there is in that. Oh, that's so important to me.
I want to be able to say that. I fought a good fight. I finished
my course. I didn't quit. I kept the faith
from henceforth. There's laid up for me, Paul
said, a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge shall give me, but not to me only, but also to all them
that love his appearing. See, he's not saying one's going
to get a higher reward than the other. Everybody that loves the
appearing of Christ. Do you love the appearing of Christ? You
know, in every aspect, I love the appearing of Christ. I love
his appearing as my surety before time began. I love his appearing
on earth when he kept the law for me. I love his appearing
in heaven right now as my representative. I love the thought of his appearing
when he comes back for me. Every believer loves his appearing.
You know, you're going to have the same place Paul did in heaven.
Isn't that amazing? Well, you know why? It's because
salvation is by grace. That's why. The reward for obedience
is obedience. Now, this man who used wood,
hay and stubble, he'll find out that as much as his church grew,
not one person was saved. His intellectualism, his legalism,
his emotionalism, not one person was truly converted through that.
Everything he worked for will be burned up. He'll be saved,
but everything he did will be burned up. He'll suffer loss. No reward for this man. He's
going to be miserable. Now, let me close. This is not only creatures. This also has an application
for everybody in this room. Everybody in this room right
now is building a house. You yourself are building a house,
you are on the foundation, you're building some kind of house.
And I can see right now houses. With what understanding I have
and I know it's limited, but I can see houses right now, some
of your building. of gold, silver and precious
stones. I can see it. You can, too. There
are people here that you can say they've got houses of gold,
silver and precious stones. And I also see houses made out
of wood, hay and stubble. And you see that, too. What kind of house do you have? Matthew, Chapter 16. Now, the Lord is talking to Peter
here. And, you know, Peter is a believer.
And the Lord had just made this statement concerning Peter, Thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I'll build my church. But look in verse 21 of Matthew,
chapter 16, this happened just after that. From that time forth
again, Jesus to show his disciples how that he must go into Jerusalem.
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and
scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then
Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee,
Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said
unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto
me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those
that be of men. I want you to think of what he
said. You don't mind the things that
are of God. You mind the things that are of men. Now, here's
a man who loves Christ. And it is evident. His wife and children can tell
you that Christ is all to him. Now, Lynn and Aubrey know whether
I truly worship Christ, whether He is my all. They know. They
live with me. They know. Here's a man who loves
Christ, and he proves it by his works,
his love, his merciful attitude, his generosity,
his encouragement, his faithfulness, his humility. Here's another
man who loves Christ. He really does. He's on the foundation.
And he's self-centered and ambitious for the things of this world.
He obviously puts more time and energy and care for the things
of this world and his own personal happiness than he does the things
of Christ. You know, when Paul said, all
seek their own and not the things that are Christ Jesus, and he
says, I have no man like minded that passage of scripture that
I opened the service up with. Is he saying there weren't any
other believers except for Timothy? No, he wasn't saying that. But
he was saying, I have no man like minded who will naturally
care for your state, all seek their own, minding the things
of the flesh and not the things that belong to Christ Jesus.
Here's a man who's off after some phantom that will make him
happy. Oh, he's always so concerned about being happy and consequently
he's always miserable. A guarantee that you're going
to be an unhappy person is you trying to be happy. Now that's,
I'm sure of that. You seek to be happy, you're
just going to be miserable. You seek to do the right thing, you're
going to be happy. Now that's true. But here's my
question. Which one of these men will enjoy
Christ the most here on earth? Which man will enjoy sweet fellowship
with Him here on earth? Who's the man who's going to
be rewarded? You know the answer to that question. I don't even
have to answer it. You know the answer to that question. In this
life, they'll both have fiery trials. And they're both going
to be made to see the one thing needful. And the fellow who seemed
to live for this world, he's going to see everything that
he lived for burned up. And that one who walked with
Christ the way he did, he's going to enjoy Christ so much more.
Now, we're going to close by looking at a couple of passages
in Revelation. Turn to Revelation 2. Verse one, under the angel of
the Church of Ephesus write, These things sayeth he that holdeth
the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst
of the seven golden candlesticks. I know your works. And your labor,
your patience, how thou canst not bear them which are evil,
and thou hast tried them, which say they are apostles, and are
not, and ye found them liars, and ye have borne, and ye have
had patience, and for my name's sake ye have labored, ye have
not fainted. Boy, he's commending these people.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou has
left thy first love. You know, just thinking about
that. I've seen people who. There's
a time when. Even missing the service would
have been painful to. Not anymore. Not anymore. He says, you've left your first
love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, repent
and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly
and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou
repent. Evidently, they did not repent. Where's the church of
Ephesus now? There is no church of Ephesus. They left their first
love and he said, I'm going to remove your candlestick And he
did now look over in Revelation three, let's look at the Lord's
letter to the church at Laodicea. Verse 14. And under the angel
of the church of the Laodiceans, write these things, say the amen,
the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation
of God, I know your works. That you're neither cold nor
hot. I would that thou were cold or
hot, and this is the Lord speaking to this church. I want you to
be one of the other. So then, because thou art lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth because
you say everything's fine. I'm rich. I'm increased with
goods. I have need of nothing. And you know not that that you're
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Now, I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest
be rich. and white raiment, that thou
mayest be clothed, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear,
and in thine eyes with eyesight, that thou mayest see. Now, as
many as I love, I review concession. Be zealous, therefore, and repent."
Now, listen to this verse. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. If any man hear my voice and
open the door, I'll come in to him. and will sup with him, and
he with me." Don't you want that? You want to sup with the Lord?
That's the reward he's speaking of, this reward of fellowship
with Him. He says, I'm knocking. This is
not knocking on a natural man's heart's door. You know He doesn't
do that. He breaks that door down and comes in and reigns.
This is talking about what He's saying to believers. He's speaking
to the churches. He says, I'm standing at the
door and knocking. open up. Anybody who opens up,
I'll come in and I'll suck with them and they with me. He's talking
about sweet fellowship, and that's the reward that's being spoken
of. Now, I want for myself and I want for you. I don't even
know how to say this the right way, but I want the Lord's best,
don't you? I don't want to live beneath
my privileges. Do you? I want to walk with Him, have fellowship with Him. I want
to always say, I am my Beloved's and He is mine. So the reward is, well, I guess
you see what it means. I hope you do. That's what that
passage of Scripture means. And I want for myself and I want
for you to have this reward. I don't want to suffer loss and
be saved, yet so as by fire. I don't want that. That just
doesn't sound good at all, does it? And may the Lord bless this to
our hearts. Let's pray together.