Inheritance vs Rewards Part 1

on us in a word of Prayer and we'll jump into what we want to cover father God thank you for this time thank you for these Saints we thank you for your word we thank you that you have preserved it for us perfectly we thank you Lord for the freedoms we have in this country we just pray that each day we would be better ambassadors we pray these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen so let me tea up the context of one I want to cover this morning so we know from Scripture that Paul is our Apostle Paul was given the mystery the dispensation of grace that was never previously revealed and what we need to understand to start is we need to understand the specific content of his gospel so if you would get with me first Corinthians 15 in Ephesians 2 first Corinthians 15 and Ephesians 2 you may have heard it's said that there's only one gospel in the Bible but that's simply not a true statement if you read Galatians 2:7 there's more than one gospel just in that particular verse so we need to understand the gospel that applies to us today during the dispensation of grace first Corinthians 15 verse 1 moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you which also ye have received and wherein ye stand so Paul's declaring the gospel verse 3 for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ has died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures so the gospel for us today is Christ died for our sins was buried rose again the third day once you have a clear understanding of what the gospel is it should clarify that the gospel has nothing to do with your works the gospel in 1st Corinthians 15 is different defined as Christ died for our sins Christ was buried Christ rose again the third day the only thing in that that we did is we were the sin part he died for our sins look with me at Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast so if you think of a the scale or I don't want to call it a time length it's not really a time line but if you think of a continuum this end is 100% works this end is 100% grace that point is 50/50 my observation is that most of Christendom thinks they are saved right there in other words they're saved 90% by grace blood you gotta live it but you have to keep the commandments you're saved by grace but if you do this you could lose it that is the most common thinking that I have encountered at least within Christendom Ephesians 2:8 9 contradicts that for by grace are you saved through faith faith is belief in other words you don't have to move a muscle to have faith you can simply sit there and in your inner man have faith for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it's not your resume it's not your list of achievements it is the gift of God the nature of a gift is you receive it you don't earn it and then Ephesians 2:9 specifically says not of works lest any man should boast you're saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone there's no works that are required you're saved not as a process but in an instant when you believe the gospel get with me Ephesians 1 verse 13 now many people balk at that because they say well that's too easy that's not fair you're what you're saying is I can believe the gospel but then live like the devil and I'm still saved well think about it with me if salvation truly is not of works and if you get salvation not by your works but by faith then bad works shouldn't cause you to lose it look with me at Ephesians 1:13 in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession so Ephesians 1:3 after someone believes the gospel they are sealed by the Holy Spirit how many things in the universe are strong enough to break the seal of the Holy Spirit nothing what Ephesians 1:13 tells you is that your salvation is not maintained because you always do the right thing it's maintained because the Holy Spirit has maintained it what Ephesians 1:14 then says is that the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance the word earnest in that meaning there is most similar it's most commonly used today with regard to earnest money when you have a large transaction something expensive that you're buying frequently what you will do is you will make more than one payment what's often required is earnest money or a down payment as a guarantee that you're going to complete the transaction now think really carefully about what Ephesians 1:14 says let me read the last part of verse 13 you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession the redemption of the purchased possession is at the catching up of the body of Christ when you read Romans 8:23 it talks about we groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit namely the redemption of the body in other words here's what happens to you as a believer the moment you get saved your soul is saved your soul is saved eternally you cannot lose it but you know what you reside in you reside in the corrupt body right the longer you live does it get better-looking does it start to function better when you hit fifty right all those problems you had all those pains they just magically disappear no they do not do they right and if we live long enough we're all going to die of something aren't we and that's because the body is corruptible the redemption of the body takes place at the adoption the catching up of the body of Christ now think about what Ephesians 1:14 is really saying we're sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance it doesn't say his it says our inheritance the Holy Spirit is given to us as a guarantee as a foretaste of our future inheritance now think about this with me how many times does God start a transaction get partway through it and change his mind well I had no idea that was gonna happen I'm gonna back out and for fit the holy spirit right what happens when you back out of a transaction after you've given a down payment what might you lose you might lose right you put the down payment you change your mind you say I'm not completing this frequently the seller says what I'm keeping the down payment well the Holy Spirit is given by God the Father as an earnest as a guarantee of what he's ultimately going to accomplish so the notion that he gives the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of what he's going to do and then he says psyche I'm not doing it I changed my mind he's absurd what Ephesians 1 does is it tells you beyond doubt from the moment you're saved you are eternally saved the moment that you have faith in what Christ did for you on the cross you cannot lose your salvation it's not possible because it is maintained by the Holy Spirit it's not maintained because we do the right thing it's maintained by the Holy Spirit now what that doesn't address is this let's say you get saved right here and you're 20 years old what do you do with the rest of your life there are people let's just be honest about this that get saved they have faith in Christ and the rest of their life is a mess they don't live their life in a way that is pleasing to God so what happens do they lose their salvation well if Asians with one just told us they can't lose their salvation but then that seems wrong in some way doesn't it well get first Corinthians 3 and by the way while you're going to for it before you go first from these three get Galatians 6 Galatians 6 verse 7 Galatians 6:7 be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting and let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not what I want you to notice here is whatever the answer to this question is in terms of the believer that lives a life displeasing to God God is not mocked his man so smart that he can figure out a way to get away with things no that's not how it works there will ultimately be justice in these things get with me 1st corinthians 3 and 1st corinthians 3 is going to give us the answer 1st corinthians chapter 3 verse 10 according to the grace of god which is given unto me the me there is clearly paul since he's the author of first corinthians which has given unto me as a wise masterbuilder 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 so Paul says he's the wise masterbuilder he laid the foundation there's no other foundation that can be built upon so if you build upon the foundation of confucius does it do you any good no Jesus Christ is the only foundation now notice verse 12 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 now if you notice at the end of verse 10 it said let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon so can you lose your salvation no you but you have choices about how you built paul specifically says take heed how you build and then in verse 12 he explains their six different building materials gold silver precious stones wood hay and stubble what is your work going to be tested by fire so does it matter which building material you choose sure it does now I don't know this but it's fast that you know a fascinating story is the story of the three little pigs right what are the three little pigs do they're trying to escape from the big bad wolf and they each build their home with something different right and one of them builds it out of straw I think and one builds it out of sticks and one builds it out of brick if I'm not mistaken and the big bad wolf comes along and the the materials that are clearly inferior and defective he destroys right and so the the big bad wolf is a parable an allegory about building with the right materials well that's really what first Corinthians 3 is about except it's not fictitious it's it's real look with me at verse 14 if any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward so the gentleman described the Saint described in verse 14 what must he have built with gold silver precious stones something that would survive the fire what happens when gold is burned well the the impurities are removed right because gold has a different melting point from other minerals that it's typically found in conjunction with that what happens is when it's it's burned when it's melted the impurities are removed similar with with silver so fire doesn't really hurt cold it refines it but what about wood hay and stubble consumed look at verse 15 if any man's work shall be burned so that's obviously wood hay and stubble he shall suffer loss the loss in verse 15 is the loss of reward from verse 14 it is not the loss of salvation how do I know that this is really complicated and is going to involve some very deep studies you ready what are the next five words but he himself shall be saved in other words the verse explicitly tells you the the person that built with the raw materials with wood hay and stubble they suffer loss the loss obviously has to be loss of reward because it then specifically says he himself shall be saved so there are two things going on that are absolutely clear the first one is this when you believe the gospel you are saved eternally you cannot lose your salvation because your salvation is maintained by the Holy Spirit so there's no way for you to lose it that conclusion does not mean live in the old way you want the second truth is that the fire of God's Word is going to try our works it will determine whether they are gold silver precious stones or wood hay or stubble does it matter how we live the saved people yes because it determines our reward are there different rewards in heaven there are and so it matters how we live now if you would there's a handout that I passed out if you would take a look at that we'll start to work through this I want to show you some of the distinctions between inheritance and reward and it's just helpful to get clear in our minds how this this operates in the scriptures so let's start at the top left inheritance and get with me Galatians chapter 4 Galatians chapter 4 verse 6 Galatians 4:6 and because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father well we became sons the moment we had faith that's how that weren't verse 7 wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ now let's understand this the way that having a son works is you once you have a son you have a son and it is an irreversible decision right you can get mad Adam you can fight with them you can argue with them you can do all those things but they're still your son because that relationship exists it's eternal that's how it works and what happens for the believer is when the believer believes the gospel that very moment they become a son now look at what verse 7 says carefully and if a son then an heir how many sons of God are disinherited none according to that right if a son then an heir I can give you some really good advice here if you want to get rich my advice for this this is the best way to do it have extremely wealthy parents it works very well it's simple its straightforward it really doesn't involve a lot of effort I recommend it highly if reincarnation were true I'd try it sometime in the future reincarnation is not not true my point is this there are situations in human affairs where people are disinherited aren't there does God disinherit any of his sons and the answer is no he does not the nature of inheritance is that you get it by virtue of relationship you see that now let's contrast that with reward so get with me Romans chapter 4 Romans chapter 4 Romans 4 verse 4 now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt here's what that means when you work for something you receive compensation as a matter of debt not a matter of grace so think of it this way you work all week for your employer they pay you at the end of the week when they pay you they are rewarding you they are recompensa you they're compensating you for the labor you performed it is actually a debt that they owe you isn't it what would happen if at the end of the week your boss comes into your office and says hey I wanted to give this to you by grace well number one that's not true and number two it's insulting isn't it in other words what he's saying is you didn't earn this this week but I'm just gonna give this to you out of the kindness of my heart the way that reward operates is that it's compensation for services performed it's not grace it's something that is earned look with me at revelation 22 revelation 22 revelation 22 verse 12 and behold I come quickly this is Jesus Christ and my reward is with me notice this to give every man according as his work shall be the reward there is obviously based upon a man's work now just think about this there's rewards are relevant both for saved people and unsaved people if you think of saved folks so what happens at the catching up the body of Christ goes through the judgment seat of Christ we read about in 1st Corinthians 3 1st Corinthians 3 said the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is and then verse 13 or first 14 I'm sorry talked about a reward so that a believer receives a reward on the basis of their work what happens to an unbeliever in the next life do they receive a reward they do but it's really not one that you would want isn't it they receive pay back they receive the just reward of their sins in fact here's what happens they think about this this is rather sobering if you're lost you know what happens in life every additional day that you live what do you end up doing Paul describes it as treasuring up wrath unfortunately what happens for the lost man is every additional day he lives what does he do he sins more and more and the cumulative weight of those sins Paul describes in Romans as treasuring up wrath which is why it's critically important for people to get saved let me give you another illustration of reward that always helped me when I think of the word reward what I most commonly think of is the Old West right where they put up wanted posters and it says you know Billy the Kid wanted dead or alive reward $100 whatever it is now think about this with me for a minute what happens under that scenario if you go out and you try to find Billy the Kid but you just can't find him do you go to the guy that posted the poster say hey look we searched really hard we didn't find him but we searched really hard and so we're here for our reward well what's the how's it work you have to fulfill the conditions to get the reward if you don't fulfill the conditions you don't get the reward that's how rewards work right in other words you can see that the way a reward operates is it doesn't operate on the basis of grace it operates on the basis of you either accomplished the task or you did not and so the judgment of first Corinthians 3 the judgment seat of Christ you have to understand that's not a judgment based upon grace the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is and if the work is gold silver precious stones it will be rewarded but if it's not it will be consumed look with me at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 now we're all familiar with the verse second Timothy 2:15 but let's read it closely and see what it says study to show thyself approved unto God it's the only explicit command to study the scriptures and that is contained in the Bible study to show thyself approved unto God and then notice what it says a workman when we were in 1st Corinthians 3 said the fire shall try every man's work that fits perfectly with what we're looking at here and then it says a workman that needeth not to be what ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth I don't know if you've ever had this experience a lot of times when there are building projects there's hiccups along the way I've seen ones where people build something whether it's a fountain or whatever and they build it in the wrong spot and they just misread the blueprints and it's wrong and when that happens it's sort of embarrassing right it's embarrassing and it might be really expensive because you might have to rip it out and redo it it might cause a delay well think about this just for a minute has God given us very specific instructions as to how he wants us to build he has that's the basic reason he preserved the Word of God for us so what happens if we show up at the judgment seat of Christ and say yeah I didn't follow Paul but you know I had some other things that wanted to do and they were in the Bible well how does God feel about that in other words essentially yeah I didn't do what you told me to do but I did some other things I wanted to do that's really not a very compelling response is it I wanted you to do this you didn't do it it's essentially disobedience or carelessness what second Timothy 2:15 says they work on that needeth not to be ashamed clearly what second Timothy two is warning about is there's going to be a lot of christendom a lot of saved people a lot of the body of Christ is really the better way to say it that show up at the judgement seat of Christ and you know what they end up shamed because they didn't build the way God told them to build now that should be a sobering thing in other words there's two things I want you to get in your mind if I could your saves in an instant forever that's glorious that is fabulous right you believe the gospel you're saved you can't lose it that is unspeakably tremendous the rest of your life still matters because there is a judgment and the judgment will be based upon works and it does matter how you live and if you know that judgment is coming and that judgment is from a holy God that has told you what he wants you to do we need to take very seriously his instructions now what's fascinating a second Timothy 15 it's a workman that needeth not to be ashamed well who wants to be ashamed crying so we need to be careful not to avoid it and then it immediately connects it with what rightly dividing the word of truth my observation is this you can decide for yourself when you look at Christendom the various denominations of Christendom exist as a result of the failure to rightly divide the word of truth I'll give you one instance there's lots of disagreement among the dispensations on how to water baptized sprinkling full immersion baptize only as adults baptized as infants if you rightly divide the word of truth and you believe what Paul says in Ephesians 4 when he says there is one Lord one faith one baptism and first Corinthians 12 tells you that it is a spiritual baptism into Christ it would give you the clarity to realize wait a minute I'm doing none of those things right before I knew any better I've been baptized twice neither of them water baptized is what I mean none of them did me any good right so the thing that I'm just encouraging about is this sometimes people give you this sense well right division is sort of a that's an advanced thing it's extra-credit it's sort of complicated we just need to love Jesus and not have any doctrine that is very very foolish the judgment seat of Christ is going to be a judgment of man's works and it is going to be on the basis of whether those works are consistent with rightly dividing the word of truth in other words are they what God would have us to do today I'll give you another for instance one of the things I always find interesting as you go through life you end up in all kinds of different church buildings don't you for for weddings and receptions and this that and the other voting and so on and it's always fascinating if you can find literature there that explains how they think about the gospel what do you need to go to heaven because that of course is the single most important question that everyone should answer and when you just read through those tracks you realize the confusion that people have many of them insist that you need to do things that you don't need to do think about that there's massive denominations with millions and millions of dollars in huge buildings and seminaries and ministerial alliances and this that and the other and they're not preaching the gospel of grace clearly it's the equivalent of building a mega mansion out of straw right we think about first for those three people can build with wood hay and stubble they might build very large structures out of wood hay and stubble but a large structure made out of wood hay and stubble is just as flammable as a small one isn't it maybe more so so we'll pause there we'll pick up with the chart during the second hour so father thank you for your time thank you for allowing us to have this time thank you for your word which you have preserved for us we pray Lord that we would take these truths to heart and they would impact our lives it's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray amen

Channel: Columbus Bible Church

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Length: 33min 54sec (2034 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 16 2019