Labourers With God | 1 Corinthians - Lesson 8

[Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] so so so [Music] so [Music] foreign [Music] all right appreciate you braving the hurricane tonight we've been blessed we hadn't hadn't had one of those yet this year we've had about everything else but i appreciate the man helping out with the umbrellas out front and if it's not raining with churches over we'll have about 30 spare umbrellas out there for you to choose from but great to have you with us tonight we've got visitors from pennsylvania stopped in this evening it's good to meet them great to have brothers and sisters in christ all over the country and around the world we thank the lord for that and uh more sad news to see it seems like the sad news won't stop many of remember our brother arthur from poland and arthur went to be with the lord this week had a heart attack and absent from his body and present with his savior and so arthur arthur got saved we had this little window one summer and in in a space of about three or four months we had 21 people saved and baptized and arthur got saved and got witness into a waitress who was a jehovah's witness and he was so excited about jesus she came to church with him and she walked out in the middle of a sunday school lesson and said if that's uh the the guy teaching sunday school was reading hebrews 8 1 8 that the father called jesus thy throne o god is forever and ever she stepped out in the house she said if that's true i'll trust him and so it's true it's right there in the bible she went came right up here and knelt down got saved and uh so arthur one heard of the lord and then she he moved uh off and then she moved to atlanta and both of them just live for jesus the rest of their lives and of course he'll live for jesus the rest of his life now where he is so but these are sad sad times with all this death and dying and funerals and everything but we've got everlasting life not to look forward to we have it we have everlasting life just somehow it seems in our minds we we separate eternal life when we get there from what we have here and now but we we have eternal life right now the gift of god is is eternal life through jesus christ our lord so so we thank god for that all right doug's in his place michael get to half the orchestra here tonight madeline's ready all right but todd's going to lead singing tonight we had a little strep throat thing going through some of our children and so the parents have them home tonight number of them keeping them out until until that's over something every week it seems this summer every week and something so all right had everybody lou i think he said [Laughter] i'm old and he's maxed masked masked it's bad combination these poor people working in these stores i know they they get angry but i'm not trying to be mean i just i don't i don't know what you're saying and then they take the mask off and i still don't know what they're saying so that it's just me that doesn't help so thank you don't yell at me i think he's making fun of me brother baine pray for us we pray lord please you bless us for the message from the lord of god tonight help us to apply those things to our life we ask for those that are sick in our church that should take care of them look over them thank you for the good things that's going on this week be with those who grieve now help us god to understand that this is what life is all about help us trust you more with prayer amen amen there's some clips up here i don't know if these are for me or someone left them up here no i just if you need them i don't know we're off to quite the start this evening all right todd come ahead all right how's everybody doing tonight all right i don't like what this rain does to my hair but all right let's turn to number 445 445 no not one there's not a friend like the lowly jesus no not one no not one none else could heal all our souls these seasons no not one no not one jesus knows all about our struggles he will guide till the day is done there's not a friend like the lonely jesus no not one no not one no friend like him is so high and [Music] no not one no jesus knows all about our struggles he will die there's not a friend [Music] no jesus knows all about our struggles he will die there's not a friend like the no not one no not one or sinner fine that he would not take jesus goes all about our struggles he will die no there's not a friend like the holy amen all right let's turn over number 75 7-5 abide with me 75. abide with me fast falls even tight the darkness fail and [Music] foreign [Music] glory [Music] i need thy presence my guide as they can be me for my closing shine through the blue man point me to the sky and shadows amen man what a good song 148 it's 148 nice to have something sure in these days something solid something we can rest in yeah that's it's amazing what a great god we serve 148 will jesus find us watching when jesus noon comes night faithful to him will he find us watching with our lentil trend and bride how can we say waiting waiting when the lord shall come if at the dawn of the early morning he shall call us [Music] ready waiting waiting till the lord shall come we been true to the trust he left us do we seek to do our best if in our hearts there is they will be fine you and me still watching waiting waiting when the lord shall come blessing are those who the lord fights watching in his glory they shall share if he shall come at the dawn or midnight will he find us watching them still [Music] amen that second verse it says if at the dawn of early morning some of us be like hey hey hey parents can relate 363 please 363. dare to be a daniel 363 standing by a purpose command [Music] many giants great and tall stalking through the land head everyone to the earth [Music] dare to stand alone this just in dark gray sonata parked on the east side florida tagged we won't read that on there your engine is running that's your car it's uh it is waiting for you to come and shut her down all right let's see what else we have here by way of announcements this evening book of philippians we'll get to that in just a second teen activities uh friday leaving the church house 5 15 for youth rally tabernacle baptist in orlando teen and parent meeting follow the morning service this sunday and then teens go to the browns for lunch and nursing home outreach to follow at two o'clock boys and girls ages five to twelve you have an activity tomorrow no no saturday saturday september 18 8 30 to 2 please pack a picnic lunch then our memorial service for our beloved brother john douglas will be monday september the 20th 6 o'clock in the evening here in the in the auditorium john is irreplaceable irreplaceable you just you don't come across men like that but every so often and we surely miss him thank you and everyone who has labored in some way or another this week to help sister ginny with all that is involved in funeral prep and and bookkeeping and all the just the hundreds and hundreds of things that have to be done and i really appreciate uh her being able to lean upon people of her of her church and she's going to need a lot of help in the days ahead uh it's just these things they just force you to to face these realities you know my wife and i were this week just going over things and and you you hate to even think about you know living ones one's got to live without the other and all that's involved in that you don't like to think about it these these crazy times in which we live you you'd think the churches would be jam-packed full of people turning to god and seeking hope and seeking life and they just they just sit there in front of the tv set get lied to all day long and and the lies of last week they tell new lives this week and the people that believed last week's lie believe this week's lie you'd think at some point people get tired of being lied to and turn and try some try some truth but they're just they're they're mesmerized by the talking heads on that on that box in their living room and uh since they won't come to church we'll just have to take church to them so public ministry tomorrow uh three places in deland are for by wendy's high traffic not a lot of foot traffic there 15 a and 44 higher traffic almost no foot traffic there unless you're competing with the folks asking for money out there and then down uh where 15a runs back into 17 uh high traffic uh very little pedestrian uh flow there but a lot of a lot of cars and then downtown deland with what i understand we have real good crowds down there of of our people last few weeks and that's a blessing a lot of good conversations down there foot traffic and so forth so boardwalk in daytona beach saturday evening church street saturday night we on for saint augustine tomorrow are we yes okay saint augustine public ministry tomorrow people from all over the world come to that boardwalk in daytona and the uh and the tourist area in saint augustine so don't tell people about jesus that's those great opportunities and then our nursing home services friday evening and sunday afternoon pray pray pray pray pray we can get good news clubs going again in the schools it's not up to the school district it's not even up to the cef people all that the yes or the no resides in the heart of the principle of these schools and if you see these these people at 15 16 17 years old you know we got it we've got to try to get them when they're six seven eight nine years old before the hearts are so hard and so uh setting the things the world so pray that we can get those doors cracked back open all right philippians we're memorizing this book together in 2021 i enjoyed memorizing chapter one and chapter two i look forward to memorizing them again toward the end of the year trying to reintroduce those verses but tonight philippians 3 and let's uh let's see if we can do one through 14 together how many is up up for that don't raise your hand just well some did some all right philippians chapter 3 verse 1 finally my brethren rejoice in the lord to write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous but for you it is safe beware of dogs beware of evil workers beware of the concision for we are the circumcision which worship god and the spirit and rejoice in christ jesus and put no have no confidence in the flesh though i might also have confidence in the flesh if any other man think of thee whereof he might trust in the flesh i more circumcised the eighth day of the stock of israel of the tribe of benjamin and hebrew or the hebrews as touching the law of pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church as touch and righteousness which is in the law blameless but what things were gained to me though counted lost for christ yea doubtless and i count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge christ jesus my lord for whom i have suffered the loss of all things and to count them but dung that i may win christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness through the faith of christ the righteousness which is of god by faith that i may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means i might attain unto the resurrection of the dead not as though i had already attained i there were already perfect but i follow after if that i may apprehend that for which also i am apprehended of christ jesus brethren i count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing i do forgetting those things which are behind towards those things which are before i press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god in christ jesus amen nice to have a microphone to amplify all your mistakes when you all right nicole matute either yesterday or today was her birthday is it so today or yesterday today all right that's great and julie and keith bailey all three three today so whatever you normally give you'll have to cut it in thirds and we're thankful steve holt's better he's sitting down about that so living better chemically but we'll take whatever we can get and i thank the lord that treatments helped him some and got him some relief and then her brother brian zimmerman is home from the from the hospital and doing better and uh sister tremblay is better she's improving uh getting the victory over this uh non-coveted pneumonia and so we thank the lord for for those answers to prayer and then all the others on please keep on your prayer list michelle parson needs surgery and was told today she's hoping to have the surgery tomorrow that the robot is not available to perform surgery tomorrow uh and apparently without if the robot's not working then the doctor's not working so she's trying to get that rescheduled and really needs that operation so i hope you pray for her among the many others that are on there on our prayer list so all right what am i forgetting wow that's great having a better day than the president he forgot a bunch of people in afghanistan all right we won't go there tonight um i don't mean afghanistan i'd like to go there and get those people home but that's out of my out of my power deuce okay um singer anybody singing tonight no all right we're just gonna start calling on people i've seen preachers do that it can get real interesting all right first corinthians chapter three i don't have a lengthy message for you tonight you've heard that before one that i i trust to be very encouraging it is to me was to me continues to be encouraging truth to my heart the conflict in corinth before we get to what we would consider some of the really heinous crimes committed by these people the holy spirit first focuses on the division among them and their inability to love one another and care for one another and and treat the other better than themselves and that's dealt with in chapter two and chapter three in chapter four and we talked about that on uh sunday past i want to go back with without redoing the whole chapter to get the entire context of the matter they are carnal verse number three because there is envying strife and divisions in their congregation and that makes them carnal they walk as men men just don't get along with other men women just don't get along with other women but save men and saved women have the holy spirit the fruit of the spirit they're supposed to be able to get along with other men and other women and when they don't they're just walking like lost people living like people don't know don't know christ and and they're rebuked for it and then we're told that we need to get over that because of the day when we stand before jesus christ to have our lives tried and examined so that we might be rewarded we're not if you're saved if you trust christ your savior you're not going to stand before the lord in heaven to determine whether or not you get to go to heaven or not you're you're in heaven or whether or not you're saved or not you're saved you wouldn't be there it's to determine the reward that you're going to earn and that you have earned and that you'll enjoy throughout all of eternity and so the bible says here in verse number six i have planted apollos watered but god gave the increase it's a farming reference everyone doesn't do the same thing but everyone does something i was reading a book this week uh some sermons by uh homer smith he he was in charge of a mission board for many many years and he's in heaven now but he said he said in my life i've heard people give god glory because they quit smoking or quit drinking or quit stealing or quit cussing he said i'm waiting for all those people doing nothing to quit doing nothing he said he said i'd like to see that some of that kind of quitting someday but so so some plants some water the increase all belongs to god but that doesn't mean there's not a necessity for planting and watering notice god doesn't plant god doesn't water god gives the increase so there's a there's a cooperation here god does some and and god's people do some so then neither is he that planteth anything neither he that watereth but god that giveth the increase now it doesn't say the one that planted didn't do anything says the one that planted isn't anything and no one what does say the one that water didn't do anything so the one that planted the water isn't anything god's everything but god doesn't do everything see all the songs in the church are to honor the lord and all the preaching in the church should honor the lord and all the fellowship in the church should honor the lord we don't just sit around and wait for the lord to preach the gospel and wait for the lord to win souls and wait for the lord to teach the bible and wait for the lord to support missions we do our work i started to say for the lord i would have been wrong we do it we do our work but god gets the honor and god gets the glory now stay with it stay with it now see the word 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 important it's going to be repeated in the passage notice where the now is the now is on the labor notice where the reward is the reward is on later our town is full of people who quit serving god because they didn't consider themselves sufficiently rewarded do you see that you don't get rewarded now you work now you get rewarded when the work your work is over see that that's important well you know i went knocking on doors and i didn't see anybody come to church well i give out tracks i didn't see anybody get saved well you know i put some money in the offering plate and and i didn't see this this return on my investment like like the tv preacher talked about you're not reading the bible now is the time for planting now is the time for watering now is the time when god brings in an increase now is not the time to receive a reward for your labor that's that's pretty well spelled out so read it again having pointed out read the verse again now now he that planteth eateth water one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor so there's not a person take take it for what it says there's not a person who labors for the lord that shall not be rewarded praise god there is not a person who labors for the lord that shall not receive a reward for what he did or what she did isn't that a blessing that's a blessing praise the lord now in this present hour we work together and and we are all one in that work so somebody prays and somebody gives and somebody invites and somebody preaches and somebody greets and somebody cleans the building and everybody has a part and god gets glory and a good church service and we all get a blessing from that when he's talking about reward it's not a corporate reward it's not a group reward we are not competing with each other down here to be the best soul winner i said the longest prayers or i wrote the biggest check or i i preached the most dynamic sermon no we're working together right now so god can get all the glory but he said there's coming a day when the slackers who got a blessing out of the sunday morning service and contributed nothing will be in a place where all they get is a reward for what they contributed and they won't get any reward because they didn't contribute anything and then there's coming a day when the people who worked and worked and worked and worked and worked all week long and came to church and got the same blessing heard the same songs the same sermon the same air conditioning that the people who did nothing there's coming day when those people are going to really and truly get what's coming to them praise god so the idea is not i worked for jesus all week and i came to church on sunday to cash in you don't cash in on sunday you don't cash in at age 62. you don't cash in when you when you win a certain number of souls and all the alarm bells go off the confetti falls out of the sky it doesn't work that way there is coming a day when what you did or didn't do will be the subject of your own personal judgment and you will receive your own personal reward at the hand of the lord jesus christ right now we all work together we all weep together rejoice together labor together suffer together have a good time together and give all the glory to the lord jesus christ there's coming a day when it's not going to be a communist socialist group thing there's coming a day when each individual is going to account for their life with their savior and he's going to reward each individual for what that individual did for jesus christ it has to be important has to be important because this is at the start of eternity and you're gonna carry those rewards and display those rewards and make use of those rewards forever and ever and ever and just as surely as you can't understand the joy of being in heaven the peace of being in heaven the liberty of living in a body without sin and the effects of sin you can't possibly comprehend sitting here tonight what it will mean to have everlasting rewards from jesus christ but just go for it just go for it anyway and and when you when you get there you say well i'm sure glad i went after this i'm i'm sure glad i pursued this now look at verse number nine again for we are laborers together and and this is where it takes a a strange turn we are laborers together with god and this is really incredible this is really incredible god has not asked us to work for him without him he has asked us to work with him see he was building his church before you got saved he was sowing the good seed in his field before you were born so it's not like you start something for god and then hope you've heard this baptist phrase and hope god gets in it or you start something for the lord and hope the lord shows up but we had a church service today and the holy ghost came well okay i i understand all those expressions what you're saying is i set out to try and do something for god and it seemed like god was pleased with it and god put his blessing okay i get all that but biblically god started something and he lets you get in it and god's doing something and he lets me show up and the holy ghost is at work and he allows our participation in his work now that's entirely different that's entirely different if you rent a storefront and try to get a bunch of people together and preach to them and call it a church and hope god is pleased enough with it to come and pay it a visit that's a whole lot different than knowing i am saved and part of the body of jesus christ and here's a town without a bible preaching church let's do the work of god in this town see he's he's already at work in the soul-winning business and the and the the building up christian business and the the training believers business so what a joy to know that unlike so many tasks and so many jobs where we're glad to have have a job we're glad to have employment of some sort but the the the owner of the operation is not pitching in or contributing or side by side with us at the middle of the factory in the shop whatever the case might be god himself the bible says god himself is laboring together with us we are laboring together with god isn't that an amazing thing to be involved in a work that god is involved in we're not doing something for god that would be that would be great but it's better than that we're doing something with god that's incredible you think about it it's not like god's a a billion miles away somewhere and we're down here doing something and one day uh the lord will reward us or not that he is going to reward us or not reward us but he's not a billion miles away christ in you the hope of glory the holy ghost of god residing in the believer now why why is that so important and we'll get to it in a second here in verse number 9 for we are laborers together with god watch carefully ye are god's husbandry ye are god's building and now it takes another strange twist from our our common understanding of this thing i'm not working for god i'm working with god i'm not doing a work that i hope god comes and joins god's doing a work that he's allowed me to come and join but now watch this we know when it comes to evangelism the field is the world and pray therefore the lord of the harvest heat sin labor us out into the field and the sower went forth to sow in the sources of we get that but in this passage the building is you in this passage the field is you now come on read it again because i it's really important that you get this for we are laborers together with god ye are god's husbandry ye are god's building you want it reinforced verse 16 know ye not that ye are the temple of god and that the spirit of god dwelleth in you if any man defile the temple of god and so forth now now why is this so important take your new testament just in your mind just just try to try to read the whole new testament in in three seconds and and get a quick look at the entire new testament all the verses in that new testament about you witnessing the lost people and winning souls and bringing men to christ don't even register when compared to all the verses in the new testament how god wants you to live your life for every verse in the new testament about preaching a sermon there's a thousand verses about how god wants you to live your life so so let me just give you a couple of scenarios here that would never apply to anyone you know or i know or anyone sitting under this roof a man gets home from work it's soul-winning night he puts his new testament his pocket he puts his gospel tracts in his pocket and he he goes out and he knocks on doors and he gets 26 people to say the sinner's prayer who don't know what they're talking about or why they're doing it but other than he's got his foot in the door and they want him they want him to leave so they say the sinner's prayer and then he comes that comes to church that sunday and says bless god i want 26 souls to christ like he did last week and the week before the week before that and not one of them has ever come to church but this guy's a soul winner he's a door knocker he is an evangelist he's a zealous worker for christ and he hates his wife and he's rude to his children and he's abusive on his job and he's a pervert on his computer do you think jesus christ saved that man so he could knock on doors and hand out tracks and live like satan not a chance and and this idea that at the judgment seat of christ preacher x is going to get a big reward because he had a big congregation and and drove a big car and made a name for himself and he didn't live according to principles new testament and he didn't live according to the life that jesus christ intended for a saved person to live and you think somebody's going to get a reward because they were famous you think somebody's going to get a reward because they were successful you think somebody's going to get a reward because they were large their ministry not not not them you know so what you just read jesus christ is plowing you and jesus christ is weeding you and jesus christ is fertilizing you and jesus christ is watering you and jesus christ wants to harvest some fruit of the spirit in your life and what he wants is he wants every one of us to cooperate with him in the work that he's trying to do in our lives i want to win souls to christ i want to preach sermons that help people learn the bible i want to give money to spread the gospel around the world but if i'm a lying cussing swearing arrogant rude individual that's not christianity that's works done in god's name maybe for my glory maybe for god's glory but it's it's a rejection of the work of the holy spirit and the life of a saved man and our crowd i don't know what other crowds are i don't think i don't know that they care how anybody lives but our crowd we give a pass to people who are personally unrighteous if they're gifted or talented in what we consider ministry if a guy's dynamic speaker if a man's a great singer or a woman is a great musician or a fellow is a great preacher a bible teacher they can get divorced they can cheat on their wife they can steal they can be they can be obnoxious oh yeah but but he really knows the bible apparently not you never have to make excuses for the life jesus christ lived you shouldn't have to make excuses for the life any of his followers live reason we don't tie biblical christianity or evangelical to a political party is i don't have to make excuses for jesus christ i've got to make a boatload of excuses for donald trump or anybody else because they're not righteous they might be right about something but they're not righteous and i shouldn't have to make the same excuses for king james bible-believing preachers and christians and soul winners and singers that i do for politicians i remember when i first started traveling i i was i was honestly i was so naive i really i was so naive and i would preach this meeting there was a guy there i won't name him but he was a well-known singer in in bible believing circles and great singer had some of his cassette tapes i'd listen to and and found out during the course of that meeting that that guy was there singing and his wife sitting on the front row was wife number six but he really loved the lord and women apparently but he really sang he had a beautiful singing voice well perry como had a beautiful singing voice andy williams and the bear they they somebody anybody there's supposed to be more to this thing than talent accomplishment success and one day you're gonna find that that men that labored in little small churches and little small towns and never seem to get anywhere are gonna get great big rewards because they were holy and righteous and faithful and true to the word of god some of these big big pumped up heroes it's going to be a bonfire at the judgment seat of christ not because they didn't win souls and teach the bible and accomplish stuff but because they didn't help god labor in the field of their life now watch it again look at verse number nine you're god's husbandry ye are god's building your god's building according the grace of god which is given unto me as a wise master builder i've laid the foundation another buildeth thereon let every man see every man take heed how he buildeth there upon it's very specific what are you building on this foundation amen what are you building on this fountain well the foundation is jesus christ absolutely holy absolutely righteous sinless son of god you can't build sin on top of that it doesn't fit you can't build unrighteousness on top of that you can't build uh put iniquity on that foundation it's not meat it's not fit so lord said here's what i want to do i want to make you like christ will you cooperate i want to make you like my son whom he did come over we've said this in romans are you saved justified all right who'd be justified let me also glorified all things work together of good them love god then we're called according to his purpose what's the purpose that you may be conformed to the image of his son so what god wants to do here here he gave you jesus christ there's the foundation now what i want to do is i want to build an entire life on that foundation that ends with you being like christ did you help with that today did you participate in that work today okay this this is this is easy this is low low hanging low hanging fruit i pick this fruit all day long because it's easy and i i couldn't this wouldn't be the example anywhere else because you're faithful zealous servants of christ so i won't i won't even use you i'll use somebody from long long ago bless his heart this old boy got saved i'd take him with me in house house visitation we're in one living room one day and i'm i'm talking this woman about i got the bible open she's listening and she's doing doing like this and i'm talking to her she's doing like this and i finally looked over that guy had pushed the cushions off her couch laid down put his leg up on the back of the couch and gone sound asleep in somebody's living room while i'm trying to witness to her it was the comforter had come and and anyway so we're out from the shopping center we're giving out gospel tracks and this lady pulls up she gets out of her car she got her pocketbook and she she's shuffling into the store and he said he's a big smile on his face he said good good afternoon ma'am can i give you a gospel tract about jesus christ and she said no i don't want that and he instantly he said then go to hell she said what i said what we we were we were in agreement now you know what he was doing he was out there serving the lord but he wasn't like the lord and it didn't take but one little push of one of his buttons to show that while he was laboring in god's name he wasn't building on god's foundation in his personal life you understand that some of the fiercest fights god's people ever get in our husbands and wives on the way to church round two after church i went to church i sang the hymns i listened to the sermon i dropped in my ten dollars i hate my wife i hate my kids i hate my husband i hate everybody you understand what he's saying here the lord's trying to build a life yours mine oh lord's trying to build a life that he can reward when we stand before him verse number verse number 11. for other foundation can no man lay then 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 should be made manifest so i don't guess we could be conscious of this all the time but if we if we understood it and got in our heart we could could practice it get the place where we practice it without being conscious of it we went on on a trip here a couple of weeks ago uh seemed like a month ago already and and david lauren went with us and their three children and 600 times 600 times in five days i would say some ask kids i want kids questions yes yes sir yes sir next question no no sir no sir over and over and over and over again and and you know why because many of you came in tonight and i said good to see you and say good to see you sir doing okay yes sir you didn't think i'm supposed to say yes sir you didn't think about that you just got the place where where that's how it was now here's what the lord wants you to do he wants to get the place in your life where before you say something is this gold or is it stubble before you do something is this silver or is it wood before you act in a certain way is this precious stones or is it just more kindling wood for the fire of my life as everything goes up in smoke he's trying to get us to understand that everybody's not an evangelist a pastor an apostle a soloist a a millionaire that supports missions and he's so he's not going to reward success he's not going to reward quantity what did he say of what sort it is what kind of person were you yes sir you know i i i i'm not talking religiously now a charismatic skillful unsaved man could be a great preacher move hearts persuade minds if he gave the gospel people believed the gospel not the man the gospel souls would be saved the guy didn't even know the lord over the course of my christian life i could just name you top of the charts top of the charts top of the charts top of the charts some of the great christian singers known and loved and and tbn and ptl and all the rest of it and adultery adultery adultery adultery adultery meaning what they can sing not talented enough to sing on a secular label but way way better than the people singing on the gospel label and so they rise to the top of their profession sell a lot of records people get you know get the tears jerked out of their eyes and some people get saved hearing the songs and then the woman has an affair with the road manager and and divorces her husband and just goes right on singing you know take take six months off put a picture of a of a you know some sheep and a pasture on the record cover instead of her picture because she's with child and and then we'll just pick right up in a year or so like nothing ever happened god's sick to death of all that stuff he'll build his church you don't think he could build a thousand member church 50 member church 500 member church 10 000 member church why he's got talent he's got ability he's got drive he's got energy he's got he's got power right he can do that but he's righteous he's holy and he's trying to build righteous people and holy people and he wants our cooperation and and that's what he's going to reward us for how about that now think about this what if this week you want two people to christ wouldn't that be wonderful for their sake for their families say that'd be great great what if also this week two times where you used to curse you didn't curse where you used to blow a fuse you blew a fuse where you used to look at a dirty picture instead you read your bible that's valuable to christ that's what he's trying to say it doesn't have to be a wheelbarrow full of gold a nugget will do see doesn't have to be a a trunk full of silver just a little little bit here a little bit there it adds up adds up over the course of your life all right so verse number 13 every man's work should be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be real by fire and the fire to try the man's work watch the phrase of what sort it is not how much what sort if any man's work abide which he hath built there upon he shall receive a reward if a man's work should be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself should be saved yet so as by fire so it's the issue here is not salvation it's reward all right so this not politics when i say that it usually ends up sounding like politics but it's not politics did you see what god said about rewards you get a reward for your labor and if somebody opted out of labor while you labored jesus isn't going to take half your reward and give it to them so it can be fair you're going to get what you earned and the people who didn't earn anything aren't going to get anything now president trump remember anybody remember president trump president trump uh just before he was re-elected was was making a speech on the on the campaign trail and he said america is not a socialist nation it will never be a socialist nation that's that's the greatest misstatement he made as far as i know in four years he could have been more wrong amen could have been more wrong i'm paying for people i've never met to go to college why i'm paying for people who nobody in their families worked for four generations i'm paying for their rent and nobody asked me if i wanted to it's amazing we passed this this billboard you know out west that said uh one one out of every five or six people in america goes to bed hungry how we're giving you food amen you're you don't pay for your food at the grocery store and then your kids get three meals a day on top of that at the schoolhouse and if you get hungry enough you just well it's hard to go to jail anymore but but you do something go to jail and feed you there that's amazing so if you own an apartment building you know the government tells you who you can rent it to and how much you can charge and that now they're talking about well it's you know it's not fair because these these people you know because of covid they can't pay their rent and they're going to get kicked out of their homes it's not their home if that man owns the house and you're living in the house he's not throwing you out of your house this country's it's just it's so far gone you can't remember where it was before it left i mean it's gone you know what jesus said i am not going to reward the members of the bible baptist church for what the people who worked for me in the bible baptist church did i'm going to reward each individual for their labor about that now here's some hard stuff when we get to chapter six the lord's going to say don't go to court and sue each other it's a bad testimony go to the church and get it worked out and if you suffer loss you suffer loss you know the only way you can do that is if you think you're going to be rewarded for doing right not now but but forever you get to chapter seven you know what the lord says if your husband's an unbeliever hang in there raise your kids for christ take whatever you've got to take if your wife's unsaved hang in there stay with her raise your kids to christ don't leave well i'm not happy now see now i'm not happy now it's difficult you know what the lord said i'm going to reward you from see our problem is again it's this american mindset if i don't see instant satisfaction instant reward instant payoff for doing right i'm gonna quit doing right and the lord says i'm not going to reward you now but i am going to reward you forever if you will do what i ask you to do man that's a tough thing because we're so now oriented i've said this before about about money i didn't think much about giving really when i was healthy and young and got your whole life in front of you but now i'm watching all my friends retire it's a blessing pension social security and all that stuff and and we're all getting older and our our prime earning years or are behind us and all that so you sit down i don't know how much it comes to ten percent fifteen percent twenty percent of your money for sixty fifty some years of your life that's a lot of money and you know what these tv preachers say well you know you put that hundred dollars in the offering plate and god will turn it into a thousand let me ask you something when those guys in the old testament went sacrificed the bullock did they walk home with ten cows that's why it's called a sacrifice it's gone that money is gone i gave my money to god well good because some people think they invested it no it's called an offering it's called giving it's not called lending there's a bank right up the road here they got on their side it says it says borrow borrow pay repeat you know who that works for the bank that's who that works for anyway so here we go tell you that that money you say you gave to missions that money you gave to support your church thank you thank you for giving it if you think you're going to get rewarded financially in this life for giving away 20 of your money you've been listening to the wrong people when you stand before the lord jesus christ he is going to reward you for what you did he's not going to reward the body collectively for what the body collectively did for him so right now every sunday thank the lord every sunday the people come to church here enjoy well-kept grounds a clean building tuned instruments well played bible teaching facilities nursery vans pick you up drop you off it's all provided by a few people so everyone can enjoy it and everybody is rewarded for the labor of the few that's now at the judgment seat of christ you don't do nothing you ain't getting nothing and the people that work for the lord they are going to be rewarded for it so if you get your eyes on now you're going to get you're going to get disappointed but keep your eyes on eternity it'll be great all right three verses are two verses real quickly ephesians chapter two i want to confirm that we're not going private interpretation here ephesians chapter two verse 19. now therefore year no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of god and are built upon the foundation of the apostles the prophets jesus christ himself being the chief cornerstone you know whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the lord notice he didn't say growth into a bigger temple a holy temple in the lord in whom also you're building together for inhabitation of god through the spirit so god's purpose in building this temple building this church building your life is not to make it bigger what's a blessing when a church grows but to make it holy holy that's what he wants a holy church now galatians chapter 2 same truth worded from the opposite side galatians 2 18 for if i build again the things which i destroyed i make myself a transgressor see the idea of building there in the personal life so this has happened countless thousands of times somebody gets saved they get excited about jesus christ they go home they throw out all the junk that's going to keep them from being a good christian i don't want that anymore i don't want that anymore i don't want that anymore i don't want that anymore and then 10 15 years down the road they start getting cold toward god they start getting indifferent about lost souls and all that stuff starts coming back in right it happens so what do you say i'm building again stuff that doesn't belong on this foundation see i just i just spent a whole day of my life wood hay and stubble i used to spend entire days of my life gold silver pressure stones okay so last thought last thought this evening as a as a body of believers we're supposed to love one another care for one another help each other live the christian life right if somebody here i'm just throwing throwing stuff out i'm not i'm not somebody here smokes and you don't what's it to you somebody here's got a can of beer in the refrigerator and you don't what's it to you listen we're going to preach against sin but it's it's not your job to monitor everyone's internet use it's not your job to raise everybody else's children it's not your job to put the tape measure at every woman's hemlines you are going to be judged for your life and you're going to be rewarded for your life and more attention to keeping your doorstep swept clean unless traveling around the neighborhood with your broom there's a house down the road that needs me to sweep their doorstep no they don't no they don't because yours is not as clean as you think it is you're going to pass them on the way to their house coming to your house so let's do what we can to encourage others in their christian life and let's do what we can to straighten out our christian life okay and and again we get this idea that that judgment seat of christ is yeah can i just let me talk crazy for it's 12 after all right crazier i got that i know when you i know when i've i know what you mean by that all right so 12 after i've been on the quarter after i i'm obviously this i can say it here and and you'll you'll get this i started preaching in 1977. i started preaching on the radio in 1981. with the exception of of a of a 18 month window i have pastored full-time three sermons a week since 1981. i've been on the radio right make radio programs five days a week since 1991. i preached 25 to 40 meetings a year in other churches then we started this youtube thing and now i gotta teach all the bible stuff again we've got a bible school three hours a night three nights a week sometimes two for 16 32 weeks out of the year can i i don't think at my age i don't think there's a man living who has preached more sermons taught more bible studies than me now that doesn't mean they're good that i mean i'm just i'm just saying you just want to talk about effort labor hours quantity but what if i was a thief and a crook and had a bunch of women stashed away on the side here and there you think god cares how much preaching i did if i wasn't righteous if i wasn't whole and you think it's not going to come out when i stand before you well as long as you don't get caught but you are caught you're going to stand before the lord these guys running around man well you know just i hope i don't get caught you're caught you're looking this way and this way and this way and this way look up man you're caught so this idea that i wish i could do what he does or sing like she does or preach where he preaches or or have a church like that man has a church everyone can produce love joy peace longsuffering goodness gentleness meekness faith temperance fruit of the spirit every one of us can be righteous and that's what matters at the judgment seat of christ we can all do what christ wants us to do live in obedience to his word and that's that's what'll matter praise god all right uh lord help us have right perspective on judgment and rewards and and the life that we live and and i pray god that what we've said tonight be a help to your people in jesus name we ask and pray amen amen all right you dismissed be sure and greet our friends from pennsylvania came by to visit us on the vacation it's a blessing [Music]

Channel: James W. Knox Sermons

Views: 989

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: bible, preaching, preacher, independent baptist

Id: IDMGTlZZKBU

Length: 81min 31sec (4891 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021