Your Reward: You Can Take It with You

[Music] you know being well-versed and the basics of our faith is very important especially for our newer members we have some people here who are newer we have many young people here who are still learning and growing and I still learn all the time every time I study my Bible I learn something so we should always be learning but we should be well established in the basics of our faith I'd like to go over a basic subject today man what ask once asked said the Bible says that there's a reward for works Jesus said great is your reward in heaven if we are saved by grace and not by works why then does the Bible say repeatedly that there's a reward for works talking works be rewarded if eternal life is free and unearned how would you answer his question how would you answer that person just as an aside I've I've always appreciated a good cartoon I know this doesn't matter to you but for three years I was the staff cartoonist at my university where I studied and on the newspaper there and I used to do illustrations and cartoons and I just love editorial cartoons I love to watch those things and today's cartoonists occasionally they like to draw cartoons about people standing around in heaven on clouds have you ever seen one of those there's a couple of guys you know they're standing around on a cloud in heaven and they're talking and they're making some rye ironic comment for one cartoon picture two guys and they've got halos or wings or something in this standing on a cloud and they're talking and about various things and coming by floating by is this guy in a Cadillac shaped cloud and he's just doing this in his cloud and there's two beautiful young ladies in the car two or three of them and they got halos on two and they're laughing and talking he's just as happy as he can be going along they watch him go by and one guy turns to the other and says he found a way to take it with him well turn to first Timothy chapter six in verses 6 and 7 first Timothy chapter 6 and verses 6 & 7 everybody says you can't take it with you you know you can't take it with you as they say in the funeral business the Undertaker takes it all you're not going to take it with you and you're pasal Paul confirmed this in his letter to the evangelist Timothy when he said here in verse 6 now godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out so you know that new bass boat you got you can't carry it out there's nothing in this world that we gain the new pair of shoes the nice car or all the wonderful things that we can carry out of this world we come in with nothing and we go out with nothing but the Apostle Paul was specifically for referring only to physical things things that can be carried out are there other things that we can take with us when we die what do you think well I'm here to tell you that you can take it with you it's a wonderful news today I'm going to tell you three things that according to your Bible you can take with you after you die three things that you have in this life that you will have in God's kingdom things that you can add to that increase in this life that will be to your benefit in God's kingdom now there's a popular saying says them that has gets kind of a cynical saying other people say no they that gets has they can argue that out but God's church always has a different you they who give have this kind of sounds contradictory but there's many things in God's Word that seems contradictory to this world that are very true in a sense they who give have operates a bit like spiritual economics and understanding that is key to knowing how to take it with you you know what do you have you really have what do you now or ever well you have things in your possession now you have things at home but when you give to other people is virtue forever its own reward so maybe do you have something from it forever if we give and the Bible tells us to give we're told to give and give what do we really have when we do that the rewards are earned you know if you work really hard at your job and you're rewarded with a bonus at the year-end it's because you earned that bonus rewards are earned then why does God talk about unearned salvation through faith does the reward that the Bible talks about does it come by grace meaning free or does it come by works how do you deal with that this is a very basic thing in our belief and the basics are important and frankly this one is really misunderstood by those outside of our faith I if you go online you could see this misunderstood badly all the time so let's look at the doctrine of reward today reward for works and see why we have a good reason to work diligently at our calling you know I could do a sermon on each point that I'm going to cover here today I think I have in the past but I'm going to try to like put in a nutshell give you a nutshell summary for each of these points hopefully that can be easily remembered and the title of this split sermon today is your reward you can take it with you point number one let's start with a quick review will distinguish between reward for works from justification and Sal vation in this point and also consider what our reward is not now we believe of course in justification and we believe in salvation who have a difference with our friends and traditional Christianity regarding them because they equate the two they equate justification with God and from our sins and salvation they're not the same thing biblically generally speaking they believe that when they are justified by Christ's sacrifice then they are saved so they think when they accept Jesus or maybe let Jesus into their hearts or express this in a number of different ways that then their immortal soul inside their bodies kind of enters a saved state and then so when they die and this mortal coil falls off the soul or mortal soul is liberated and it goes to heaven where the kingdom of God is if it is not saved then it goes to the other place where it burns forever in agony that's heaven and hell that's basically the way they put it and if I put it a little bit unfairly that's a pretty good summary of what most of them believe the doctrine of immortality of the soul as I have said many times blocks understanding of much of what the Bible teaches it is a barrier to understanding and if you can just get around that and look at what the Bible says about death and resurrection then a lot of things work so much better we believe and teach the biblical doctrines of the first century church we are saved now from the guilt of our sins by the sacrifice of Christ which is unearned justification we have that by grace and then we are saved from death by putting on immortality in the future at the resurrection of the just when Christ comes at the end of this age and after our baptism and receipt of the Holy Spirit and until our death you we sin willfully according to your Bible there is no more sacrifice for sin so it is possible to fall away and the doctrine of once saved always saved simply is not in the Bible so God tells us to live repentant lives and to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we obey we do what he says about that overcoming throughout our lives is very important we need to be overcomers overcoming sin overcoming the flesh the adversary the world according to God's world word and he makes a way for us and he enables us to do it we are the work of his hands Romans 3:20 Romans chapter 3 and verse 20 we must remember that it is by grace and which is unmerited pardon that we are saved from our sins and then ultimately from death not by our works the eternal life that we receive in the future at Christ's coming is an infinite unearned gift through faith in Jesus Christ it is our faith that ultimately is counted for our righteousness not our works the things that we do one verse here verse 20 therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin now if you grew up in a problem went to a Protestant church chances are you learned this as a memory verse but a lot of times it's almost like well you do have you memorized the verse Romans 3:20 and they will say yes by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight . . there because they don't like that next part for because by the law is the knowledge of sin you know the fact that God reveals right and wrong to us through his law his own character his own nature is and we obey that and we live by that law that doesn't justify us from our past since when we have broken it so by the deeds of the law no flesh is justified in his sight I like to say this kind of puts it in one place for me you can't repent of sin and break God's commandments at the same time and if you think you can you're deceived that's really just sort of gets it right out there mr. Armstrong used to say what isn't repentance means change repentance means change well it does it changes what you're going to do in the future if you say been grown up and outside of the church or something and you've been taking God's name in vain your whole life and then you look at it I've been profaning God's holy name my whole life I'm going to repent that it changes what you're going to say oh yeah of course it should if it doesn't maybe you haven't repented okay but it can't change what you said in the past you can't unring a bell you're guilty for what you already said if you could keep that commandment and all the rest of God's commandments perfectly in the future it can't change the fact that you're guilty for your past sins only one thing can cover the guilt of your past sins what the sacrifice of Christ it doesn't mean we said in the future we repent in the future and we are told to repent in the future and also eternal life that we put on when Christ comes upon resurrection at the resurrection of the just is an infinite thing an infinite thing the richest billionaire and all of the world hasn't got enough money that's a finite thing that money he hasn't got enough money to buy and an infinite thing even if he owned the whole world this one little tiny dot in a universe infinite is infinite eternal life an infinite life must be given to you as an unearned gift it is a gift from God let's look at some useful scriptures here Romans 5:8 through 10 Romans 5:8 through 10 here Paul presents Christians as being justified in the past and saved in the future this is really obvious in the Bible but people think they're immortal soul is saved now's not what their Bible says verse 8 but God demonstrates his own love towards us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more then having now been justified that's already justified they're speaking to the church by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him from the destruction of death verse 10 for when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life Christ living in us and then in this example being resurrected is by that spirit in us in us that he is resurrects us to immortal bodies Romans 6:23 Romans 6:23 and we could do a lot of scriptures on this notice of oh you can turn there but this is a memory Scripture but the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord if we die profaned by our sins we cannot be resurrected into the kingdom of God where the holy mountain of God you everything is holy you must be in the if you die profane by your sins you can only be in a physical resurrection in the future and you're still going to die the wages of sin literally death God gives us eternal life it is a gift through Christ Titus chapter three verses five through eight Titus chapter three verses five through eight once again repeating this past and future thing about justification we are now justified reconciled to God our eternal life comes in the future basic to our faith it says not my works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy he saved us save us from the guilt of our past sins through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit there it is the washing of regeneration verse 6 whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs of eternal life of the in the kingdom of God according to the hope of eternal life this is the faithful saying that these things these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works he puts these together in many scriptures good works talks about faith and then the works that we are to do and continues these things are good and profitable to men your good works are not only good they are profitable to you James chapter two verses 17 and 18 we won't turn there but talks about two kinds of faith two kinds of faith what kind of we talking about there well there's living faith that's the faith that is expressed in our works and what we do and there's dead faith faith that is not expressed in this is without works our church strongly recommends that you do not pursue your salvation through dead faith okay to summarize just point number one being justified and saved from our sins by Christ's sacrifice is not the same as being saved from death by resurrection and your reward for works is not the forgiveness of your sins and it is not immortality point number two point number two what then is our reward for works and what is it based on and how do we receive it Matthew chapter five verses 11 and 12 Matthew chapter 5 verses 11 and 12 we mentioned this in the very beginning of the sermon this is Jesus speaking he said blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets that were who were before you so people read that and said well your rewards in heaven right you're gonna go to heaven and get your reward and you know what's that gonna be like maybe look at this guy over here man he's got he's got three halos and this guy's got a really big set of wings over here look at all the strings on that heart man he's really going going at it there is that your reward that we have in heaven Matthew 19 verses Twitty and 20 20 and 21 Matthew 19 verses 20 and 21 Jesus he was saying Nate your reward is in heaven verse 20 the young man said to him all these things I have kept in my youth we're breaking into a conversation here what do I still lack and Jesus said to him if you want to be perfect in the sense of complete go and sell all that you have and give to the poor boy that would be a great work to do that's a wonderful work that you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me well we know that he didn't do it but he was promising him treasure you know wealth something great in heaven revelation 5:9 and 10 revelation 5:9 and 10 we're talking about what is your reward for works it's in heaven okay the least it is right now I know I'm preaching to the choir on this but I just need to mention this point for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation all the nations of the world here verse 10 and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on earth well people who think things when they gonna die they go to heaven and they got to come back down the earth and they resurrect or the gilda there's a lot of confusion about this point simply because they had it wrong in the first place Matthew 16:27 Matthew 16:27 there is a reward for works we just talked about that but here we reiterate that again Christ says for the Son of Man will come in the glory of his father with his angels will come and then he will reward each according to his works okay he's going to come to earth and we're going to be kings and priests on earth but the Lord still up in heaven what's going on Isaiah 49 and 10 Isaiah chapter 40 verses 9 and 10 a lot of wonderful exciting beautiful scriptures about the coming of the Messiah in the Book of Isaiah it says Ozai on you who bring good tidings get up into the high mountain o Jerusalem you who bring good tidings lift up your voice with strength lifted up be not afraid say into the cities of Judah behold your God that happened he walked into the city a road into the city on a donkey your God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob rode into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey burst and behold the Lord God shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him behold his reward is with him ah and his work is before him so his reward is with him it was in heaven when he comes and he brings it with him revelation 22:12 Revelation chapter 22 and verse 12 once again just want to be sure we understand that this is not just one anomaly over back in the Old Testament let's read the same thing in the New Testament it said and behold I am coming quickly by the way that word quickly is tacky we get the word tachycardia from it fast heartbeat your tachometer it means something that's fast in that sense it tells how Christ is coming not win as in suddenly he comes fast suddenly all it was like a thief in the night some people look at that and they say he comes quickly they thought he was going to be come anytime when back in there 2000 years ago that's not what it means he's coming as a thief in the night he comes quickly in the sense of suddenly burst well behold I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work so while we are on the earth in this age our reward is in heaven and Christ brings it when he comes at the end of this age John 14 verses 133 John chapter 14 and verses one through three I'm going to read this from the International Version as a translation here that I like a little bit better this reward is Offices of service in God's kingdom on earth and it says so right here verse 14 do not let your hearts be troubled trust in God Trust also in me is something you can trust he's going to say in my father's house are many rooms man your King James Version it says mansions meeting like large rooms if it were not so I would have told you I am going there to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am we will be with him as kings and priests here on earth the Temple in Jerusalem had a lot of different rooms in it and each room was a different office for a different priestly service and that's the reference what we have here the other temple of God we are coming to be part of the holy mouth and a god it's going to consist of offices if you're a king you have an office which is a position of service and that's what you're going to be doing which office will you have Christ is currently with the Father in heaven at his right hand preparing many officers mansions so to speak you know God knows everything we are doing he knows the not only thoughts of the heart the intents of the thought of the heart that's a meditation item he knows what we are becoming he is sovereign as his understanding in everything well when Christ appears he will set up his kingdom and he brings our reward with him to earth we will be kings and priests with him because he is the king of kings we are the kings that he is king of so what might some of the rewards be no I said you know larger wings are these things let's look Luke 22 verses 24 through 30 Luke chapter 22 verses 24 through 30 you know we always think of the disciples as being saintly people well sometimes they got into it a little bit they were unhappy with each other and in this case they had an argument now there was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest I would like to have heard that I'm gonna be the greatest no I'm gonna be the greatest is not that's basically they were unconverted at that point verse 25 and he said to them the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them and those who exercise lordship over them are called benefactors so I always thought that was kind of a sly benefactors is a Latin word been a fact or a good doer those who exercise lordship they called good doers mm-hmm if you're under the Roman hand you may have had some doubts about that verse 26 but not so among you from the contrary he who is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he who governs as he who serves for who is the greater he who sits at the table or he who serves is it not he who sits at the table yet I am among you as one who serves but you are those who I have who have continued with me in my trials and I bestow upon you a kingdom just as my father bestowed one upon me that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel offices but their offices are that of service they will be the greatest because they are the greatest service and that's what God wants to develop you know this mindset of serving in this case serve at leadership revelation 3 7 through 12 Revelation chapter 3 verses 7 through 12 pillars as well pillars the temple of God in the holy mountain of God these are all wonderful pictures for us and the end and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia right lesson verse 7 will top down to verse 12 and he who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my god and he shall go out no more and a physician of service a structural thing that holds things up that serves in the temple how strong are you this is the strength of our service but it's different from worldly service it's the giving loving service that God has what kind of pillar are you today what kind of pillar can you be in a support of God's kingdom forever God wants to know he would like to know that remember the Christ is watching what we are becoming he's watching what fruits we bear in this age in order to determine what our reward can be in the age to come in his kingdom in his government because those offices of service that we're being training trained for have spiritual qualities what we think others organizations today is skills and everything and in headquarters like we've got people that are wonderfully skilled you guys that work there all of you you people you don't know how much I appreciate your skill and your knowledge in your jobs it helps us to do the work and an extraordinary amount is done by a small number of people there because of their skill and dedication and hard work thank you all for it but in the kingdom it's going to be a bit different it's going to be a bit different because it's going to be your spiritual these that determine what office you can hold in the kingdom and God wants to know and he's working these things with us now it's called a reward so the summarized point number two here it is in sort of in a nutshell when your sins were forgiven at baptism it was my unearned grace through the sacrifice of Christ when you are resurrected later and put on immortality at Christ's coming and enter the kingdom of God your eternal life will be a gift from God made possible by faith in Christ eternal life in God's kingdom is an infinite gift and cannot be earned but what you do after you enter the kingdom your office your position of service is by reward and depends on your demonstrated works so what is one very big important thing that you can take with you well of course your reward you take that with you it's may I take it with you well it's there in heaven now things that you do today change you and your character and they determine what you're qualified to do your office of reward in God's kingdom what is your capacity to love and give you know God's family business is giving at headquarters that's what we do we give stuff away our bankers just don't understand it is wonderful I love explaining it to a new banker it's just that's what what what know we give everything away we don't ask for money you don't know I just love don't get me started on that it's one of the more pleasant parts of my job but we give things away and we are being trained to be givers that's what God's family business does we measure at the church we measure our profitability by what how much we give right we gave away this many booklets we gave away this many magazines we gave away this we gave away that that's our profit it was going to be yours too forever we're going to be in the business of giving how much like Jesus Christ and your father in heaven are you this is the direct teaching of the Bible as we have seen that's why I said earlier they who give have point number three point number three that's another thing that's closely related to what I've discussed your character you can take it with you and it determines very much to a large extent what your office is is a scary thought all right when we are resurrected or changed God will change what we are we put on immortality this old alright is it everything with the wrinkles and the gray hair all of this is going I'm putting on a new body a new tabernacle and putting that on it's going to change what I am it's going to change what you are but it's not going to change who you are Oh see if anybody got up and ran out no it's not gonna change who you are we still have our own identity we still who we are Luke 19 but we won't read it all but in Luke nineteen eleven through twenty eight is the parable of the pounds you're very familiar with that and there were different people who were giving them a pound and two or five and things and each one returned more for just because of their skill their nature their character and they were rewarded according to what they had done what they had produced faithful in little faithful in much if you are very faithful in a couple of pounds here a couple of talents or a couple of miners while you would be faithful and you'd handle a couple of cities really well revelation 1 verses five and six revelation 1 verses five and six kings and priests in authority I'll break into the verses here and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and has made us kings and priests to his father through his God and Father to him be glory and Dominion for ever and ever kings and priests as we're becoming converted God changes our natures he changes our characters our repentance in our love and our obedience as expressed in righteous actions those things change you what you do changes you should not only change your life but they change you as well and this enables us to have greater roles as servants kings and priests and God's kingdom how good are you at giving God is up there Christ is there he's preparing he's setting up offices and he wants to know the greater our conversion the greater love and outgoing concern that we have godly love the more that becomes a permanent facet of our characters a permanent facet of it and therefore the greater our ability to serve others in love becomes for Christ Jesus living God's Way is just self-expression he has God spirit without measure when he's doing this he's just expressing himself as he's doing his own thing well to the extent that we are converted and we are commanded to grow in the stature of Christ we'll be doing our own thing forever how wonderful living God's Way of life his law and just doing our own thing forever but our own thing must be God's thing that's called conversion our wills are being changed to be like God so that we would choose as he does just because that's who we are that's what he wants to know and it determines a lot mr. weird he can place you I know I've said this before but I used to know I used to do this more often back in my pastoring days but yeah I would say remember that unassuming person in the church is often I call a little the proverbial little old lady in the church or system or a bunch of them several of them they're always back there giving loving serving helping encouraging doing one thing after another in a very giving loving way they're not looking for a recognition they just want duck they're loving and serving and helping I always said to the Deacons and elders be really really nice to that person because you're likely to be working for her for the next thousand years because that's what God measures that's what he's looking for Luke 16 10 through 12 I'll just read it Luke chapter 16 verses 10 through 12 he was faithful in what is least is faithful also in much and he was unjust and what as least as in just also an unjust and much therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit to your trust the true riches and if you have not been faithful in what is another lands who will give you what is your own summarized point number three the character that you developed now is something that you will take with you point number four is one more thing that we can take with us after our deaths this is a real nice one it's our relationships as an old joke who says love at first sight that's easy love after 25 years mm maybe another matter well what about love after 25 thousand years is anybody jumping up and running out no love after 2014 250,000 years look at either side of you we're gonna be with each other first for a thousand years and then forever in the family of God we're going to be forever together forever that's a pleasant thought what a pleasant thought that is I'm looking forward to it most of the New Testament is used to teach us about relationships we have many excellent sermons here on that preached on that subject and for a very good reason loving one another is the spirit of the law and this biblical emphasis on relationships is critical to us and is critical and very important to God our relationships must last forever the most valuable things we have at the end of our lives sometimes are I think always I believe are our relationships when people look back and they look back over their lives they frequently that they think of their family their friends the relationships they had not the you know the physical thing so that they had I have four children if a billionaire has only three I consider myself to be the richer man summarize point number four so what else do you get to take with you well your relationships and those who are in God's kingdom will know each other forever so God says that it is critical to our character that we build very good ones very good relationships in this age okay I've got bad news and good news start with the bad news the bad news is that we are flesh and we always die we always have been that's built into our cellular structure all gold all the silver all the money all the bass bone solve cars all the wonderful things that we are so happy with in this age the pyramids the mountains the governments they'll all pass away they're all going but the good news is that there are some things that you can take with you in addition to your eternal life that is a gift of God one that you can do is your reward of course it's reserved in heaven for you now if Christ brings it with him when he comes you know God hasn't is an excellent accountant a very good accountant he misses nothing he knows everything entering God's kingdom is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ that is an infinite gift which cannot be earned what you do after you enter the kingdom your office your position of service is by reward and depends on your demonstrated works and your character let's do that again entering God's kingdom is and is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ but what you do after you enter the kingdom your office in your position is my reward and it depends on your demonstrated works which are an expression of your character another thing we take with us of course as I said is our character it's yours forever and it determines your capacity to hold office and a kingdom ruled by love and outgoing concern for others character to God is a kind of spiritual aptitude where service and your rulership are going to be concerned that's one good reason why we can rejoice in trials because God is changing us and developing of developing us inwardly he says he is doing a good work in us and we can rely on that the third thing we take with us is our relationships there's something that we will have in God's family forever and is essential for us to be them and hold them as being extremely important reward for works character relationships all connected and you can take them with you [Music] you

Channel: Living Church of God

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Length: 44min 59sec (2699 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 24 2020