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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida, clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

If you have wrong somebody, then you might need to confess to them, and they can forgive you. forgive you. You see, if you put it to where it belongs, that God has already forgiven us. So whenever you confess, this is a sin that Christ died and paid for. This is a sin that I have been forgiven of. So therefore, for my joy. And if I don’t believe it the way God means it to be in His Word, then I’m going to be one miserable Christian.

There’s a lot of Christians who never forgive themselves for the things they’ve done after they’ve been saved. They live like a whipped individual for the rest of their life. I have met so many Christians that just feel like I can’t do it, I can’t make it because I fell, I’ve messed up now, it’s all over and they never forgive themselves and they become miserable, bitter Christians. God’s forgiven you. You forgive yourself. He’s already done so. So I believe it’s to help the individual so much.

Now go there to the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians in chapter 3, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. There is a verse in the book of Hebrews in chapter 6 that says that God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. And the Bible talks about those who, because of their love for others, their labor of love. And I mentioned this this morning in Sunday School that I believe there’s a difference between work and labor. Now I know it seems the same, but As I brought out, this church is the result of somebody’s work.

And we’d look at it and say, this is a work. Sometimes we see something that’s a work of art. Well, that’s the work that you’re looking at, but the labor that produced that work, you may not know. You may not know everything that went into producing that work. This is why the Bible says, God is going to reward every man according to his own work, according to his labors, because only God knows the labor that went into the work that you have done for him.

And I mentioned this, we go back here on third Sunday dinner and we walk in there and, well, this is happy, the Lord, and sit down there and look at all that food. It just miraculously appeared. and we sit down and look at this work of art and all we got to do is sit down and eat it. Isn’t that wonderful? Now we see the work but we didn’t see the labor that produced this work and so God is the one who’s going to reward because there’s things that you’ve done for Him that nobody will ever see.

Nobody knows the pressure that you’ve been under. Some people can come to church on a Sunday morning and had absolutely no pressure. Everything went smooth and somebody else they got up and everything went wrong. The alarm didn’t go off right. The wife didn’t iron the shirt. Can’t find your shoes. Everything goes wrong. Paperboy didn’t deliver the paper so you can’t do your crossword puzzle. You’re in a bad mood. You told your wife you wanted two eggs, one over easy and the other one hard.

She cooked the wrong one too hard. Holds it in the other one. You always got something and your day can be terrible and you could have had a flat tire on your way. Somebody could have cussed you out for summer because you pulled in front of somebody. By the time you hear your nervous wreck but you came and you don’t know of anything you did, purposely on doing wrong, but it just seemed like everything falls apart. And God says He’s not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love.

The reason why you do what you do. So He makes a statement here, every man shall receive his own reward in verse 8, according to his own labor. Because see, he’s going to judge our work, but he’s also going to judge the labor that went into the work. The reason why you did what you did, the wise. And so there’s a lot more involved and so there’s going to be this rewarding stand. Now some people think that it’s going to be a place where God’s going to just, you know, beat the Torah out of us because we’re going to be just good and bad and it’s going to be bad.

So we know some bad stuff. I don’t believe that we’re going to be standing at the judgment of Christ in a glorified body. And my heavenly Father is going to beat me with many stripes. I didn’t feel that. I didn’t feel that. I didn’t feel that. Why? I got a glorified body. I didn’t feel that. Now, I don’t believe that you can take verses out of Luke. We’re talking about the servant. And many people want to take those and apply those to the Christian at the the judgment center of Christ, and we need to be afraid.

No, I don’t believe God’s going to punish any person at the judgment center of Christ. When the Bible says here, if you’ll look at this, in verse 10, according to the grace of God, which is given unto me, is a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation of another builder thereon, but let every man take heed how he built it thereon. Now when talking about building upon the rock, you don’t build with sins. He’s going to judge our works, things we did for Him.

It’s not a judgment of our sins. Our sins were judged at the cross. We’re not going to heaven and stand at the judgment seat of Christ and answer for our sins. He answered for my sins. This is about my works, what I did for the Lord. Some people, you may not do anything. And some people, they did a lot. But not all of our works that we think we did for the Lord, and God says, you didn’t do that for me.

So we’re not talking about the worst that a Christian does. We’re talking about the best things that he did. So God is going to judge your works and whether or not all those works that you did. Was it gold, silver and precious stones or was it haywood and stubble? Was it something God can’t reward you for? Because isn’t it true that somewhere in the book of Matthew in chapter 6 that if you do things just to be seen of men, you have received your reward?

If you do it for the praise of men, then you don’t get the praise of God. And the trial of your faith, been much more precious than gold and silver, though it be tried with fire, may be found on the praise, honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So I do believe that. Now look what he says here in verse 12. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble, every man’s work.

not every man’s sin, every man’s work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If an man’s work abide, which he had built there on, he shall receive what? A reward. Now, in many cases, it doesn’t appear to be that every good deed gets another reward, and a good done a good deed gets another reward, and another good deed gets another reward.

I don’t know it may be true, but it seems like the word reward is always singular. And God’s going to judge a man’s work. Now is that a work over a lifetime? Or as I serve the Lord, I’m laying up treasures, plural, in heaven, which nobody can break through and steal, where I can’t lose it. Rewards once they’re earned or laid up in heaven, and nobody can take away your reward Once it’s earned. He says, whosoever shall give a cup of cold water only in the name of the disciple?

Verily I send you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. Now, if you’ll never cast me out and no wise cast me out, we take that literally. Let me talk about the election in John chapter 6. What is this possible? That rewards, once they’re earned, you have those. But all the things you could have done, does God take all of your work that you’ve done all your life as one total deal, taking out all the things that were no good.

And whatever you’ve got left, because rewards must be in. As a man who goes to hell, his punishment is in degrees. So we will be rewarded accordingly to the work we did for the Lord. So all of my life all push together, form a work for the Lord. I don’t know. I’ll let God figure that out. Can you let God figure that out for you? So all you need to know is I need to be faithful to the Lord because I believe that when I get to heaven, God is going to reward me for what I’ve done for him.

So he says here in verse 14, he shall receive a reward. In verse 50, if any man’s work shall be burned, now where’s this judgment taking place? It’s taking place in heaven. This is not taking place on earth. We are not bringing our sins into heaven. The illustration of the gold, silver and precious stones and wood, the hand stubble is an illustration to help us to see that some of us probably have some wasted life. We thought we were alright, and that’s why he’s talking about in the book of 1 John, being not deceived.

You may think that you’re walking with God and you’re not as close to God as you think. Maybe we don’t always see sin the way it really is. We don’t really see our failures the way that we should and realize these are the things that put my Savior on the cross, and that I should accept God’s forgiveness and keep moving on and keep serving the Lord. Otherwise, you can be so discouraged and get so depressed, so in the state of despair, because you don’t think or feel you’re worthy for God to use.

Look, when you trust it, it crisis your Savior, that very moment. God allowing you to live on this earth. That was grace. What did you do to deserve the right to live on this earth after you trusted Christ of Savior? Nothing. So this life in itself is grace. So that’s why the Apostle Paul says, I am what I am by the grace of God. And I labored more abundantly than they all. In other words, God, grace was not bestowed upon me in vain because grace, labor, same verse don’t fit.

It does. When you realize that God gave us life to live, that we did not earn, deserve, no reason, but only by the grace of God. And then God, like Paul says, God’s grace was not given to me in vain because I labored. I used this period of time that God gave me to live to serve627, and he said, and he said, And yet they all came first. They walk with the Lord. They knew Paul was later. And yet he says his grace was not bestowed up up in vain.

So we work for the Lord. Paul wanted to finish his course. And so when we have here in verse 15, if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer lost. He’s not going to be beat up. He’s going to suffer the loss of what he could have had. It’s that gold, silver, and precious stone, what you did for the Lord that’s going to be worth it all. And when you realized you wasted so much of your life that was all burn up wasted time, that you could have had something, you could have built something, could have been obedient to the Lord.

And whenever we realize it, we got to live and we lived in vain. We didn’t accomplish what God wanted us to accomplish with our life. I think that’s a time coming. Now, take your Bible and look there in 1 Corinthians in chapter 4. Notice what he says here in verse 1, Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required and stored that a man be found rich and famous and popular.

killer. Is that what your Bible says? No, it just says faithful. But with me, it’s a very small thing that I should be judged of you. A very small thing that I should be judged of you. You see, other people’s judgment doesn’t really count. It’s what he decides. See yourself the way God sees you. God sees you as his child and God deals with you with chastening your child. The discipline because a loving father wants the best for you.

And he deals with you and he’s already forgiven you, but he wants you to walk with him. He wants you to talk to him. Here he’s always dealing with us in love. You can never be separated from the love of God. So from this day forward, you know that some people teach that, Well, when we get into the kingdom, God’s going to cast you out of the kingdom because you’ve been unfaithful. Well, I’d believe that in 1 Thessalonians in chapter 4, where it says, comfort one another with these words, because he just said, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

And when the Lord says, He’ll never lead me and never forsake me, I don’t think that He means He’s going to kick me out of the kingdom. That doesn’t fit with Scripture. I am always going to be with the Lord. I am part of his bride.” And so he makes a statement here. And verse 4, for I know nothing by myself means I don’t know of anything Paul says against me. And it’s a small thing that I have to listen to somebody else trying to condemn me because people are always putting Paul down.

Always had something to say about Paul. But he says, This is what I’m doing. So he says in verse four, yet here I’m not just defined, but he that judges me is who? The Lord. And what’s the Lord going to do? Judge your works. What you’re doing for the Lord. You see, not everybody knows your motive. They don’t know all the pain you’re going through. They don’t know how difficult it is for you to be. God is going to, well, he keeps the books, doesn’t he?

He’s going to reward every man accordingly. And you’re not going to lose anything that’s coming to you. But there’s a lot more that you probably could have done for the Lord but didn’t do because you judged yourself and measured yourself according to somebody else. Well I’m doing more than they are. I’m just as good as they are. They don’t count. This is an individual thing. Man shall receive his own reward equal to his own labor Nobody can make you labor for the Lord.

That’s a personal thing And that’s why if the devil can get you down It’s because he’s gonna get you down because of sin in your life The devil is gonna lie to you try to condemn you make you feel so discouraged and depressed and get you down It’s not worth serving God Because look at all your failures. Listen, those things have been paid for. Put them behind your back and move on. And keep realizing that that was wrong. Confess me to call it for what it is.

It’s sin. It was rebellion. I was wrong. God forgave me because the Bible says, God is faithful and just to forgive us because it’s already done. God doesn’t just, okay, I have to give you a minute. If I had to confess every sin of mine so that I could walk with God, I wouldn’t have time to walk. You see, there’s a difference in a step than in a walk. God wants us to walk with Him. And I don’t think that I have gone astray because I took a step in the wrong direction.

I don’t confess every step. But if my walk begins to go astray when I believe that I was doing what was right, you You can go astray, can sheep still go astray even after you’re saved? A sheep can go astray, not planning on it, just a little bottle of it on. And you don’t even know what’s happening. And you think everything’s fine. But you better take and go back here to the canon of scripture and judge everything by the book.

Not according to the herd and where the herd’s going. If you’re going to follow the crowd, you ought to find out where the crowd’s going. your own personal walk with God and nobody can do it for you. You’re not going to be judged because you did as good as somebody else. What did you do according to what God gave to you and you walk with the Lord and you’d be surprised what God will do for you. Now here in this verse where he makes the statement in verse 5, therefore judged nothing before the time until the Lord come who You both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness.

And we’ll make manifest the councils of the heart. Then shall every man have praise of God, if, of course, there’s anything to praise. Because every man is going to be judged according to his own work. And God’s the one that knows the course that each one of us have to take, the pressures that we’re all under. And sometimes you’re under a lot of things. That’s why it behooves every child of God. Stay close to the Lord. And whenever you do something that’s wrong, man just own it, confess that.

That’s what it is. And forgive yourself and keep serving God. But don’t let it hold you down. Don’t let it stop you. Now, one other I wanted to show you before we quit. Second Corinthians chapter five. Second Corinthians chapter five. You’ll notice here when he says in verse seven, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident. Verse 9, wherefore we labor that whether prison or absent we may be accepted of Him. Now you’re accepted in the beloved for salvation, but now he’s going to judge what you did for him.

And you want your works to be accepted by the Lord because isn’t that the one you did it for? You and I are supposed to be working, laboring for the Lord. And we liamentary, we want everything we’ve done to be acceptable. And some things will be acceptable. But not everything probably we’ve done for the Lord is going to be acceptable. But your sins I don’t believe are going to be brought up. They are forever cast behind His back, cast into the depths of the sea, and will never be remembered anymore.

So we’re not talking about your sins. It’s the sins that keep you from doing the work. And that’s why you need to realize when you mess up, confess up, and keep serving the Lord. And you’re looking in verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The word bema, it’s a rewarding stand. It’s not a punishment stand. It’s like in our college, we pray everybody will graduate. graduate, but some may graduate with honors. Everyone’s going to heaven that’s trusted Christ as Savior.

Some are going to receive honors. I would hate for there to be an honor that I could have had and I did not get it. Is that selfish? No, God says we are reward motivated people. We always will know what am I going to get out of of this. God wants you to know whatever He asks you to do, it will be worth it. Now we’re not there yet, but can you trust the Lord? Now you can’t trust God.

You know how He is. He never keeps His word on anything, does He? Or do you really believe Him? Can you trust Him? I believe that we can and that we should. So He says that everyone may receive the things done in His body. This is since you have been saved. According to that He hath done whether be good or bad. This is talking about your works, not your sins. It’s the works that God can reward because you’ve got to tie this in with the judgment that we read in 1 Corinthians in chapter 3.

It cannot contradict itself. Nor can it contradict other clear scriptures that says we have been forgiven of all sin and cannot be brought up in again. God cannot judge me for those sins that he has already paid for and taken away. And I have been forgiven. So, yes, I, maybe this sounds a little strange to some of you all, I don’t know. I just know how I have to think and how I have to live my life. And I know that this understanding has served me well to keep a clear mind and to live my life without this cloud of guilt over me because I’ve messed up so many times in my Christian life.

Because you’re going to fail, you’re going to mess up. You’re not always going to say and do the right thing. Sometimes you wish you could go back in time and redo it all over again. But I’m sorry, you can’t. You’ve got to keep moving on. Except God’s forgiveness for you. Because it’ll keep you from being bitter and in despair and hopeless. Because you realize every day we sin, right? Every day you can think about how good God’s been. and have his wonderful forgiveness for all of your sins.

That’s something the hangar hat on, something to live for. Look up your room quick. This is you and me. This is sin. We all have sin on us. Everybody sins. 2,000 years ago, God looked down and he saw all of us. Saw all of our sins. And because he loved us, he did something for all of us. He sent his son into the world to pay for our sins. That all of us would be able to go to heaven because he heaven is perfect and we’re not.

But we committed the sin and we ought to put him in the midst of it. for it. And God says, you cannot save yourself. The sin represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. Came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin because our sin separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin did not have to die. So He became our substitute, took all of the sin of all of the world, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead.

When I accept this payment He made for me, I have a payment for all of all of my sins, and I am forgiven of all of my sins. I’ve already received that. But a lot of the sins that I’m going to commit after I’m saved, I’ve done more sinning since I’ve been saved than before I was saved. Ah! So love you. But isn’t it nice to know that that sin’s pain? I can forgive myself. I can forgive myself. And tomorrow when you mess up again, I can forgive myself.

I can forgive myself. I don’t have to live a life of guilt. I can accept all of this that God’s done for me because God is good. So He came back from the dead and said if I’d believe it, He’d put the payment to my account. I have a payment for all of my sins. They can never be brought up against me ever again. Now we talk about the sowing and reaping and being not deceived. That’s not about God punishing us with sins and pouring out his wrath upon us.

That’s another sermon for another time. But if you trust the Christ’s Savior, your God’s child, live like it. Let’s pray, show him. Every head bow and every eye close, no one looking around. If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, I urge it to do so. watching by internet, right where you are, Christ died and paid for all of your sins. The only thing you can do, the only thing is will you believe that He did it for you.

Christ died for you. And if you will trust Him as your Savior, He’ll give you as a free gift ever lasting life. And if it’s everlasting life, it’ll last forever. He’ll never cast you out, never lose you. The best news in all the world. Our Father, we thank You again for Your blessings. Thank You for this time together. Lord, I pray that the Holy Spirit can take these truths and penetrate them into the hearts of each person here. And Father, there may be a little yank-y-ology here and there, and I pray that you could weed that out and help them to accept the truth that’s been given.

They can help each person here. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The gospel-driven man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel-Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy.

There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the gospel-driven mane. The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address, and God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. And we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.