Now, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning in verse number eleven, but before I get there, let's flip over to Hebrews 11.
We're going to come back here. If you want to keep your finger in 1 Corinthians 3, let's go to Hebrews 11.
I want to read for you a scripture starting in Hebrews 11, 24. Toward the end of the New Testament is Hebrews.
Look at Hebrews 11, 24. This is speaking of Moses.
The Bible says, By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward.
You see, Moses gave up a lot in order to serve God. You remember how he was living in basically Pharaoh's household?
He was the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. He had it made. It said that he went to all the schools and was brought up in the education of the Egyptians.
He was a man mighty in words and in deeds, but he gave that all up, and he chose rather to suffer.
He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
And you remember when he was 40 years old, he walked out and saw his brethren underneath their burdens,
and he would rather be identified with the people of God, even being afflicted and persecuted,
than to be identified with Pharaoh's daughter, who was obviously the daughter of a wicked king of a heathen nation.
He wanted to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
But why? Why did he make that choice? The Bible tells us.
At the end of verse 26 it says, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
And that's what I want to preach about this morning, the recompense of the reward.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, if you would. 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
You see, there is a reward for serving God.
You see, a lot of people today, and I don't think I've really heard a lot of preaching on the rewards that you can earn as a Christian,
on the rewards in heaven, and yet Jesus preached about it a lot.
Yet it's all throughout the Bible. I mean, I have so many pages of notes.
It's not going to be a long sermon, but I mean, I have stacks of things I'm not even going to get to,
because the Bible talks so much about this concept of being rewarded for your service for Christ.
It's an important subject today, but many shy away from it and say, that's a bad motive.
You know, have you ever heard people say, you shouldn't do it because you're going to get a reward.
You know, just do it because you want to.
Wait a minute, why do you go to work?
You just love it, right? Who here has a job where you get paid, wages, you get a paycheck?
Okay, why do you go to work, Brother Dave?
What? No! Wrong! What are you talking about?
You're going to work because it's fun, because you like it, it's what you want to do with your life.
Why do you go to work? To get paid, okay?
And look, there are a lot of other reasons to serve God, aren't there?
Besides just that you're going to get paid.
But you know what, that's not a bad reason to go to work, and that's not a bad reason to serve God,
and that was one of the things that motivated Moses to serve God.
He said, hey, I'm going to get a better reward for serving God than anything that Pharaoh or the world has to offer.
I mean, Donald Trump has nothing on the reward that I'm going to get for serving God, was Moses' mentality.
He said, I don't want a corruptible crown.
I don't want to go to the Olympics and get a gold medal that's not going to last forever.
It's going to pass away.
He said, I don't want to go and earn millions of dollars because naked came out of my mother's womb,
and naked saw I return dead there.
We've got nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
That's why Jesus said, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and dust does corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
Did you hear that?
Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust does corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
You know, if you understood this thing of rewards, your heart would be in the right place,
and your conversation would be in heaven,
and you'd be looking toward that as your goal instead of what this world has to offer.
It's true.
Moses had respect under the recompense of the reward.
That's why he did the great things he did by faith.
You say, why is it so important?
Well, you're in 1 Corinthians 3.
Keep your finger there. We'll get there eventually, I promise.
But flip back one book toward Romans.
One book earlier in the Bible is Romans.
Look at Romans 4. I'm going to show you why else this doctrine of rewards is so important.
Romans chapter 4 says this.
In verse 1, what shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found?
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath were of the glory, but not before God.
For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now watch verse 4.
Now to him that worketh is the what?
Reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man,
unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works, saying,
Blessed are they whose sins are forgiven, and whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
And so it's clear here in the Bible that a reward is something that's owed to you,
whereas salvation is by grace.
Salvation is not something that you work for and earn.
Salvation is the gift of God. It's free.
The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
The Bible says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Now let me ask you something. When you go to that job and get paid, are you getting paid by grace?
No.
It's a debt that they owe you.
Literally, if they did not pay you, you could take them to court.
I mean, they would owe you that money. That is a debt that they owe you.
If you work, they have to pay you this much per hour because that was the agreement.
That was the contract.
It's a debt that they owe you.
Now let me tell you something.
You're not saved by works.
You're saved by faith. You say, Well, it's faith and works. No.
He said in verse 5, But to him that worketh not, but believeth.
And him that justifieth the ungodly.
His faith is counted for rises.
Salvation is by faith alone.
It's whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The Bible is clear on this, but a reward is something that's owed to you for works that you've done.
Now here's why this is so important.
Because if you're saved by grace, that means that after you get saved,
the works that you do after you get saved, they're not paying back God for your salvation.
It's not like, Well, God paid for my salvation, so now I'm going to go do some works to try to pay him back.
No. You can't pay it back.
It was a gift. It's free. It's yours.
You don't pay for it.
You don't owe God anything.
I've heard people even say, Well, I owe it to God to do works because he died on a cross for me.
Hold on a second.
Do you owe God anything for the gift of salvation?
Or was it a free gift with no strings attached?
You see that?
That's why God makes it clear, and that's why literally, and I'm not going to read every scripture I've got on my notes,
I could produce scores of verses after verses where he promises I will reward your works.
Because I'm not going to let you pay for that salvation.
That was a gift of God.
And if you work for me, I'll pay you.
I mean, look, if somebody works for me, I want to pay them.
I don't want to use people for free, right?
I don't want to have people come and paint my house and not pay them.
You know, I don't want to just use people.
Now, sometimes people might do something for you as a gift or whatever.
But, you know, you want to pay people when they work.
You want to give them what's coming to them.
You want to not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn.
You know, you want to give him what he deserves.
And that's what the Bible teaches.
Let's go to 1 Corinthians 3, though.
I've got a lot of material, so I want to blow through this.
I don't want to get tied up here.
But let's start in 1 Corinthians 3.
A great place to start on rewards.
Look at verse number 5.
It says,
Verse 6.
Now look at this.
God gave every man a minister by whom they might believe.
God wants everybody to be saved.
And God's plan is that every person in Tempe or Phoenix or Scottsdale or wherever,
someone be a minister that will bring them the gospel by whom they might believe the gospel
because how shall they call upon Him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him in whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach except they be sent?
As is written,
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
That's not just talking about the pastor, by the way.
That's every man, woman, boy, and girl who can open their Bible if they're saved
and show someone else how to be saved
and preach unto them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's what the Bible is talking about here.
Paul, Apollos, whoever it is.
And he says, you know, one plant, another water.
Sometimes you knock on the door and you preach the gospel.
They don't get saved, but you planted a seed.
Other times you might talk to someone and water that seed a little bit.
And then the best thing is when you get to reap the increase
when they actually believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and call upon Him for salvation.
That's a glorious thing.
But keep reading. It says in verse 7,
So then neither is he that planteth anything,
neither he that watereth,
but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one.
What does that mean?
Basically it's saying the same person plants and waters.
It's not like one person is a full-time planter.
I never get people saved. I just go around planting seeds.
I've had somebody say that before.
God's just called me just to plant seeds, just to plant seeds, plant seeds.
Now what kind of a farmer is that? He just plants seeds.
I just plant seeds and I just move on to the next field and plant seeds.
You're not going to be a business person. Come on.
He says he that planteth and he that watereth are one.
It's the same guy that does both.
Sometimes you're planting, sometimes you're watering,
sometimes you get to reap.
But look at verse 8. At the end there it says,
And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
So what is one of the things you're going to be rewarded for according to the Bible here?
Planting the seed, watering the seed, winning people to Christ,
preaching the Gospel to people, and being that minister by whom they believe.
That's going to be a reward in heaven.
You go out soul winning, you go out and knock those doors,
you open the Bible at work and preach the Gospel onto your co-worker,
or your friend at school, or out in the highways and hedges.
Wherever it is, God is going to reward you for those hours
that you put in out there in the hot sun,
and you're knocking doors when it's 115 outside,
or when it's 20 below zero outside, wherever you happen to live.
Now we don't know what that means here.
I don't know what that means but I heard about that somewhere
because it never, nothing freezes here, okay?
Even in the winter it's 75 degrees outside.
But we go out and work hard, we're going to be rewarded for our works.
You say, well I don't get paid to do that, but hold on a second,
you're going to be rewarded by God to do that.
He will pay you. He will reward you.
Jump down to verse 11. Let's get more into this thing of rewards.
The Bible says this,
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
I mean, He's the foundation. He's the Savior.
It's all built upon Him, the chief cornerstone, okay?
Jesus Christ.
Now you have that foundation in your heart if you're saved.
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The Spirit of Christ dwelleth in you.
That's the foundational thing, being saved.
But now that you're saved, once you believe on Jesus Christ,
you have a choice.
How are you going to build upon that foundation?
How are you going to build upon the rock of your salvation?
What are you going to build?
What kind of a life are you going to build?
And He says in verse 12,
Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble,
every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire,
and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he had built thereupon,
he shall receive a what?
A reward.
And it says,
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss,
but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire.
Now what is the Bible saying here?
In your life, you can build, you can do all kinds of works,
and these works are pretty much in two categories.
Gold, silver, and precious stones, and wood, hay, and stubble.
Now what is the difference between the two?
Well, is there anything wrong with building something out of wood?
No.
I mean, my house is made out of wood, predominantly.
You can build things out of wood.
Hay and stubble, you can build things out of hay and stubble,
but let me ask something.
Is it going to be a very permanent structure?
How many of you have ever seen these huts that you'll see sometimes,
maybe in Southeast Asia, where the roof is literally made out of hay and stubble, right?
They have these kinds of thatched roofs and everything.
And look, it works.
I mean, it works for that situation.
That's what they use.
It keeps them dry.
But is it a permanent structure when Hurricane Katrina comes or whatever and destroys it all?
You know, or the wolf comes and three little pigs, that's another story.
But anyway, the point is, just kidding.
The point is that the difference between gold, silver, and precious stones and wood, hay, and stubble
is that one of them is permanent.
Okay?
One of them has eternal value.
You see, God's not going to reward you for the things that you did in life
that were just fleshly, physical things.
And we're not talking about sin.
But we're talking about the work that you do.
For example, you get up and go to work every day,
turn the screwdriver like I've done for the last ten years I've been married.
I've done electrical work for the last ten years I've been married.
And when I go and turn that screwdriver, do you think God's going to reward me?
Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
You know, you've turned the screwdriver, you've installed fire alarms.
I mean, my reward for that is the paycheck I get every week and then spend, and that's how I live.
Now there's nothing wrong with going to work for 40 hours or 50 or 60 hours at your job.
But obviously it's not anything of eternal value.
It's still something that you need to do.
It's part of your life.
You've got to work.
You've got to pay the bills.
You have to do those things.
But what we're talking about you getting a reward for is spiritual things.
Because if you think about it, God is saying here that there will be people who get to heaven
and all their works that they did in their whole life are going to be tried by fire.
And some of them, all their works are going to be burnt up.
Isn't that what it said?
It said, if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.
He's going to lose out on that reward.
Yet he himself shall be saved.
You say, look, you're still saved even if you don't have the works that are gold, silver, precious, stealth.
But you're not going to get rewards in heaven for the things that you did.
You know, building a house is great.
Landscaping your yard is great.
You know, digging a swimming pool, great.
Working a job, great.
Fixing up your car, washing the car.
But that's not the things you get rewards for in heaven.
You can enjoy those things on this earth and God wants you to enjoy certain things on this earth.
But when you want to get rewards in heaven, you got to do something of eternal, lasting value for God.
That's what you have to do to get rewards in heaven.
And God is going to look at your life and he's going to say, what did you do that mattered for eternity?
And let me tell you, there will be many, many Christians who are going to heaven because they believe on Jesus Christ,
who have never in their entire life won someone to Christ.
They've never given somebody the gospel and they got saved.
They've never preached the gospel and won someone to Christ.
When they get to heaven, all the things that they did that were for themselves or just for this earth,
you know, it's not going to get a reward for them because they didn't do things that were of eternal value.
And that's not the only thing you can do in order to earn rewards.
We're going to get to some other things, but that's a big one, right?
He listed here.
Planting the seed, watering, preaching the gospel, winning people to Christ and so forth.
Go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 9.
So we want to get rewards when we get to heaven.
You say, oh no, not me, I'm so unselfish, I don't want any rewards.
You know what?
God said we ought to be motivated to want to earn rewards in heaven.
Have you ever played a board game with someone who doesn't want to win?
Or played sports with someone who doesn't want to win?
Isn't it irritating?
It's the biggest pain in the neck.
You know, you try to say like, you're going down!
And they're like, yeah, probably.
You're like, no!
You know?
I'm going to beat you so bad.
And they're like, yeah, you probably will.
You know, you want to play against people who want to win.
Remember when we played that volleyball game on the camping trip?
We wanted it.
Was that pretty, that was pretty competitive.
I mean, it was all fun.
We're all smiling and happy.
But we both wanted to win.
I mean, we, I know I didn't win, I know.
I won the first two games.
I'm just not an endurance player, I guess.
You know what I mean?
Because my team was tearing it up on those first two games,
and then it all went downhill from there.
But, you know, we wanted to win.
That's what made it such a fun game.
And the more people were trying hard and throwing themselves into that mud puddle
in order to catch the volleyball,
that's what made it more fun.
When you're trying to win.
Okay?
And, you know, when you go to work, you want to try to do your best.
You know, you want to be the best.
You want to work.
You say, oh, that's a bad spirit.
Look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 9, 24.
And, you know, most of the time when people will try to tell you that that's a bad spirit,
it's people who don't want to do anything.
Isn't it true?
People who sit around and do nothing for God,
they say, oh, that's a bad motive, that's a bad spirit.
And they sit around and do nothing for God.
You know, maybe if somebody gets excited about earning something
and winning something and doing something and being something,
they could be like a Moses today.
Instead of just sitting around and being a big nobody and a big zero and a nothing.
And so I think we ought to try to run to win.
You see, I don't think so.
Well, look at the Bible, 1 Corinthians 9, 24.
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all,
but one receiveth the prize so run that ye may obtain.
He says, look, run to win.
He says, don't get out there and just jog around and say,
well, I finished, I did my best.
He said, no, run your hardest.
Give it everything you got all the way to the finish line.
Run to win.
Push yourself, he's saying, endure.
Look what he says in verse number 25.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown,
but we, an incorruptible.
He's saying, look, if people can get excited about a ball game,
who's ever seen people get excited about a ball game?
You know what?
It's sad if we're more excited about a ball game
than about the things of God.
That's pretty sad.
You know, when our team or whatever,
I don't even have a team,
I don't follow sports whatsoever, okay?
But let's say, you know, some people, that's their hobby,
you're into sports and you get out there,
you're, go, go, go!
You know, you're throwing stuff in the air,
you're screaming, you're yelling, you're shouting,
you're pumped up, and then you come to church and say,
ugh.
I mean, you think that that pleases God?
I mean, you think it pleases God to look down from heaven
and see you competitive out there on the court.
I mean, you are competitive.
You want to win, you know.
You want to make that basket.
You want to spike that volleyball in their face.
I mean, you want to get out there and show them.
You want to do it, you know, or kick that goal
or hit that home run or whatever.
And then he sees you come to church
and you're half in, half out.
He sees you come to church and you're lackadaisical
about the things of God.
I mean, how do you think that would make God feel?
To see you get all pumped up about sports,
see you get all pumped up about a board game or whatever,
and then to see you come to church
and be dead as a doornail.
And I'm not talking about rolling in the sinking isles, my friend.
I'm talking about getting excited and doing something for God that's real,
not putting on some show and waving your hands around.
I'm talking about getting out there and doing some work for God.
Why don't you get enthusiastic about memorizing God's Word?
Remembering a bunch of stats from the back of a baseball card
or whatever kind of sport card.
You know, you want to know all the stats.
Why don't you tell me about Moses?
Why don't you tell me about Joshua?
Why don't you tell me about the characters of God's Word?
And why don't you list for me the 12 disciples
rather than the 12 players on a football team?
What is there, 11?
Eleven? Okay, well, one of them's on the bench.
Okay, you don't get off my case, all right?
So, you know, instead of memorizing the top 12 players
of the Cardinals or whatever,
why don't you learn something that matters for eternity,
not just something that's going to matter in this life,
and nobody's going to care about it.
Nobody's going to forget it.
When you get to heaven, it's not going to be,
oh, man, do you remember Super Bowl number so-and-so?
The Apostle Paul's going to tell you to shut up.
You know what I mean?
Whatever, who cares?
That's what he's going to tell you.
It's true, because he's the one who wrote this, right?
Well, God wrote it, but he used the Apostle Paul
as his example of somebody who wanted to win.
Look at 2 Timothy 2.
Go to the end of the New Testament, 2 Timothy 2.
2 Timothy 2, the Bible reads in verse number 5.
You say, why do you get all loud?
You know, because I'm excited about what I'm saying right now.
I'm excited about the Bible.
I'm excited about getting rewards.
But it says in 2 Timothy 2, verse 3,
sorry about that, 2 Timothy 2, 3,
2 Timothy 2, 3,
That's one illustration about being a soldier of Jesus Christ.
But then he gets into a new illustration in verse 5.
And if a man also strive for masteries,
and this is the exact same phrase he used in 1 Corinthians 9,
when he talked about running a race, winning a crown,
striving for masteries, running in a competition,
track and field, sports, whatever.
He says if a man also strive for masteries,
yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
The husbandman, the laborer, must be first partaker of the fruits.
He says here, you know, run to win, number 1.
Run to win, but he said number 2, run according to the rules.
He says, look, you want to earn the rewards when you get to heaven?
You better strive lawfully.
He said a man is not going to be crowned, except he strive lawfully.
You know, you go through life living a life of sin,
you go through life in the flesh, carnal,
you know, looking at things you shouldn't look at on TV,
which pretty much everything that's played on TV pretty much today.
I don't know, I haven't watched TV in how many years, 8 years or something,
but I'm sure it's not any cleaner than when I used to watch it.
You know, you watch a bunch of garbage on TV,
you got your dirty magazine stashed away somewhere,
you listen to a bunch of filthy music that's promoting everything that's wicked in this life,
that's blasphemous of Jesus Christ,
that's promoting sleeping around in illicit lifestyle and taking drugs and drunkenness.
You listen to all that, you pump your mind full of that,
you commit sin, you live in sin, you do all these things,
and then you think that you're going to get to heaven and get all these rewards.
He says, hey, you better play by the rules.
You know, get on God's program of clean and righteous and holy living,
you know, think about it.
Imagine, because he says, you know,
no man that warth entanglement himself with the affairs of this life,
that he may please him when chosen to be a soldier.
The Bible says that looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
what's that script saying, Hebrews 12,
whereforeseeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
You can't run like you should in that race
if you're bagged and bogged down with all the sin of this life.
It's going to stop you from earning the reward,
that, you know, you're not going to be able to do it.
Imagine this, imagine racing track and field,
the hundred yard dash, and you're wearing a backpack.
I mean, think about it.
Everybody else has tried to lose all kinds of weight.
They were careful what they ate.
You know, they're just very, very careful.
And they don't have, like, a long, flowing hair,
or a long beard or something, because, right, they don't want any extra weight.
No, they don't shave their legs if they're a real man.
But anyway, you know, they get all ready to go and everything like that.
They can handle a few hairs. Come on.
The point is, they get all geared up.
They don't want to carry baggage.
So I just like to bring my backpack everywhere I go,
so I was going to wear it on this race.
No way.
And that's what you're trying to do in life
when you carry all the wickedness and sin.
It's going to make it harder for you to serve God.
It's going to slow you down.
And I realized that a long time ago.
I was trying to serve God.
I was trying to win people to Christ,
but I realized that a lot of the things I was doing were slowing me down.
And I wanted to win.
You know, I wanted to do something big for God.
I was like, I need to get rid of this stuff.
You know, I just need to throw away this junk,
all these movies and music.
They're not helping me get closer to God.
They're not helping me win.
They're not helping me achieve my goal of winning the race.
I need to drop this stuff and run to win.
It's important.
Let me read for you just a couple scriptures on rewards.
I mean, there's so many.
The Bible says in Ruth 2-12,
The Lord recompense thy work,
and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel,
under whose wings thou art come to trust.
Psalm 58-11,
Verily there is a reward for the righteous.
Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
The Bible says in Isaiah 40 verse 10,
Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand,
and his arm shall rule for him.
Behold, his reward is with him,
and his work before him.
Isaiah 62-11,
Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world,
Say ye to the dishonor of Zion,
Behold, thy salvation cometh.
Behold, his reward is with him,
and his work before him.
Look at Matthew 5.
We'll talk about another way you can get rewarded.
Number one, you're going to be rewarded for the works that you do for God, right?
The work that you do.
The work.
Not for the way you felt, you know, for the work that you did.
What did you do?
Did you preach the gospel?
Did you plant that seed?
Did you open your Bible?
Did you teach someone the Bible?
Did you get someone saved?
Did you water that seed?
Did you plant that seed?
That's the labor and the work that you've done.
God will reward you for that.
But not only that, there are some other rewards for those who serve God.
Look at Matthew 5.
The Bible says in verse 11,
Blessed are ye when man shall revile you,
and persecute you,
and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven,
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
So not only will you be rewarded for the work that you do,
God said that if you suffer criticism and shame for the cause of Jesus Christ,
you will be rewarded for that.
He says when people lie about you, revile you, persecute you,
not just in general, but he said for my name's sake,
because you belong to Jesus Christ,
because you claim the name of Christ and call yourself a Christian,
and people persecute you, revile you,
he said you have a great reward in heaven for standing tall
and standing for Jesus Christ in the midst of criticism and opposition.
He said, whosoever shall be ashamed of my word,
me and my words, talking about the Bible,
in this wicked and adulterous generation,
he said, I'll be ashamed of him.
And look, I don't want God to look down on me and be ashamed of me.
Did you know that there are parents who are ashamed of their children today?
You know it's true.
There are people whose children have grown up and done wrong,
and they're ashamed of their children.
Now, is it still their child?
Do they still love their child?
Of course, but they're ashamed of the behavior.
I don't want God to be ashamed.
I'd still be his child, but I don't want him to be ashamed of me.
I don't want him to be proud of me.
And let me tell you something.
When you stand tall and say, yes, I'm a Christian,
yes, I believe the Bible,
let me tell you something.
That pleases God, and God's going to reward you
for lifting high the standard of God's word
and not backing down in the midst of criticism and persecution and opposition.
You say, well, I've never been persecuted.
Well, let me tell you something.
He says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
If you start serving God, if you live godly in Christ Jesus,
you will be persecuted, not in might, not in maybe.
He said, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
You will be persecuted if you serve God,
and if you live a godly and Christ Jesus life.
Constantly, I see the people who are serving God being persecuted.
Even my home pastor,
I'm not going to go into the details,
but my home pastor, the church that I went to in California
before I started this church,
I learned a lot of great things from him.
I went there for over five years,
and that's where my wife and I went when we got married,
and that's where she got baptized and everything.
Just this week was literally just lied about and maligned in the news,
turned over to the authorities in the news.
Total lie, total garbage,
because on some camping trip where the pastor wasn't even there,
an animal was brought on the trip in order to be eaten.
Isn't this bizarre?
And they butchered and ate an animal on an all man's camping trip.
Isn't that horrible?
Have you ever eaten a cheeseburger before?
Everybody I tell the story to is like,
and then what did they do?
Well, so what's the crime?
I mean, good night.
I guess it's a good thing that when my father-in-law
were butchering a pig, we were in Europe,
or I guess we would have been in trouble
because we hit the pig over the head with a sledgehammer
because that's how you put it out of its misery.
That's life.
You think there's a nice, cuddly way to kill an animal?
You know what?
Do you put it on a satin pillow and just stroke it to death?
Hey, if you eat meat, the animal has to die.
Who wants to eat an animal while it's still alive?
Come on.
You know, you just want to kill it
as quickly and painlessly as possible.
So guess what you do?
You hit it over the head.
That is known to be the most humane way.
When my wife was a kid, they didn't do it so humane.
When she grew up in Hungary, they would,
well, I don't want to go into it,
but they did something that was a lot more painful,
and the animal suffered a lot more.
But they have told them.
The government has told them,
hit it over the head with a sledgehammer
so that it doesn't feel any more pain after that
and you can begin to do the butchering.
They said that's the best way to do it.
So these guys, bring rabbits, okay?
Oh, cuddly little rabbits.
But they were literally rabbits that were raised to be eaten.
And they hit it over the head
because that's how you kill animals, folks.
Do you think in these big factories
where they do a thousand cows a day,
I mean, how fun do you think it is for that cow
when it's next in line on the chopping block or whatever?
They hit the thing over the head,
and this happened like a year ago.
He wasn't even there.
I mean, but the news just sensationalizes it.
Oh, they're cruel to animals.
They were killing and butchering rabbits,
making it sound as if they just took somebody's pet rabbit
or the Easter bunny and chopped it up and they barbecued it.
You know, they literally made it sound like
they're just going out there
and just finding them in the woods, Peter Cottontail,
you know, and killing it or something
when it was just an animal.
You know, that's a...
Who thinks that that sounds like a pretty manly thing?
Who wants to do it on a men's camping trip?
Let's do it.
Sounds cool.
I mean, I'm all for it.
You know, I jumped at the chance when I was in Hungary
and my father-in-law said,
you can come with me and do this pig butcher,
pig slaughter, pig...
You know what?
It was interesting.
It was fascinating.
Now, I got to admit, it was a little shocking to me
just because I'd never seen it before.
You know, I've grown up in the city my whole life.
To me, meat is just in a...
It's on a little styrofoam plate with plastic over it.
To me, that's where meat comes from, okay?
So it was a little bit shocking how they did it,
just all that went into it.
But you know what?
It's just because we live in a weird sheltered society
where we live in this concrete jungle,
so we're not even used to normal things
that people have been doing for thousands of years.
And we've begun to worship and serve the creature
more than the Creator.
And to think that an animal is a human being.
And people just...
And you know what it was?
It's just disgruntled church members from the past
that just turned them into animal control,
turned them over to the media.
And the media has no integrity.
They have zero soul in many cases.
They've sold their soul to Satan or something.
And so they turn them over to the media
just to be ripped on in the media
and to be on the evening news
and just to make a spectacle out of them.
You know why?
Because he preaches the King James Bible, that's why.
And because he preaches salvation by grace through faith.
That's why.
Because the devil will use the media
and he'll use our messed up government
to persecute you
if you do anything right in this world.
And anybody here that's listening to the sound of my voice,
especially if you're going to be a preacher someday,
you're going to get persecuted
or you're not the right kind of preacher.
It's true.
Every preacher I know
who is a godly, righteous, spiritual preacher,
he went through persecution.
But you know what?
That comes with it rewards.
But even if you're not a preacher,
even if you're not a pastor,
man, woman, boy, and girl,
you know, when you take the stands
that need to be made at school
and at work,
and I'm not talking about being obnoxious or rude or anything,
but when you just do the right thing,
and we'll talk more about that on Wednesday night with Daniel 1
where Daniel took some stands,
and he did it the right way.
He wasn't being obnoxious or rude or anything.
But when you stand for what's right,
you will be persecuted.
You will not be the most popular kid at school.
So you just have to ask yourself,
do you want to be popular in this wicked and adulterous generation,
or do you want to be popular in heaven?
Do you want to have your reward in heaven,
or do you want to be popular and have the accolades now?
Because if you suffer for the cause of Christ,
if you're persecuted for the cause of Christ,
you will be rewarded.
And you know what?
My pastor back in California,
he has a reward coming to him
because he's getting maligned
because the people who did this to him,
it's because of what he preaches that they're doing it to him.
It's because of preaching against sin.
It's because of preaching what's right
that they singled him out for this.
And you know, whether I agree with him on every issue or not,
he is still my brother in Christ,
and he is still being persecuted in a wicked generation
by the wicked media and the wicked government.
Look at the book of Acts.
It wasn't a walk in the park for the early church and the believers
who lived like a friend.
I mean, it's just one time getting arrested after another.
That's the whole book of Acts in a nutshell.
Describe the book of Acts in three words.
You know, arrest, imprisonment, jailbreak.
You know, I'm just kidding.
That's my three-point outline on the book of Acts.
It's true.
Read it.
The people who've read the Bible are saying,
yep, that's pretty much the way I am.
They're saying, yeah, that's what it is.
And so, I gotta hurry. I'm running out of time.
But we'll be rewarded.
Listen to Luke 6, 22.
You don't have to turn there.
Blessed are ye when men shall hate you.
That's Jesus talking.
Blessed are ye when men shall hate you.
And yet we want everybody to love us.
But you can't do everything right and say everything right.
The world's not gonna love you.
They crucified Jesus.
They stoned Stephen.
And he says here, blessed are ye when men shall hate you
and when they shall separate you from their company.
This is at school, you know, when you're not in the cool group.
You know, you're separated from the company at the water cooler.
He says, and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil
for the son of man's sake.
Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy.
That's a pretty strong word.
Leap for joy.
For behold, why should I rejoice, Jesus?
For behold, your reward is great in heaven.
For in the like manner did their fathers into the prophets.
Now, maybe this is just going over your head.
Like, it's just going over your head like,
well, who cares about my reward in heaven?
I'm just trying to get through today.
But hold on a second.
You need to respect the reward like Moses did.
You need to understand this.
If you'd start having your affections on things above,
not on things on the earth,
and start thinking about the fact that you're only gonna live on this world
for 70, 80 years,
which is like a little vapor that appears for a little time
and it vanishes away.
But you are going to spend thousands and thousands and thousands of years
in eternity.
And with the rewards that you earned in this life.
Wouldn't that change your priorities?
You know, you want to...
You say, well, that's too far away.
People will dump all kinds of money into a retirement account
so that when they're 65,
they can pull their socks up to their knees
and go play golf somewhere
and drive around a little electric cart somewhere
and pretend like they're young again.
You know, hey, people want to worry about that
and work toward that and put money away for that
and that's pretty far away
when you're in your 20s and 30s.
Just go another five years after 65
and you're probably going to kick the bucket and be in heaven anyway.
So that's the retirement plan right there.
Just push back your retirement five years.
Don't buy the socks.
You know, don't get the golf cart.
You know, win souls, go to church, work hard,
all the way to the finish line.
Now, you might get to the point where you're not healthy enough to work,
but you know what?
I'd rather just work until I fall over dead, personally.
You know what I mean?
I've known people, as soon as they retire, they just,
you know, they've had it.
They stay busy and they stay young, I've noticed.
I've noticed because I know some people who are old
and yet they're young.
And you know what? It's people who are serving God
or people who are still working.
My grandma is 88 years old
and who's met my grandma?
Does she seem that old at all?
No, I mean, she is sharp as a tack.
She's on the ball.
She's serving God.
You know, she has been out door-to-door soul winning
not too long ago, literally.
I mean, she is working for God
and God's keeping her young.
Okay, you don't want to get this attitude of just,
I'm just going to retire or put all this money away
and then I can just travel around in an RV, you know, or whatever.
I mean, that's cool, traveling around in an RV,
but you know what?
I'd rather have all kinds of rewards in heaven.
I'm not saying you can't have both,
but what I'm saying is
if you would make it as real to you going to heaven,
the millennial reign of Jesus Christ,
if those things would become as real to you
as some people's retirement is,
you'd start putting money into that account.
And the way you do that is by laboring for God.
The way you do that is by winning souls to Christ.
And the way you're going to do that
is when you basically come to a point where you say,
you know what? I don't care what anybody says about me.
I'm standing for God's Word.
I'm standing for the truth.
I'm going to stand for the name of Jesus Christ.
So that's another thing.
I'm going to skip some of this because of sake of time,
but you don't have to turn there.
I'm not going to read this for sake of time.
But in Matthew 6,
he talks about the fact that if you pray in secret,
God will reward you openly.
If you pray and fast and give alms and help people,
God will reward you if you help those who are in need.
You see someone who's hungry,
you see someone who can't pay their bill,
and you step in and help in that situation,
and you clothe those who need to be clothed
and feed those who need to be fed,
God says He'll reward you for that.
So it's soul winning.
It's about standing up for the cause of Christ
and being mocked and ridiculed and attacked
and persecuted and punished for it.
It's about giving and helping those who are in need,
praying for those that are in need.
He said if you love and pray for your enemies,
then God will heat coals of fire upon their head
and He'll reward you.
So those are ways that you can earn rewards.
I'm just kind of blowing through these for sake of time.
Listen to this great promise though.
This is unbelievable.
Let me find my page here.
It says in Matthew chapter number 19,
and this is an amazing statement.
Matthew 19, go ahead and turn there if you would.
Matthew 19, 27,
Then answered Peter and said unto him,
Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee.
What shall we have therefore?
He said what is going to be our reward?
And Jesus said unto them,
Verily I say unto you,
that ye which have followed me in the regeneration,
when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory,
ye shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone that hath forsaken houses
or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands,
for my name's sake shall receive an hundredfold,
and shall inherit everlasting life.
But many that are first shall be last,
and the last shall be first.
He says look, as a Christian,
you have everlasting life, but not only that,
and what's that worth?
That's the free gift right there.
But He says not only that,
whatever you give up, whatever you cut loose,
because you have to in order to do right,
whatever you give up, He says,
you will receive a hundredfold reward.
Now that's a pretty big reward.
That's a huge reward.
I mean if you give up something,
you give up, you know, business,
you give up being with family,
you know, maybe for example you live in town
where your family's all there and all your family's there
and you can spend time with your brother, sister,
and let's say you end up taking the gospel
to some distant country as a missionary,
you know, and you're not going to see them as much.
You're going to have to give up a lot of that relationship.
He said, you know what?
I'll reward you a hundredfold for making that sacrifice
to serve God in that other country
or whatever God has called you to do.
If you, for example, become a Christian
and then you start living for God
and standing for the things of God and preaching the word of God,
maybe your brother might not speak to you anymore.
Stranger things have happened, haven't they?
Maybe your sister won't speak to you anymore.
Maybe your parents will disown you.
I mean some people who are Islamic or Mormon or whatever,
the false religion, and then they convert to Christianity,
people will shun them, people will turn on them
and want nothing to do with them
and cast out their name as evil.
God says for that sacrifice, you will be rewarded 100 times.
Do you believe that today? I believe that.
Anything you do for God, you'll be rewarded.
God will give you, like people have said,
you can't out-give God because anything you give to God,
he'll give you a hundredfold.
Now, we want it all now,
and this isn't Joel Osteen telling you that, you know,
if you put a hundred bucks in the plate,
you're going to get a thousand, you know,
people that say this on, you know,
put your hand on the screen and all this stuff.
I'm not talking about prosperity preaching.
You're going to have persecution in this life.
You're going to go through trials and tribulations,
but God's going to reward you a hundred times
for anything you do for him.
But let's close on this.
Look at Revelation 19.
Revelation 19, we'll close in the Book of Revelation.
I hope you get the idea here that
serving God brings rewards,
and if you'd respect those rewards,
you'd want to do more for God.
Now, you say, Pastor Anson,
aren't there other reasons to serve God?
Oh, yeah.
You say, Pastor Anson, why do you go soul winning?
Number one, I go soul winning,
and these are not in any particular order.
Number one, I knock doors and give the priest the gospel.
Number one, because Jesus said,
if you love me, keep my commandments.
So, because I love Jesus,
I want to show that love by obeying him,
by laboring and working hard for him,
to show my, not to pay back my salvation,
but just to show love, just to show him love,
just as an act of love toward him.
Number two, I serve God
because I want to get people saved
because I don't want people to go to hell,
because I have compassion on the multitudes.
I have compassion on the city of Phoenix, Arizona.
I don't want anyone to go to hell
who could have gotten saved
if somebody would have taken the time
to really explain to them
and really compel them to be saved
and really show them and preach it to them
and beg them to be saved and explain it.
Some people just don't understand the gospel,
and if somebody would explain it to them,
they'd get saved.
But how should they hear without a preacher?
Isn't that a pretty good motivation,
that hell is real?
That should get us out there knocking the door.
That should get us out there doing something.
Isn't our love for Christ enough
to get us to go out,
and if he could die on the cross
and shed his blood
and be buried and rose again,
why can't we do something for him
to show him that we love him?
And if he loved the people in our city to die for him,
we should love him enough.
If he went to hell for three days and three nights,
we could probably go through 115 degrees
for three days and three nights of soul winning
to win some souls to Christ.
72 hours of soul winning if he did 72 hours in hell.
Look, we need to be motivated by all of these things,
because some periods in my life,
I'm most motivated by my love for Christ.
Other times I might be most motivated
by the reality of hell.
But you know, sometimes I'm motivated
by the reality of heaven,
the rewards.
Sometimes I'm motivated by the fact
that I want to run to win.
I want to run the race.
I want to earn the rewards.
I want to get to heaven.
And look, he said this,
we were talking about this, brother Seguro.
He said,
and now little children abide in him,
that when he shall appear,
we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
Think about this.
When Jesus Christ comes,
I didn't have time to get into this,
but when he comes,
the reward session will be when he comes back
and sets up his throne upon this earth
at the beginning of the millennium.
It's in Revelation 19.
Are you in Revelation 19?
Yes.
It's mentioned in Revelation 19,
it's mainly mentioned in Revelation 11
when he talks about right after
the seventh trumpet is blown,
he says it's done, it's finished,
time is no longer.
That's when he basically says,
the time has come for thee to reward thy servants.
And to give unto thy servants
the prophets small and great,
he's going to reward them
and give them rewards at that point.
Imagine if you're in line for the rewards
because there's going to be a judgment seat of Christ.
We're not going to be judged for our sins
because our sins are forgiven and forgotten.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far God has separated us from our sins.
But the judgment seat of Christ,
remember the gold, silver, and precious stones,
the wood-hayed stones?
We're going to stand before God
and give an account for the works that we've done.
Whether they're the good,
the gold, silver, and precious stones on the back,
the wood-hayed stone that's going to be burnt up,
it's worthless.
Not sin, but just things that you did that had no value.
When you get there,
wouldn't you be a little ashamed
to get there and just have nothing?
Hey, what'd you get, man?
No.
Uh, no.
I don't know.
I did something out of it.
I thought I did some stuff,
but whatever, you know.
But think about this,
and I'm not saying this is how it's going to be,
but just bear with me for a second.
Okay, let's just push the Bible aside here.
Okay, just use your imagination here.
Let's say you're in line for getting the rewards, right?
And you know you didn't win anybody a Christ.
You know you didn't do anything.
I mean, you know you might have come to church
and just sat there, but you didn't really do anything.
You think you're going to be excited for your turn?
You're probably going to be looking at that long line
saying, good, you know.
And as you start to get closer,
you're probably going to be a little bit embarrassed,
you know, like you're not going to be,
well, let me put it to you this way.
Are you looking forward to getting the rewards
when you know you're getting like practically nothing?
But think about this.
What if you know that you've done tons of work for God?
You've given up tons of things for God.
I mean, you've suffered, you've stood tall,
you've won souls to Christ.
That line won't be able to move fast enough.
You see what I mean?
You're going to be looking forward to getting up there
and saying, God, this is what I did.
And to say, well done, now good and faithful servant.
You know, be thou over ten cities.
I mean, you're going to be looking forward to that.
Whereas if you didn't do much,
you're not going to be looking forward to it as much.
It's still going to be great to be in heaven.
Don't get me wrong.
But you're going to be a lot more excited about it
the more that you've done for God.
Think about that.
But in Revelation 19, he says this,
Verse 7,
Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come
and his wife hath made herself ready.
Notice the marriage supper of the Lamb
is in Revelation 19.
You know, these people get all this goofball doctrine
that, you know, the rapture's going to take place
and then there's this seven-year marriage supper.
You know, I'm so sick of that.
You know, show me that in the Bible, would you please?
The Bible says right here that it's in Revelation 19,
okay, when the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place.
That's what it says,
For the marriage of the Lamb is come,
and his wife hath made herself ready,
and to her was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
And he saith unto me,
Write, Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
And he saith unto me,
These are the true sayings of God,
and I fell at his feet to worship him.
Now who did he fall on his face to worship?
Let's go back up in the context of Revelation 19.
Who is showing him these things?
Well, let's go, look, let's read the verse
and then we'll go to chapter 22 and you'll see.
But it says,
I fell at his feet to worship him,
and he saith unto me,
See thou do it not,
I am thy fellow servant,
and of thy brethren
that have the testimony of Jesus,
worship God,
for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
So who is this guy that's showing him these things?
Fellow servant, right?
So who was this?
Is this a human being?
Yeah, it's a human being, right?
And it's somebody who lived on this earth
and served God, right?
And basically he said,
I am of thy fellow servant
and of thy brethren
that have the testimony of Jesus, worship God.
Now look, how would you like that to be your job
when you get to heaven?
How would you like it to be told,
OK, let's see,
John is going to be shown all these things
for the book of Revelation
and I'm going to show him this part
about the marriage supper of the Lamb
and he basically calls you out
and says,
Hey, you know,
Brother Matt, would you come and show
John these things, you know what I mean?
Stop and think about that.
Wouldn't that be an amazing job?
You're going to show John
and then he falls down to worship you
and you're going to tell him,
you know, hey, don't,
you know, see now, do it not.
I'm that fellow servant of thy brethren.
Look,
who do you want to be when you get up there
is what I'm saying.
Who do you want to be on the millennial reign of Christ?
Who do you want to be in the new heaven and the new earth?
You're going to be rewarded.
If you were one of the 12 apostles,
they were great men.
They did amazing things
and they were going to be sitting on 12 thrones,
he told them,
judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
That's a pretty amazing position to be in.
You know,
maybe you'll be judging Arizona,
but the point is,
or whatever,
I'm being a little bit facetious,
but the point is here,
what do you want to be rewarded?
How would you like to be this guy?
You say,
Wow, in the Old Testament,
the great Christians,
they got to be listed in the Bible.
They had books of the Bible named after them,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Isaiah.
You know, you could be in the Bible too.
You could be this guy.
You know, look at chapter 22 and verse 9.
It says in verse 9,
or verse 8 actually,
it says,
And I, John, saw these things and heard them,
and when I had heard and seen,
I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel,
which showed me these things.
Then say at the end of me,
See, thou do it not,
for I am thy fellow servant,
and of thy brethren the prophets,
and of them which keep the sayings of this book,
worship God.
Here's another guy
that got to show John basically a phase in this.
Then there were the twenty and four elders,
which are mentioned twelve different times in Revelation.
They're key players.
Twenty-four elders.
Remember what an elder is?
We learned about it a few weeks ago.
Bishops, pastors.
These are twenty-four pastors that are going to be chosen
to basically be there around the throne,
praising God right there,
and throughout the book of Revelation,
one of the elders will basically take John
and show him things.
One of the elders will take John and show him this,
and the elders will do this,
and the elders will cast their crowns before the throne.
I mean, what an amazing thing
if you're a pastor to strive toward and say,
Wow, what if I could be one of those twenty-four guys?
I mean, that'd be pretty hard to make that cut.
You know what I mean?
Thousands of years of history,
all the thousands and thousands of churches
all over the world,
and twenty-four guys get to be in that position.
But you know what?
Twenty-four guys will be in that position,
and God's the judge.
And so you've got to think about that.
Look, who do you want to be?
God's going to reward you.
You want to be glorified on this earth?
You want to be glorified on stinking CNN,
ABC, NBC?
You want to be on the front page of the newspaper
and loved and glorified in this wicked and adulterous generation?
Or would you rather be glorified up there with Jesus
where it really matters?
Would you rather get to shake hands with Barack Obama
and get your picture taken and a plaque awarded to you?
Or would you rather shake hands with Jesus Christ
and get that plaque awarded to you
and get that position?
You see, we would live differently
if we would be looking at heaven
instead of this earth.
Set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth.
You say, well, but I'm not a pastor.
I'm never going to be a pastor.
And you know, many people never be a pastor.
That's fine.
It's not everybody's job to be a pastor.
You say, well, I'm a woman.
What do I do?
You know, women can win people to Christ, too.
You could give the gospel.
You could give people saved.
And you could raise your children
to grow up and serve God and do great things for God.
You can still do what's right
and live a godly Christian life as a godly woman,
and God will have just as great rewards
for the women as the men.
The Bible's clear.
I don't have time to go into it,
but I've preached that sermon.
The rewards will be there.
So what do you want to do with your life?
Do you want to live for the here and now,
or do you want to set your affections on the things in heaven?
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, first of all,
I want to thank you for the free gift of salvation.
I thank you that there's nothing we can do
to earn our salvation or to pay you back.
I thank you so much that I know 100% sure
I'm on my way to heaven
because I believe I'm the Lord Jesus Christ.
But Father, help heaven to be more real to me
and help these rewards to be more real to me
so that I can be like a Moses who has great faith,
so I can be like a Paul or a Peter or a John
who would give it 100% all the way to the finish line
in order to earn the rewards.
Help that to motivate me
and help it to motivate every single person who's here, dear God.
And if there's someone here who's not saved this morning,
I pray that they would believe on you
as their only savior before it's too late.
I hope they're not trusting in works
because it's not going to get them there.
And so Father, we love you
and thank you for everything you've given us.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.