Sermon: March 1, 2007

I had the privilege to deliver a sermon at Bible Baptist Temple on March 1, 2007. I am making the text of that sermon available here online. I do not have the audio portion of the presentation but I hope the notes I used will be helpful for your study and devotions. -Andy Schreck

One of the most common questions a new Christian asks is, “What is heaven going to be like?”

Thankfully, the Bible says precious little about what Heaven is or what our relationship to God and Heaven will be.

My understanding is each of our duties and responsibilities in Heaven will be as diverse and varied as they are for us right now here on Earth.

Asking “What will Heaven be like” is akin to my son asking me what he will be when he grows up. If we actually knew, actually saw our lives the way God can see them; complete and finished, we would probably do everything in our power to stop our future from ever happening!

I am sure my wife would NEVER have gone outside that late summer day last year and gotten her leg and ankle broken. The path she has been traveling since is a true trail of tears. I thank you and she thanks you for your prayers.

If we were given “veto” power over the plan God has for our lives the Good Lord would still be debating with Cain on how to bring his sacrifice.

But we aren’t left completely in the dark as to what will be in eternity. The Lord Jesus has given us specific examples and hints at what the Kingdom of God will be and our place in it will look like.

He has given glimpses into the mind of God and the future of mankind for our comfort, for our warning, and for our edification.

We have been given the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to admonish and warn both believer and unbeliever. To sum up the Book of the Revelation, the Lord’s longsuffering of sin has its limit, and that limit WILL be reached one day soon.

We have the wonderful Sermon on the Mount that outlines the behavior and standards expected of True Believers in this world and by extension, into the next.

If that is the perfect Law for us to aspire to today that will still be the perfect law for us to obey in eternity.

And when we pass through the Narrow Gate from the Sermon on the Mount and read on into the Olivet Discourse the Lord reveals that future we are dread to see but continually try to peek into anyway.

The Sermon on the Mount concludes with Jesus speaking of passing through the Narrow Gate and the Olivet Discourse begins with Jesus exiting the Temple, presumably through a gate… the Narrow Gate taking us to the Kingdom of Heaven and the Olivet discourse taking us to Heaven itself.

He takes that time during the Olivet Discourse to talk to His disciples about what is to come. We are not going to look at that in detail from a prophetic point of view. We are going to jump forward through the coming of the anti-Christ we are going to jump forward through the rapture and we are going to jump forward and upward into Heaven.

God has met us, Jesus has met us in the air at the time we are going to pick up this discussion, the first heaven. Presumably we will be taken through the second heaven and into the third heaven and what will be administered, if I can use that term, is the Judgment Seat of Christ, the Bema Seat Judgment. The judgment where Jesus gives to His followers that he takes, both the living and the dead, and gives us the rewards as we have deserved them.

Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians. I think you know where we are going. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 10 and 11.
“For we all must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men, for we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. “

Verse 10 says a lot. Verse 10 is a summation of something that is going to take probably several years to complete. We know we have two things going on in the years after the rapture.

Down on earth we have pleasant, happy things going on. It is the time where Mankind finally believes that he has evolved socially to the point where we are approaching Karl Marx’s utopia, Adolf Hitler’s utopia, Josef Stalin’s utopia. The utopia of all the pastors who were “Left Behind”. They are left down here turning the lives, their fortunes and their spiritual allegiance over to the anti-Christ.

In heaven, during that 3 and a half years, we have this judgment going on, the Bema Seat. And then we are told that we have the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. When after the Bema Seat is taken care of, that judgment is concluded, we are invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb where we will celebrate until that time three and a half years later when the Abomination that Causes Desolation makes his appearance in the Temple. And Jesus leads us, down to earth, into the Final Battle.

So we are going to look at the first half of this three and a half years, we are going to look at the judgment. I am sure everyone got, when they came in the door, a little plastic bag and inside that bag is a little piece of summer. When we get to go out camping, get to go out to the South Park, or North Park, well West Park isn’t there anymore, wherever we go to have a cookout.

Let’s look now at 1 Corinthians chapter three verses 13 through 15.

“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 hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

Our works will be made known and will be tested, purified, passed through the fire. To refine them, to burn off the dross, to make us worthy of Heaven, because the Bible rightly says God can not even look upon evil (Habakkuk 1:13) and we need to be pure in order to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

I think you are beginning to see the connection. But let’s bring this down to our level for a moment, as Dr. J. Vernon Magee says, “where the rubber meets the road”.

We have at this judgment, as Christians, a trial to go through. Not a trial for our sin for salvation because the Bible makes very clear, and I am going to paraphrase and sum it up, “Once Saved Always Saved.” Amen?

You better believe it. But…

That doesn’t mean we are down here blundering through our lives committing sin after sin after sin after sin whether it is sins of commission whether it is sins of omission whether it is sins of remission whether it is sins of transmission, sins of any mission. We are committing them, sometimes intentionally, sometimes I will be sitting there or standing there or doing something and saying to myself, “I should NOT be doing this.”

Dum-dee dum dee-dum.
There I go, I am doing it. Sometimes I listen to that little conscience. I don’t do it nearly enough. I am sure it is the same way for everyone of you, especially, especially if you have small children.

That little sin monitor inside of you is the LAST thing you want to hear when your kid is acting up. I’m not going to chase that rabbit, I love my boy and girl.

But those little sins add up. And when we go to the judgment seat the Corinthians verse rightly tells us we are going to receive our reward for the actions we have done whether they be good or bad.

What’s the reward for doing something good? Obviously something good! What’s the reward for doing something bad? Is it a lack of reward? Do you take something away? Is it a loss only? The Bible gives us another hint.

It says we will go and be purified as one who passes through the fire. What are you holding in your hand? That’s a charcoal briquette. What do you think that represents? Here’s mine.

(THROW IT INTO CHARCOAL GRILL)

That’s a sin. That charcoal briquette is one of my sins. How big the flame of purification is depends on me… you (POINT INTO AUDIENCE, PASTOR) you you him her, everybody.

How big your flame of purification is going to be is entirely, entirely up to you. That’s one sin. I have been a Christian for a little more than a decade now. Let me tell you something, sometimes… (POUR CHARCOAL INTO GRILL FROM BAG) sometimes that’s one day.

I work on a college campus. And let me tell you folks something, sometimes, in the springtime… I don’t need to go any further. You can fill in all the blanks and all the little snickers.

Now some people try to encourage me and say, “Oh, temptation is not a sin…” Well, sometimes that temptation in your heart takes that little extra step. Not every into action, but if you lust after a woman with your eyes, guess what happens?

So you see the picture, when we look back at the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus talked about hating your brother, about lusting after a woman with your eyes, when we talked about those things which are EXPECTED of us in this life and the next we can see how that can be one day’s worth of sin.

Let’s say that is a little bit above average. Let’s say about half of that is my “daily allotment” of sin. Some days are better, some days are worse. And I have been a Christian for 10 years, I did not bring all those bags for a demonstration.

How big is my fire going to be? How big is my fire of purification going to be? Am I going to be sad? Am I going to be happy to go through that? Am I going to be standing up there before the Lord Jesus Christ and He has already said “Welcome into the Kingdom”, I’ve been taken in the rapture, whether I was dead or alive, and I am standing before Him and I am looking at the Lord Jesus here in front of me. I can look at him eye to eye because He came as a man just like us.

Heck, I might even be a couple of inches taller than him. (HEH HEH) I know I probably weigh a little bit more than him. But I am going to look over here and I am going to look up and up and up and up. And I am going to go, “Jesus is that for me?”

And He is going to say, “Yup.”

And I’m not going to be happy. That’s going to light up. And people all around waiting in line… I don’t know if we will really wait in line but I do know this; each of those little bags you have now, that’s one of your sins. That is one of your responsibilities that you didn’t do. One of the things that the Lord Jesus called you to do; go talk to that guy for a sec. Talk to him about the Gospel. Be a comfort for her. Be a comfort for your kid, don’t correct him on that, that’s silly, strengthen him. Give your wife a hug.

Don’t go over the speed limit! Didn’t you know that’s a sin? (HEH HEH HEH WOO WEEE.. GEEZE). Because if we disobey the civil authority on matters that are not contrary to scripture we are sinning against God because we are supposed to obey our civil magistrates because they are placed in authority over us by God.

Ladies, gentlemen, Christians and non-Christians, I’m telling you this because a lot of people have a misperception that the Bema Seat Judgment, the Judgment Seat of Christ is all “gumdrops and lollipops”, we are either going to get a lot of reward or a little bit of reward. But it says we are going to get is due us for our works, as a Christian, as someone saved, be they good or bad. And our works are going to pass us through the fire.
Lord. “Yes?” Can I get a cup of water first? (HEH HEH HEH). (MIME SPLASHING A CUP OF WATER ON FIRE) Nope.

How long have you been a Christian? I know people here personally who have been Christians longer than I have been alive and I’ve only been alive 40 years. Just by virtue of living a long life…

If that is all we knew, if that is all we had was punishment, if all we had was the punishment, oh, that would be terrifying. But that’s not all we have. We are told we will get reward. I’m not sure how the rewards and the sins get balanced out. I’m not sure if it’s a one to one or what happens, if there is a weighting scale, but I do know that the Bible says we should not let one careless word fall to the ground. We are responsible for it.

We are told we are responsible for the lives of those that we do not bring the Gospel to that the Lord puts in front of us. I’m also told that we’re responsible for them when we do it, when we receive reward.

I can’t explain it all. Because like we said at the beginning, fortunately, the Lord tells us precious little about Heaven but we have a clue. And it’s one that I want Christians to wake up to. That I need to wake up to. That that’s real (POINT TOWARDS GRILL). That is something you want to avoid, you want to avoid at all costs. You don’t want that pile to be as tall as the imaginary pile to my left.

We want to be able to stand before God approved and fit for His Kingdom because after this is through we have the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We have gone through this and we have made our report we have had our trial we have had our works tested and purified through the flames and we get to sit down at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb for whatever time remains during that three and a half years THAT will be the best times of our lives, bar none!

It will be. That will be the high point of every Christian’s life… for eternity. It’s not going to be any better than that. The marriage supper was a great festival in ancient times. People could participate and celebrate to have fun. To let loose a little bit… not to sin, to have license. But to have true fellowship, the marriage festival took about seven days during the time of Jesus so we know we are in for one party. One celebration.

And preparation. Because I have never been on a horse. We are going to be riding white horses behind our Savior coming down here to conclude the job he finished on Calvary.

Now if this sounds a little bit scary, especially to a visitor today, to someone who hasn’t made that decision to follow Jesus, I don’t want to get all Medieval on you or anything but that purification fire is momentary. It will be done with.

It’s going to be a lot more terrifying to look at before going through, than looking at what’s left after we’ve gone through. We will be made pure. It’s going to take place in an instant (SNAP FINGERS).

The terror we feel is going to be from guilt. The terror we feel is going to be from letting down the Lord. The pain we feel, gone (SNAP) instant, we’re purified. Our works that were not good enough burned away the sin that was that conflagration is gone, it ashes, it’s dust, it’s forgotten.

But if you don’t have the Lord Jesus as your Savior, again I don’t mean to get all Medieval on you but there is a reality and the reality is that stack, however big it is, will never go out. It’s not going to be a moment, there won’t even be a moment’s peace.

All told, I would rather you face a stack like that for a minute, then have the celebration with the Lord for another year, two years, however long it’s going to be. I’m sure we can figure out a number that satisfies the sevens.

But it doesn’t matter, there IS a number that does matter. There is a number that does matter to those who have may not made that profession or have thought about it and toyed with it, have been touched in their spirit, the Lord is saying to them, “I want you, I forgive you, I love you.”

The Book of Revelation, again, we talked about at the very beginning, was given to us as a warning to believers and unbelievers. I want to reiterate that warning and let you know that number, that little sideways eight, sometimes looks like a bow tie. That number stands for infinity, looping back on itself.

Infinity does exist, we’re traveling through it now. Our souls are finite because they had a beginning. But our souls are also infinite because they have no end. Gosh I really don’t want you to spend that time regretting, calling up to God, “Why did you let me come down here?” Friend it’s not His decision. We can argue back and forth about predestination and all sorts of other crazy things but sitting in this pew, sitting right here right now, all that is intellectual, all of that is academic. All of that matters, but on a different level. Right now we are talking on a heart to heart level. We are talking on a level that is so personal, so deep that I’m not able to address it, the pastor’s not able to address it, only the Lord Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit reaches down and touches you and says (KNOCK ON PODIUM), “It’s time.”

Have you felt that touch? Today? Have you heard this message and said, “Wow, there is something to all of this Lord Jesus.”

(KNOCK ON PODIUM)

Have you heard that? The Lord says He knocks at the door of your heart. Won’t you answer Him?

Bow every head.

Lord Jesus, I got some of the words wrong, I got some of the verses wrong, I might even have some of the teaching wrong Lord, but there’s one thing that I don’t have wrong, is that You said that it is Your desire that not one person perish.

Lord we have people here who know You who love You and we have people here who are perishing. They might even know it.

Jesus sees you, He is looking. Come forward. This altar is not magic, my words are not magic, there is no power in my words. There is power in these words, however, the words of the Bible. When You spoke these words over 2000 years ago Lord THEY … WERE … POWER and they echo through to us today Lord.

Lord Jesus, there is a heart here that wants to be touched. There is someone here that You desire to have for yourself. I pray Lord that they respond.

Pray with this me if you haven’t made this decision, “Lord Jesus, I am a sinner and I know that my sins condemn me to an eternity of punishment, an eternity separated from You. Lord I accept You and Your sacrifice for me on the cross 2000 years ago to fix the relationship between God and me. I want You in my life, I want You in my heart, I want to be free from this wretched life of lies and deceit.