What Happens to Believers at the Bema Seat?

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Well it's good to see everybody with us this afternoon, and again we're just going to come right back into our study of the Scriptures. And for those of you joining us on the television, we'd like to welcome you to just an informal Bible study. We have no particular denomination or acts to grind, we just hope that we can get everybody regardless of your background to search the Scriptures and to learn to read them and enjoy them and to study them on your own. That's what the book was made for. You know I use the expression so often that Tyndale used when he was trying to get the New Testament especially in the Bible into England, and I'm going to keep using it because I think it says it all. He wanted a copy of the Scripture in the hands of every plowboy in England, and I want you to know that. Well if he wanted them in the hands of every plowboy in England, then why in the world doesn't everybody in a place like America search the Scriptures and read them and enjoy them. And I think there is a resurgence of interest to a certain degree, I have to believe that. I guess I should also mention that all the past programs are available in videotapes, audios and the printed books, and you write to us or call us and we'll get you the information for that. We've got a lot of ground to cover in a few moments, so let's turn straight back to II Corinthians chapter 5. Now we've been talking about the judgment of the unbeliever, in case you're wondering why am I coming from Revelation back to II Corinthians. Revelation 20 in our last program we were dealing with the great white throne judgment where every unbeliever of all the ages will come before Christ, the Judge not the Savior, and not only will they realize that their name was never in the Lamb's Book of Life, but they're going to have all of the record of their evil deeds put before them. God's going to have a record, the Books. Well there will be no believers at the great white throne, so where will believers be judged for their works? We're not going to escape that. And so that's why I'm bringing you back now to II Corinthians chapter 5, because Paul of course is the one that has to lay out that which is in the future for us, especially church age believers. And yes we are going to stand before Christ to give a record or account of our deeds and works as believers. Now again let me emphasize, no believer's sin will be presented to him at the Bema seat. This will be strictly a review of our works as believers, and there will be no dealing with our sin. Now remember that, because they were paid for at the cross. All our sin was judged on Christ at the cross. We will never have to stand before God and give an account for our sin, but we will give an account with what we have done as believers. And it is called the judgment seat in the King James, and I think it's unfortunate because the Greek word is Bema, just as plain as day. And the Bema seat of course, if you go to the ancient city of Corinth where we were a couple years ago, and it's a platform just about 12 or 18 inches high, and all it was was a raised platform where a decree of judgment would be handed out, or as I think Paul uses the term, in the Olympics. The seat of the judges was a raised platform where the judges would determine who won first, second, third in the races, and so forth. But the Bema seat was just simply a place where the person in authority would make the decree. Now that's what we have here in II Corinthians chapter 5. Jump in with me if you will, down at verse 6, and we'll begin at verse 6. II Corinthians 5. We are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body, that is in this body of flesh, we are absent from the Lord. Well that's certainly logical isn't it? While we're here, we're not with Him. We're in the body. Now He is with us in the person of the Holy Spirit of course, but we are not in His presence, we're here in the body. Verse 7. II Corinthians 5. For we walk by faith, and you know I don't see how in the world anybody can preach an evangelistic sermon and never use the word faith. But they do, and it's utterly impossible to have any kind of a salvation without faith. Remember one of the absolutes I'm always using back in Hebrews, without faith it is impossible to please God. And so here again Paul makes it so plain that while we are absent from Christ, and we're walk by faith. We walk by believing what He has given us in His Word. Let's move on to verse 8. So we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Now again let's look at Paul's circumstances. The poor man had been suffering now for years because of his apostolic work. The Judaizers were constantly after him, trying to destroy his work. In time the pagan Romans began to come down upon Christianity. We know that Paul suffered a martyr's death because of his work with the Gospel. But on top of all that he was suffering sickness, he had suffered pain from the beatings, and the scourgings, and so forth. And then with the increasing pressure from the Roman authorities against Christianity, I can see where Paul was anxious to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Just this morning Iris and I were looking at a little film clip of various places around the world where there is such tremendous need. Areas of Russia, areas of the Arab world where Christians are under terrible persecution, and then you go into the areas of the third world where it's abject poverty. She and I witnessed it in Haiti ourselves. Abject poverty, no hope of ever coming out of it, in spite of anything that the UN or anybody else can do. They can never begin to touch the needs of these masses of people who have absolutely nothing of this world's goods. And I remember talking to the Haitian Christians. What was their only hope? That the Lord would come, because they'll never get out of it any other way. And so as we were looking at these poor, benighted souls this morning on this film clip, I couldn't help but say the same thing. If only the Lord would come. But you see, we in America have got it so good, and we enjoy life to such a full extent that we really don't hanker for this like the Apostle did. Now we should, because even as good as we've got it, what's up there is going to be far, far better. But nevertheless, understand where the Apostle is coming from. He's suffering. He has had sickness nigh unto death, and the persecution is increasing. And no wonder he could say, Oh, it's so much better to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Then the next verse. Ephesians 1, verse 9, "...wherefore we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him." Now that's not salvation. This is not salvation. Are we being pleasing to Him as a child of God? And I'd like to bring it into the earthly, the physical analogy. My when you're parents, and you've got maybe 2, 3, or 4 offsprings, as long as they're all obedient, and they're all more or less in conformity to your wishes as parents, that's a happy circumstance, isn't it? But how many times there may be one or possibly two of those siblings that become renegades. They become belligerent, they become antagonistic. What does it do to the parent? Well it leaves them with a heartache. Well with God it's the same way. God has paid the purchase price of our redemption, we're His, and He would certainly wish that we would do His bidding, but He's not going to force it. He is not going to force it. And so what's the incentive then for believers to be pleasing in His sight? Reward. We do the same thing with our kids, don't we? We give them the incentive to maybe do well at school, or to do these things, and to be obedient. We give them incentives, and we'll reward that response. Now it's the same way here. Ephesians 4, verse 10 "...for we as believers must all appear before the great white throne, but we as believers must all appear before the bema seat of Christ, which is the seat of the judges, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done, be it good or bad." Now that's not salvation. This is strictly for reward. Our salvation was complete the moment we believed, and we were placed in the Body of Christ, and under the blood of Christ. That's a once for all transaction. But here we're going to appear and receive our rewards. Now let's move on to I Corinthians chapter 3. Where Paul lays it out even in clearer language of how we are to labor as believers. Getting ourselves in preparation for the day when we will stand before the bema seat of Christ. Not to give an account for our sin they're paid for, but we will give an account to that which we have done as believers. I Corinthians chapter 3, verse 9, "...for we are laborers," see that? We are laborers in our day to day existence. We are laborers with God. You are God's husbandry, and do you know what that means? That means that as soon as we entered into that relationship with Christ by virtue of our faith, and we became members of the Body of Christ, who is constantly cultivating us? Well God is, just like a farmer who plants his crop. I know maybe some of the wheat farmers in North Dakota like to be able to just harvest their crop and go to Florida, and then plant it in the spring and go fishing. Well they're one of the few that can do that. Most farmers when they are producing a crop, they have to cultivate it, they have to care for it, they have to fight the bugs and everything else until it's finally consummated and in the bin. Now that's exactly what God is doing with us. He is cultivating, He is nurturing every individual believer for His own purpose. Not ours, but for His. So He says, you are God's building. We're no longer our own, we're His. Now verse 10. Ephesians 2. Verse 10. Ephesians 2. Now this would sound a little bit egotistical, except for one fact. Every word that the Apostle Paul writes is Holy Spirit inspired. This does not come from his own feeling. He is not bragging about what he is. But the Holy Spirit is inspiring him to write for our benefit. Now again, just the other day a young man told me that his pastor had made the comment that as far as he was concerned they could take Paul's epistles out of the Bible and he'd never miss them. What a travesty! And there's so much of that today. They want to spend all their time in the four Gospels. They want to spend all their time in what Jesus said. Well you want to remember that this was part and parcel of the problems in the Corinthian church. That they had those divisions. Some were following what Jesus said, what Peter said, what Apollos said, and a few were staying with Paul. But they had problems because of it. And I've always made the statement that Paul had to constantly defend his apostleship, because it was under constant attack, Satanic to be sure. But here again the Holy Spirit inspires a man to claim that because of the grace of God as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation. He doesn't say he is the foundation, and I'll be careful. No Paul is not the basis of our salvation. The foundation is Jesus Christ in verse 11. The other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now when he laid the foundation, which is the foundation of everything concerning the church age, doctrines, and practice and everything else, he built upon it, other apostles built upon it, the Old Testament prophets and what they wrote they all add to, because everything is fitting together like a hand in glove for the eternal purposes of God. But Paul here makes it so plain that we are part and parcel of building on the foundation that is Christ, and the hope of our salvation. Now look at verse 12. Now he begins to bring it down to the nitty gritty of everyday Christian experience. Now if any man, I prefer to use the word anyone, because I don't want women to think this doesn't apply to me. So if anyone build, that is in your daily experiences, if anyone build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble. Now count a minute, how many materials are listed there? Six. Three that are indestructible by fire or anything else. The other three are wood, hay, and stubble, they can go up in a puff of smoke, but they are all potential materials for the Christian to use in his daily experience. Think of that, wood, hay, and stubble, gold, silver, and precious stones. Now verse 13. Ephesians 2. Verse 13. Now the best definition is when you put a slide under a microscope. You don't see a thing until you turn on that light, and then the light manifests everything that's on that slide. And until you turn on the light, you don't see a thing. All the way through Scripture things are manifested. What does that mean? And God's spotlight is put on it, and there it is. Now here again there's going to be something that's going to manifest our works. Now let me take you back to Revelation a minute, all the way back to Revelation chapter 19. Revelation 19, and just drop in at verse 12, speaking of Christ at His second coming, "...and His eyes as a flame of fire." Now you see how it helps to be careful how you read? It doesn't say His eyes were flames of fire, but what were they? As flames of fire. In other words, they had that ability to just penetrate through Him. Have you ever known people like that? Who could just penetrate with their eyes? Well that's just a little preview, but the Lord's eyes will penetrate as flames of fire. Now fire not only gives light, it also has heat, and as such, now come back to I Corinthians chapter 3, not only does it manifest with the light, but it is also going to show with its heat how much of our works are going to survive. Now if all of our works are nothing but wood, hay and stubble, how much is going to be left? Nothing. It'll go up in a puff of smoke because of those fiery eyes that are examining our works at the Bema Seat. But oh listen, what's going to survive? The gold, the silver and the precious stone. Fire can't touch it, in fact it'll enhance it. The light won't hurt it, in fact it'll enhance it. And so what are we as believers to attempt to constantly do? Don't be all hung up with that which is wood, hay and stubble. I'd rather have one little diamond, as I have a whole lumber yard full of wood, and I'd rather have one little piece of gold as a whole bunch of straw. And so here's where we have to set priorities. What are your priorities? Are they just wood, hay and stubble that won't hold up under those fiery eyes? Or are you going to put forth an effort of quality and get some gold, silver and precious stone? Now I've always made the comment to people, that doesn't mean we all have to be a Billy Graham, that doesn't mean we all have to be a foreign missionary, we don't all have to be a Sunday school teacher or a pastor or whatever else. But in whatever area God gives us that gift, and we do it with the right motive, that's where the wood, hay and stubble and gold, silver and precious stones are going to show up. I remember years ago, and I can say it now because the lady has gone on to be with the Lord, and this is so far back I don't think anybody will remember her saying it, but it just hit the nail on the head. We were talking about this one night in just a little home Bible study about 15 or 20 of us, as to why do we do things which is supposedly in the service of the Lord. You may think this is frivolous, but it was true, and it just hit the nail on the head. And this lady says, Boy am I ever glad we're talking about this tonight, because for the next two days I was going to try and bake 25 pies, because their church was going to host a denominational statewide meeting, but I wasn't going to bake those 25 pies just to help the church. She said, I was going to prove to the preacher's wife that I could do more than she was. Now I say that may sound frivolous, but what did she suddenly realize? Her motive was all wrong. Now there was nothing wrong with doing something to help the church and the particular denominations work, but if she was doing it merely to make herself better than someone else, what does it end up as? Wood, hay and stubble. And so many Christians I'm afraid are doing the same thing. They're busy, busy, busy, they're doing this and they're doing that, but they're not really doing it for the right motive. They're doing it for the sake of other people, to see how much they're doing. It'll be wood, hay and stubble. And I can tell people you can better spend 15 or 20 minutes on your knees in prayer, and have nobody aware of what you're doing, and it'll be gold, silver and precious stone. But all this frivolous activity will be nothing but wood, hay and stubble. Now let's move on quickly, our time is going fast. Ephesians 4, verse 1, "...and every man's work shall be made manifest by those fiery eyes of the Lord Jesus, who is on the bema seat, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try or test every man's work of what sort it is." We've already explained that. Is it going to go up in smoke with wood, hay and stubble, or will it survive because it's gold, silver and precious stone? Now verse 14, "...if any man's work abide, or it stays, which he hath built thereupon as a believer, he shall receive a reward." Now look at that again, I'm in I Corinthians chapter 3, verse 14, "...if any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward." Now then, next verse, "...if any man's work shall be burned," in other words it's wood, hay and stubble, he's never had anything that was of the right motive, it was of no consequence, it was wood, hay and stubble, "...he shall suffer loss." Not of his salvation, but of what? Reward. "...and so he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." In other words, he's made it, but he's got nothing to show for it. He's saved, and he's going to be in glory, but no reward. Now you see that's going to be far, far too many believers. They are saved, and they're content, and they're not going to hell, and they're going to heaven when they die. But listen, that's not why God leaves us here. God leaves us here to serve in whatever capacity that may be, and everybody has their own particular, and I know some people that can go visit the sick, and they enjoy every minute of it, and they can lift the spirits of those that are sick. Some people can do it, that's not my forte, I know that. Others can go into these nursing homes, and they can make those people feel so good. Some people have a gift for it. Others have the gift of prayer, others have the gift of giving, and others have the gift of being good administrators, even in the local church. Some have the gift of teaching, and some have other various gifts. But you see you can determine what you're comfortable with, and you don't have to force something. I always have to remember a young lady who got 45-50 high school and college age kids together every Saturday night in her home for a Bible study, and I'd come in, and it was such a thrill to teach those kids. And then one night she had the audacity to say, "...Less, I wish I had a gift." And I said, "...Lamb to live, and who else could bring in 45-50 kids every Saturday night like you do?" Well, she was flabbergasted. She said, "...You mean that's a gift?" I said, "...Well, if that's not a gift, lady, I don't know what is." And so that's the way you determine your gift. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer -supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.