What Happens When Christians Stand Before Jesus? 1 Corinthians 3 Explained

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. Okay, good to see everybody back with us, and we trust you've enjoyed your coffee. And now we'll go right back into 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and we dealt quite at length in verse 10, so we'll go to verse 11 next. And again, for those of you in our television audience, we'd just like to let people know this is an informal Bible study. We don't wear any denominational labels, and all we try to do is help folk to see what the book says. I told a gentleman on the phone again this morning, listen, someday when you stand before the Lord's throne, whichever one it is, He's not going to ask you, were you obedient to your church or your denomination? Have you been obedient to the Word? And that's what's going to count for eternity, and that of course is all I keep hammering home at people. What does the book say? I don't tell you what my denomination teaches, I don't tell you what someone else says, we're just going to try to discern what the Word says. Now I don't claim to have all the answers, I don't claim to have any special revelations, but I think what I can agree to is that I teach much the same as most of our good fundamental men. The only difference is I make it in language that common people can understand. You know, I've done this with Iris, I've read some of these guys a paragraph while she's fixing breakfast, and I said, do you understand what he said, honey? And she says, no, I didn't think so. I said, all he said and all I have to do is just put it in my terminology, and it's understandable. And so this is all we try to do. We're not coming up with something way out in left field or far different from the mainstream, but we do want to make it understandable so that anybody can sit down for an evening and study their Bible, and it is the most enjoyable thing that you can do. I also have to remind you that all the past programs are available on videotape, and the little books are on the screen, and we're getting a lot of orders for these little books for birthdays, and Christmas gifts, and what have you. And that thrills us to no end. We don't make a dime on them, we lose a little. They cost us $5.34, and by the time we put postage on them, $6.00 does not cover it. But we're not in it to make anything, we just want the Word to get out. Now let's look at verse 11 where Paul writes, "...for other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, and that is Jesus Christ." Now you see we've got a lot of cults and religions who have come on the scene even in the last several hundred years, who claim to have further revelation, they claim that their prophet came later than Jesus, and consequently he has revelations that Jesus didn't have, and so forth. But listen, that's not what this verse says. This verse says that when Paul laid the foundation for the church, which was the finished work of the cross, that's it. No one can add to it. You know I've told my class, and I think I've even told the television audience, if you're reading a book, and I don't care how good it is, and all of a sudden that author comes along and says, well now I've had a special revelation, the like of which no one else has ever had. Hey, you just close that book, and you pitch it in the nearest fireplace or wastebasket because that's the only place it belongs. And here it is, this is complete. Everything we need to know is between these two covers. Now this isn't all we'd like to know. There are a lot of things that I still ask about, you ask about, God hasn't seen fit to reveal it. But everything we need to know is in this book. And so that's been laid, the foundation is laid. I think I've also referred to it previously a couple of years ago. One of our major news magazines, and I can't put the name on it because I don't remember which one it was, but many of you will remember the article, it was a cover story of all the great men down through history who made an impact on civilization. And they had the Apostle Paul as one of them, because he was the founder of Christianity. And I just couldn't believe it. You know as a rule they say it was Jesus who was the founder of Christianity. No, Jesus didn't found it, Paul did. And he founded it on Jesus Christ, of course. But see Jesus never promoted the fact that He had died and shed His blood. He couldn't, it hadn't happened yet. And the twelve certainly didn't understand it, because they had no idea He was going to die. In fact we haven't looked at some of these things in a long time. Go back with me to Luke 18. Sometimes I have to use some of these older references that we haven't had in a long time to refresh our memories, and especially those that have just tuned in recently. And we know that every day we get new listeners. All right, Luke 18, verse 31. And if you think that Jesus and the twelve preached our gospel, you better think again. How could they? First place, He hadn't died. Second place, He certainly hadn't been raised from the dead. And the third place, it was still confined to Israel. All right, now look what He says in Luke 18, verse 31. Now of course this was all back in prophecy. He knew what was going to happen, He knew the end from the beginning, but look at the next verse. Now isn't that obvious? Because you see at His crucifixion, did they just stand there blatant and say, Hey don't worry, He's going to be raised from the dead? No. What did they do? Hey, they scattered like a bunch of quail. And so far as the twelve are concerned, oh, they even judged us out. Now the eleven, what did they think? It was all over. He didn't bring in the kingdom. He was going to die, He's dead, however, what point in time you want to put it. And as I've asked my classes in Oklahoma over and over, where were those eleven men and those other followers like Mary and so forth on resurrection morning? Well they certainly weren't at the tomb waiting for Him to come out, were they? No. They were bemoaning the fact that it was all over. Well they didn't know, so how could they preach a gospel based on death, burial and resurrection? Well they couldn't, because it hadn't happened yet. But alright, now then, this apostle, as he defends himself over and over, this is all he knows, how that Christ died for the sins of the world, and that He rose from the dead victorious and by His life and death were justified from all things. Alright, so that's the foundation of the Christian faith. It's the foundation for anyone who is going to go to an eternity in the presence of God. Anything short of the finished work of the cross, I'm afraid people are doomed to a lost eternity. And as I've told people over and over, I don't point the finger at anybody. I'll never look at someone and say, hey, you're lost. That's not my prerogative. I can't look on anyone's heart. But I can say, if Jesus Christ and His finished work isn't the foundation of your faith, boy you're in pretty shaky ground. Alright, now then let's go to verse 12. Paul has involved us in a building process. He's the master builder. He started the foundation. Now general run of the mill believers are going to be building on that foundation for the next almost 2,000 years, not quite, from AD 29 or 30 up until the present isn't quite a full 2,000 years, but we're getting close. And all these believers down through these last centuries have been building on this foundation. We are building on this foundation, and we're adding to that building. Now usually I like to refer to a wall, maybe a wall of cement blocks, or a brick, or whatever. And we're involved in mixing the mortar, and laying the brick, and being meticulous on how we build, because after all our section of the wall is going to be examined someday by those fiery eyes of the Lord Jesus. Now as we embark on our Christian walk, God gives us six materials to build with. Isn't that amazing? He tells us what we can build with. We can use gold, silver, and precious stones, or we can use wood, hay, and stubble, or a combination of all six, and that's what we all are doing. Now the first thing I always have to remind folks, is do you find gold laying just right outside the front door? Do you find silver just outside your door? Do you find precious stones just by walking down the street? No, you've got to go up into the rough country usually to find those kind of precious items, and it takes hard work. Iris and I ran into an old gold miner when we were out in the Rocky Mountains one time, and boy we got a lesson on gold mining. He was an old prospector living there all by himself, and we just had a good time. But you know what I found out? He worked hard for every ounce of gold that he was able to dig out. Now it's the same way with the silver and the precious stones. They don't come easy, but now you see wood, hay, and stubble, that's everywhere. And you see this is what most Christians are building with, because they're too lazy to get up and go out and work for those hard to get materials. Now let's look at it. If you build upon this foundation, remember Christ has to be the foundation. We have to have faith in His finished work before we're even given the opportunity to add to His building. And now He has given us then gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble. Now verse 13, "...every man's work shall be made manifest, not the person who is working for his salvation, but the one who has salvation and is now working for reward." Now this is a graphic difference from what most of Christendom teaches. Most of Christendom has the idea that you work to attain salvation somehow or other. But listen, you work absolutely not at all for salvation. It's all of grace by faith plus nothing. But once we've entered in to that glorious salvation experience, then God expects us to work for reward. And what's the purpose of working? Well of course to enhance His work, to enhance the Kingdom as we so often say, and to bring honor and glory to His Name. He's still the Sovereign God, and we are still nothing but His little worker bees, you know I use that analogy in our last taping. We are to work for reward. Now I'd like to have you turn, if you will with me, to I Corinthians, same little book of I Corinthians, but chapter 9, verse 24. And of course Paul a lot of times in his writings likes to make analogies with common ordinary things that everybody understood. Sometimes he makes an analogy of a Roman soldier in Ephesians 6, for example. Other times he can make an analogy to a farmer or a businessman. But here he's going to use the analogy of the Olympics. He's going to talk about people who are running in a race. Verse 24, I Corinthians 9, "...know ye not that they who run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize." Well who? The winner. That stands to reason. So one receives the prize. Now Paul says that as believers working in this building process, now bring it into the analogy of a foot race, run that you may obtain. Not salvation remember, you've already attained that by your faith. But now as a believer we are to run to win the race. Who would ever enter a race with the idea, well I don't even want to win? Of course not. The mentality has to be, I want to win. Now verse 25, "...everyone that striveth for the mastery," what does that mean? To be first, to be the winner. "...everyone that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." Now what does it mean to be temperate? You maintain a balance. You don't go clear off to the right, you don't go clear off to the left, you maintain a middle balance. Now I've used that example in my classes over and over. It works in disciplining your kids. You cannot over discipline, or you're going to have a bunch of rebels. You cannot under discipline, or you're also going to have a bunch of rebels. But you have to maintain that middle of the road temperate idea of discipline. It's the same way in business. You show me a man who is covered up with inventory, he doesn't even know where things are, and I'll show you a man who won't be in business very long. But on the other hand, you show me a man in business and his shelves are bare, and you go in and want to buy some, and he says, no I haven't got it, but I'll order it for you. He's not going to be in business very long, is he? So you have to maintain that temperate balance. Now it's the same way in running the Christian life. You don't go clear off on the deep end to the right, you don't go clear off to the left, but you maintain that balance, that being temperate in all things. And so with preparing for the foot race, they didn't all of a sudden become gluttons in order to build up their energy level, they didn't all of a sudden spend all their time sleeping so that their body could rest, but on the other hand it wouldn't do any good to starve themselves, or to work themselves to death, because they wouldn't have energy to run. So what does it maintain? It maintains a balance. And so it's the same way in our Christian experience. We have to maintain a balance in everything we do. Now then he says, these runners in the foot race, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. Do you know what that meant? Back in Paul's days, they didn't give them a gold medal, or a silver medal, they gave them a wreath, just made of plant leaves. That's all. Well by the time they went home from the games maybe in Greece, by the time they got back to Babylon, or from wherever they might have come, what had happened to it? Hey, it had all withered. All it was good for was put between the pages of a book. It was corruptible, it died. But oh, we don't work for something like that. We are working, or running to obtain an incorruptible, oh what a difference, what a difference. You know I was thinking on the way up, and I always agree, I don't hardly say a word that whole 90 miles. But I was thinking, if only the human race could get a glimpse of the eternity that is waiting for us who believe. We would just say, what is 70 years? It's nothing in the light of eternity. It's nothing. And yet, you see, even believers are so tied to this world, they are so blind to the glory that's out there, that we get our priorities all mixed up. But Paul says, run to win the prize. Not salvation, we've got that, but oh that we might have the reward that's going to go with the salvation. Now remember this was all the way through the Scriptures. Have I got time? Come all the way back with me to Genesis chapter 15. All the way back. It's been a long time since we've been in Genesis. Genesis 15, drop down to verse 8, and here God's dealing with Abraham. Genesis 15, 8. God dealing with old Abraham, or is it Abraham already? I guess it is. But anyway, he's already a believer. He was a believer when he left Ur of the Chaldees, years and years previous to this. But now God's promising him a territory of land. All right, now look at it. Verse 8, well read verse 7. And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of the Ur of the Chaldees. In other words, I'm the one who saved you. I'm the one who declared you a righteous man. And I'm going to give you this land to inherit it. Now look at Abraham's response. How shall I know that I shall inherit it? Well, because God promised that he was going to be rewarded with the deed to this land of what now we call Palestine. Now I had another one that came through my mind just a moment ago, but whatever. This whole concept of working for reward has been on the minds of believers from day one. That they're not just looking at salvation per se, but it's this idea that we're going to receive reward. Well of course I wasn't going to use this one, but do you remember the people who had the talents? Remember the guy that had ten, and he went out and he made how many more? Ten more. And the one with five went out and made five more. But anyway, the lesson was, what did the Lord say? The one who hustled and went out and made ten more, he's going to rule over ten cities in the kingdom. In other words, he's going to get reward in eternity. And it's the same thing for us, and I'm sure that that's what it's all going to boil down to, that our rewards are going to be levels of responsibility as we rule and reign with Christ. The person who's going to have nothing in the wall but wood, hay and stubble, he's going to be there. We're going to see that in a minute. But he's not going to enjoy the benefits of reward. He's missed that, although he's going to be saved. Now let's see, where was I? I Corinthians chapter 5. Where will this whole idea of rewards come to the fore? Well you see, immediately after the Rapture and we're brought up into glory with the Lord Jesus, and the tribulation is going to unfold down here below, we've got a great event in heaven going to take place. And here it is now, come down to II Corinthians chapter 5, verse 8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. In other words, Paul says, I'd rather be able to move on, wherefore we labor. See there it is again. In this building process, he says, we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him, not for salvation, but for reward. Now here comes verse 10. For we must all, now remember he's only talking to believers, this is not for the unsaved person at all. This is for the true believer. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that which he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Now that's not salvation being put in the balances, but what? Reward. Now the word judgment seat scares people, and I think it's an unfortunate translation. The correct term out of the Greek was, the bema seat. And those of you who have been especially to the ruins of Corinth, that's one of the things the guide likes to show you. Remember? They'll show you the bema seat. Well all it is, is a raised podium, and it was the seat of the judges, where they would come to these various conclusions. Now in the Olympic Games, the bema seat was set at the finish line. Here's the finish line, and the runners are coming by. Well the judge of the bema seat would sit up here to determine who was first, who was second, who was third. See that? There is nothing in the bema seat judgment that involves our eternal destiny. That's settled. But the bema seat is going to determine how much reward. Now don't lose that. That as a believer, yes, our salvation was settled the moment we believed. That's settled. That's done. But, we're not to just sit down in an easy chair and let life go by. We're to get busy. We're to work. For number one, to bring glory to our God's name, but also for our own personal benefit of reward. Now I've taught this way, way back, and I've always used the analogy, if I had the opportunity to be a Dallas Cowboy quarterback, or sit clear up in the Euchre seats, I'd rather be the quarterback. Even if it would get your head knocked off once in a while, that'd be fun. But to sit way up there in the stands, comparatively, hey, no contest. Oh, and now it's going to be the same way when the Lord brings us into His Kingdom experience. We're either going to be sitting on the sidelines, we're there, and remember there's no sin, so there'll be no envy or jealousy or anything like that, but won't it be a lot more exciting to be involved in all the activity? Well, of course it will be. And so this is the whole idea of rewards. Never confuse it with salvation. You don't work one ounce for salvation. That's a gift of God, Paul said. But rewards, yes, we work for them. All right, now let's come back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and let's move on. Here he explains it graphically, how these six materials are going to be sifted out in our section of the wall. Now I'm coming back to that just to show that we're building, we're building our section of the wall. And so every man's work, verse 13, every man's work, as a believer now, every man's work shall be made manifest. And I've defined that over and over as put in the spotlight, just like putting a slide in your microscope. You don't see a thing until you turn on that bright light underneath it, and then all of a sudden all those little living creatures are manifested. Why? Because they're put in the spotlight. All right, now the same way here. We're going to put at that judgment seat of Christ, we're going to be put into the spotlight for our moment of time personally in front of the Lord Jesus. Yes we are. We're going to, every one of us, appear before Him personally. Now you say, how can He do all that in seven years? Well now remember when we step out of time, we step into eternity, and in eternity there's no sixty-second clock. That's the difference. Unreal? Yeah, I know it is. But there is no five minutes back or five minutes forward in eternity. It's all now. But whatever, we're going to come before the Lord Jesus personally, and He's going to examine our work with His fiery eye. All right, read on. It shall be revealed or tested by fire, and the fire shall try or test every man's work of what sort it is. Oh now, what's the fire? Well it's those fiery eyes of the Lord Jesus as we have them described back in Revelation. And He has eyes as of fire. Now it doesn't mean that they're actually flames flying out, but they are so penetrating. Have you ever looked at someone that just seemed like they could look right through you? Sure you have. All right, that's nothing compared to those eyes of the Lord Jesus when He looks at our life and He looks at our reward status, and the wood, hay, and stuffel is going to go up in a puff of smoke. Nothing left but only the wood, I mean only the gold, silver, and precious stone. All right, now I've got to quickly in thirty seconds hit the next verse. I don't want to leave you hanging on a thread. So any man's work which is abide that he is built upon, he shall receive a reward. Now let's come to verse 15 quickly. The man's work that is burned shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. See that? He shall be saved, but he'll suffer loss of reward. 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.