The 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ | The Judgement Seat of Christ

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Learn more and sign up at harvest.org. You will receive the award at the judgment seat of Christ. Some may think, as long as I make it through the pearly gates, I'll be satisfied. I mean, it's heaven for heaven's sake.

They think everyone's on equal footing on the streets of gold. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how some will receive special rewards for dedication and sacrifice. We'll see that at the judgment seat of Christ, we'll receive an award for all those things we did for the kingdom, all those things no one ever noticed or acknowledged. Why don't you grab your Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter 19. And the title of my message is The Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

How's that for a topic? The Second Coming of Jesus Christ. So let's start with the next event on the prophetic calendar. That would be the rapture of the church. Then the antichrist emerges on the scene, inaugurating what is known as a seven year tribulation period. And then finally we have the second coming. All right, so what are we gonna do after the rapture and before the second coming? I'm glad you asked. Let's read about it. Revelation 19 verse seven. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready and it was granted to her to be arrayed in fine linen clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints and he said to me write this blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb and he said these are the true saints of God and I fell at his feet to worship him and he said see that you do not do that I'm your fellow servant and of your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus worship God for the testimony of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy so an angel is revealing this to the apostle John he's so blown away he wants to worship the angel the angel is saying hey don't do that worship God only but then this important statement underline it in your bible the testimony of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy we'll come back to that so what's happening we're at the marriage supper of the lamb I like that it's called supper because that means we will eat in heaven so we sit down and we feast with the Lord it's a wedding and so many times in the bible we're referred to as Christians as the bride of Christ he's the groom we're the bride so this is going to happen one day in heaven the righteous linen that is mentioned here speaks of the righteous acts of the saints verse 8 what does this mean first of all let me say that when you become a Christian you become a righteous person I stand before you today as a righteous man you might say Greg I've seen you drive I don't think you're righteous I didn't say I always behave in a righteous way but I am technically and positionally a righteous person I am a holy person I am a saint but you are too you all of us are but then there are the when we live that out so good works don't save me but if I'm really saved there will be good works there will be results so what's interesting here is it says this clothing we are wearing are the righteous acts of us we're showing the results of our faith you can have works without faith but you cannot have real faith without works you know sometimes people will pray a prayer they say they've accepted Christ but you see no visible results in their life this is why when we say so many people came to faith or made a profession of faith that a crusade we never say they were converted because only God knows if they're converted but they prayed a prayer they walked forward they said they wanted to believe in Jesus now time will tell that that conversion is real and if the conversion is real it will produce results it will produce evidence let me ask you a question if you were arrested for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you by evidence I don't mean how many Christian bumper stickers are on your vehicle or how many bibles you have but evidence meaning the way you live can I interview your co-workers or students that you're in class with or your family members or your neighbors and say does this person behave as a Christian evidence the bible also calls this fruit spiritual fruit the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness long suffering there should be fruit in our life so you might look at someone who says they're a Christian but you're saying you know you say you're a Christian but I don't know the way you're living why are you still doing drugs why are you still getting drunk why are you still partying why are you living with your boyfriend your girlfriend or whatever else it is they'll say hey man don't judge me don't judge my journey judge not lest you be judged okay think of me as a fruit inspector I'm looking for spiritual fruit the bible talks about bringing forth fruit in keeping with repentance we're all fruit inspectors when we go to the market we look at the fruit now I don't know about you but I like nectarines but I like them hard so I I'm testing oh this is good this is a good one this would be good I'm fruit inspecting okay in the same way people should be able to see by your fruit by your actions by your works that you are a Christian so the righteous acts of the saints the way we're living and that brings us to the judgment seat of Christ everyone will face judgment one day Christian and non-Christian but different kinds of judgment for the non-believer they will face the great white throne judgment we'll read about that later when we read that small and great stand before God the books are open and a book is open which is the book of life and whoever does not have their name written into the book of life is cast into the lake of fire that's a judgment for the non-believer if you end up there there there's no turning back it's the final judgment but then there is the judgment for Christians it's different think of it more as an awards ceremony where we're awarded for our faithful servants to the Lord you know many of us have acquired awards over the years some were great athletes so you won trophies and ribbons and other things commemorating your accomplishments others are great academics you have your degrees and your diplomas hanging on the wall of your office this is all great when I was in school I didn't excel in academics or athletics I remember you'd be in a race and you might win the gold ribbon the blue ribbon or the purple ribbon the purple ribbon was an acknowledgement that you existed that's it just we acknowledge your existence you really didn't do well but but you do exist and I had a wall covered with purple ribbons and then in school I remember they would give us little stars now this is kind of dated but we would get these little adhesive stars does anyone know what I'm talking about and I remember there was the gold star and then there was a silver star and there was the blue star so if you did really well they put that gold star on your paper ah gold star silver star still pretty good blue yeah I had lots of blue stars lots of purple ribbons I literally I shouldn't admit this went down to the stationary store and I bought a little box of gold stars just to see what they looked like and I would put them on my papers but I didn't earn them but uh you know the trend today especially with really young people in sports is don't keep score I used to go to my grandkids uh games I have five grandchildren four girls one boy and so I would go to their soccer games and the girls soccer teams you know like the purple princesses and versus the flower girls and so it got my granddaughter Ali's really a good athlete and I would give her little pep talks take her over to the side and say if you score a goal I will give you a doll really yeah and she scored a goal I got her a doll next time she scored two goals got her two dolls next time she scored three goals I said we're done with the dolls getting too expensive here's a purple ribbon I have a lot of them you can have these purple ribbons but um I remember I gave her a pep talk once they said Ali get out there you need the eye of the tiger she was looking at me like what that's from the Rocky movie if you don't know right I have the tiger anyway but the trend is don't keep score so you'll show up at the game hey what's the score we don't keep score then one of the guys will say four to two you know I think they should keep score because there's winners and losers in a game deal with it that's life right then you get out in life you have this sense of entitlement I'm a winner actually you aren't you're not a winner at all you're just a purple ribbon person okay so you need to improve you need to work harder apply yourself and the same is true of the Christian life God didn't save you so you would just say thanks for my salvation I'm gonna go live my life and I'll see you later no when I'm saved I realize God has a plan for my life and my primary purpose for existence is to bring glory to God right and that's your primary purpose too no matter what you do to bring glory to God to honor the Lord the Bible says you're not your own you've been bought with a price therefore glorify God with your body Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment hey everybody what are you doing this weekend I'd like to hang out with you at Harvest at Home what is Harvest at Home it is a time of worship and Bible study exclusively designed for people that are viewing in from all over the place so you can be a part of our extended congregation at Harvest at Home join us this weekend Saturday and Sunday for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org well today we're looking ahead to the afterlife and the heavenly rewards waiting for those who serve the Lord well let's continue Paul said in 1st Corinthians 9 24 yes in a race everyone runs but only one person gets the prize so run to win oh wait win yes win I want to do the best I can do you need to be the best version of you I need to be the best version of me you're not called to live the way I'm called to live and by that I mean simply living out what that calling is specifically but we're all called to glorify God and then you'll be rewarded you will receive the award at the judgment seat of Christ and listen whatever you've done in your faithfulness to God will be noted even the smallest gesture for God's glory will not be overlooked Jesus said in Matthew 6 4 that when you do whatever you do for God's glory your father who sees you in secret will one day reward you openly whatever you did even that small gesture Jesus said in Matthew 10 42 if you give a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he's my disciple I tell you the truth you will certainly not lose your reward so I'm faithful and I'm receiving these rewards from God and now it's time for our honeymoon the wedding is complete where are we going for our honeymoon where did you go for your honeymoon I went to Disneyland literally so Kathy and I told you we had a hippie wedding it cost like 12 dollars and someone gave us two free tickets to Disneyland and we had a really funky little hotel room not far from it and I remember going to the enchanted tiki room you laugh we've been married 50 years maybe there's something to it I don't know but uh you know it doesn't really those things don't really matter but the reality is we all had honeymoon of some kind and now here's our honeymoon where are we going Niagara Falls Hawaii actually we're coming back to the refurbished planet earth following our bridegroom Jesus Christ because at the rapture God gave us a first class round trip ticket let's read about it revelation 19 verse 11 now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse he that sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war his eyes are like a flame of fire on his head were many crowns he had a name written that no one knew except himself he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God and the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean followed him on white horses we'll stop there look at verse 11 he's called faithful and true God is faithful and true this is in contrast to the devil who is not faithful and he lies speaking of Satan Jesus said in John 8 44 he's a murderer from the beginning not holding to the truth there's no truth in him and when he lies he speaks his native language for he's a liar and he's the father of lies so our God is faithful and true and God keeps his promises whenever you see a rainbow it's a reminder God keeps his promises he's promised to be with us through our times of trial he's promised to give us a peace that passes all human understanding he's promised to give us eternal life and he has promised to come again again he says in John 14 I will come again and now the Lord is going to return and bring judgment on the earth but how could a God of love we ask judge people because he's a God of love and a God of righteousness and a God of holiness and a God of justice and by the way this is not God's sweet spot in other words God doesn't like judging people do you have a sweet spot you know things you like to do when you do that thing you're really happy I think most of us our sweet spot is eating maybe right for me it's being creative if there's a piece of paper and a felt pen I'm happy my happy place why because I like to draw and and it's relaxing to me to draw and so you might have that in you as well I went to a little birthday party for my grandson Christopher recently down at the beach and a bunch of adults are sitting around and the kids are all playing and one of them had little seashells and they're painting the seashells next thing I knew I was painting seashells with the kids because that's more fun to me than talking to a bunch of adults you see that's my sweet spot if you will God doesn't enjoy judgment he says I take no delight in the death of the wicked but because he's holy and just justice and judgment must come but by the way these people in the tribulation period are given warning after warning after warning to turn to God for instance the Lord has an angel flying through the heavens preaching the everlasting gospel this answers the question what about the person who has never heard the gospel before remember Jesus said before he comes the gospel will go into the whole world this is how it will be done an angelic backup system flying through the heavens telling people to believe if that's not enough another angel tells people don't take the mark of the beast and then God raises up two powerful witnesses we read about in revelation 11 we don't know what their names are but we know that they have power to call fire down from heaven and to turn the water to blood so who are these witnesses well I think they may be Moses and Elijah brought back into service again you say why them well when Jesus was transfigured who stood on each side of him Moses and Elijah Moses representing the law and Elijah representing the prophets Elijah called fire down from heaven didn't he and Moses turned the Nile river to blood but regardless of who the witnesses are they're speaking up for God antichrist kills them and the bible says that all the world watches and I'm thinking when would that have been possible until maybe I don't know 25 30 years ago where literally we can watch an event around the planet in real time and we can watch it on our little phone right all the world is watching and God resurrects the two prophets and takes them up to heaven so you've got angels flying through the heaven you've got two witnesses you got two prophets killed and raised up again who ascend to heaven and finally if that's not enough God raises up 144 000 believing Jews to proclaim the gospel 144 000 kosher Billy Grahams combing the planet telling people to believe so you can see the Lord is going out of his way and then some to reach people with the message they need to hear pastor Greg Laurie with a good look at God's plan for the end times and how time is short before the next event on God's prophetic timetable pastor Greg we may be speaking to someone who's been listening to a new beginning today but have some doubts about whether they're ready for all those events to come they're afraid they may get caught unprepared well they just need to hear more they need to hear what the essential gospel message is and I've got a great resource for you we've set up a web page that's called knowgod.org k n o w g o d dot o r g you go there I have a video presentation of how you accept Christ leads you in a prayer and then it links to other spiritual resources that will help you grow spiritually so just go to knowgod.org do it right now well pastor Greg we have a new book a Christmas devotional book called heavens light breaking and I know our listeners are going to be interested in getting this but before the book gets to them you know there are people who are really having a tough time here during the holidays yeah you know big problems seem even more overwhelming here at this time of the year if one of those suffering saints was sitting here at the table with us right now what would you say to them I'd say it's going to get better whatever you're going through you're going to get through it I'm reminded of a memory from my own childhood as many of you know especially if you saw the Jesus revolution film which is about my life my mother was a raging alcoholic she would pretty much drink to excess every night and pass out and I remember one Christmas in particular we were living in this little trailer home and we had one of those artificial trees it was white and we had one of those little lights that slowly turned you know aimed toward the tree and there was a stale smell of smoke in the air my mother was passed out from a night of drinking and I'm sitting there in front of this tree waiting for her to wake up so I could celebrate Christmas and even as a little kid I knew this was bad and I remember saying to myself it's going to get better and it did get better it got better when I met Kathy and we got married and we had our own family and decided to create our own Christmas memories it got better because of Jesus Christ because he became the Savior and the Lord of my life and it will get better for you if you have him where he belongs in your life as your Lord directing and guiding you Christmas should be about Jesus we're celebrating his birth and the impact it made on the world the impact it continues to have because he was born to die that we might live the incarnation was so there would be the crucifixion and the resurrection and ultimately the return of Jesus Christ there is no incarnation without a coronation one day Jesus will come back again and rule this world as king of kings and Lord of lords so let's get our focus on Christ kind of get our eyes off of our own problems and look at him and you'll find the joy of Christmas I have a resource I'm going to send you that might help with that a bit it's a brand new book I've written it's a Christmas devotional and the title of it is Heaven's Light Breaking it's 25 devotions that you can read by yourself or with your family or anyone you like that will help you get back to the meaning of Christmas there's a little prayer at the end that will guide you as you pray your own prayer that will help you understand the real reason for the season so we want to send you this new Christmas devotional called Heaven's Light Breaking for your gift of any size and whatever you send will be used to continue with this radio broadcast that we call a new beginning so I encourage you order your own copy of Heaven's Light Breaking this brand new Christmas devotional from us here at Harvest yeah that's right we're eager to send it your way for the holidays it'll bless you and your family and your donation will help us bless others as we continue to teach believers and share Christ with those who don't yet know him so thanks for that investment today and be sure to ask for Heaven's Light Breaking when you call 1-800-821-3300 and we won't be mentioning this much longer so contact us soon we're here around the clock 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org well next time Pastor Greg brings the finale of this look at the second coming of Jesus Christ join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. 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