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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffers and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Today we're going to answer the intriguing question, will heaven be the same for every Christian? The answer to that is no. God's justification exempts us from God's condemnation, but it doesn't exempt us from God's evaluation of our life.
Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Most people believe that heaven is going to look like a divine commune where everyone shares the same experience. But today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffers explains that the kind of heaven we experience in the next life.
will be largely determined by how we live as Christians in this life. But first, let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. All this month we've been looking at scripture to learn about a place called heaven. and our teaching series will conclude this coming Friday.
So while there's still time, please get in touch with Pathway to Victory. because I'd like to send you the comforting book I've written for you. My book is titled, Encouragement from a Place Called Heaven. You might already own a copy of my best-selling book, A Place Called Heaven, but this book is entirely different. This one is intentionally designed to lighten your daily burden and help you look forward to the glories of heaven.
It's the perfect gift of encouragement for anyone going through stressful times. When you give a generous gift to fuel the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'll make sure you receive a padded, hard bound copy. The title, again, is Encouragement from a Place Called Heaven. I'll give more details after today's message. But right now, let's open our Bibles to the book of Revelation as we answer another common question about a place called Heaven.
I've titled today's study with a question, Will heaven be the same for everyone? Jim Marshall was a defensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings in the 1960s and 70s. Although Jim Marshall was a Super Bowl champion, Marshall is best known for the mistake he made on October 24th, 1964. In a game with the San Francisco 49ers, Jim Marshall saw a fumble. He picked up the football and he began running the length of the field.
His football team started running along with him along the sidelines, yelling. for him to run the other way. Marshall didn't realize he was running toward his own end zone. Although Marshall ended up having a fairly good game, and even though the Vikings won the game with the 49ers. Marshall will always be remembered not for his success, but for his mistake that day.
In fact, from that point on, the rest of his life, he was always known as Wrong Way Marshall. What a title. You know, making it to the end zone. is the goal in a football game. But making it to the right end zone is the goal of winning.
It's the same way in the Christian life. The fact is, if we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we are all going to make it into the spiritual end zone, into heaven. But some will make it there only after spending some time running in the wrong direction.
Some who make it into heaven. will be celebrated by God for the way they played the game. Other Christians will be evaluated by God. for having done little to contribute to the success of the team. As we continue our series, A Place Called Heaven, in which we're answering 10 of the most common questions about heaven.
Today, we're going to answer the intriguing question, will heaven be the same for every Christian? The answer to that is no. Not every Christian will have the same experience in heaven. And this is such an important truth to comprehend that instead of rushing through the message and cutting out things left and right, we're going to divide this message in two parts. And today we're going to begin looking at the evaluation that we are all going to face as Christians.
Let's first of all establish the reality of the judgment of all Christians. You know, one thing the Bible is very clear about is that everybody... After death, we will be judged by God. Hebrews 9:27 says, It is appointed unto every person once to die, and then the judgment. We're all going to be judged, not just some people, all of us.
In 2 Timothy 4, 1, the Apostle Paul talked about the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge both the living and the dead. Everyone, both Christians and non-Christians, will be judged by God. But we will not all be judged in a single judgment. There is one judgment for non-Christians. That judgment is called the Great White Throne Judgment.
It's described in Revelation 20, verses 11 to 15. The Bible says, at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth, there will be a judgment before the new heaven and the new earth. It's described in Revelation 11 through 15. And John says, every unbeliever who has ever died since the time of Adam will be raised and will stand before this great white throne judgment. And if any person's name was not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire and tormented day and night forever and ever.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you have not trusted in Christ as your Savior, If you have not turned to him for the forgiveness of your sins, it doesn't matter how good you are, you can't be good enough. You can't be good enough. None of us can be good enough. The only way we can escape God's eternal judgment is by trusting in Christ as our Savior now, before we die. The great white throne judgment will be the judgment of all unbelievers who have said, I'm good enough.
I don't need Jesus' death for me. I'm good enough to make it into heaven on my own. And nobody will be found to be good enough. That is the great white throne judgment. But there is another judgment for those of us who are Christians.
It is a judgment called the judgment seat of Christ. It is a judgment that results not in condemnation, but in God's commendation for the lives we have lived for Christ. And Paul describes that judgment in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. He says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one of us may be recompensed, rewarded for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Notice he says, we must all appear.
He was writing to Christians in Corinth. He said, Christians, you too have a judgment to face before God. It's a different judgment. It's the judgment seat of Christ.
Now what did Paul mean when he talked about the judgment seat of Christ? If you want to get into Paul's mind to understand what he meant, you need to turn over to Acts chapter 18. That word judgment seat is a very particular word in Greek, and we're going to discover the meaning of it right now. Acts chapter 18 recounts Paul's second missionary journey. And on that second missionary journey that many of us have retraced before.
He spent 18 months in the city of Corinth. And you'll remember there in Corinth, he had a very productive ministry. Many of the Jewish people were coming to faith in Christ. Remember, Paul was a Jew. Jesus was a Jew.
Paul, after he came to faith in Christ, won many of the Jewish people to Christ there in Corinth, as well as the Gentiles. And he had great success. Many were Wonder Christ, but not everybody was happy with him.
Some were so incensed by what he was doing, especially in winning Jews to Christ, that they arrested him and they drug him before the Roman governor of the province, a man named Gallio. And look what happened, verse 12. But while Gallio was pro-consul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat. Underline that word, judgment seat, saying, this man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law. The word translated judgment seat is the word Bema in Greek, Bema.
It refers to a raised platform on which the governor would sit.
Sometimes he would hand out rewards. If somebody had been successful in an athletic event, he would receive a reward.
Sometimes it was a place where justice was meted out. It was a raised platform.
So the Apostle Paul is brought in and chains, and he's looking at Galileo seated on that raised platform, the judgment seat. But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or a vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you. But if there are questions about words and names of your own law, look after it yourselves. I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters. And he drove them away from the judgment seat.
Galileo was saying, Hey, this is a Jewish dispute. You all handle it. I'm not interested in getting involved. But you know what was interesting is Paul didn't know what he was going to say. Paul stood there realizing: here is the man who has the power to extinguish my life.
Ten years ago, I stood in that very spot where Paul stood. I looked at that judgment seat. And I thought to myself, what is it? that gave Paul the courage. to stand there undaunted by the threats against him.
What made him so faithful and courageous? As Paul stood there and looked at that judge, Gallio, I believe He thought to himself, one day I'm going to stand in front of another judge. on the judgment seat. And I'm going to have to give an account to him for the way that I live my life. And I would much rather be found commended to him rather than to this human judge who has no power other than what God gives him.
Paul had that mindset. I'm going to live my life to please the true judge. Because one day we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, every one of us. You know, we all have times in our life where we rededicate our lives to God. And I remember 10 years ago standing in front of that, our group was kind of wandering around different places.
I stood there. I was in the process of coming to this church to be your pastor.
Some of you were on the trip with me. As I stood there, I prayed, Lord, help me the rest of my life to have a BEMA mentality. To evaluate everything I do, to give me the courage to stand for you, knowing that someday I'm going to give that account to you. I wrote down in my journal the BAMA mentality: living with the judgment seat of Christ in view. That's exactly what Paul had in mind here.
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And that affected his life until the day God called him home.
Now, let me make a distinction between the Christian's judgment and the non-Christian's judgment. I've given you a sentence on your outline, I want you to fill in. The judgment seat of Christ is for the commendation of believers, while the great white throne judgment is for the condemnation of unbelievers. The result of the judgment seat of Christ will be eternal rewards. The result of the great white throne judgment will be God's eternal punishment.
Now, here is what makes the judgment seat of Christ different than the great white throne judgment. Only those who are saved will be at the judgment seat of Christ. Those who have already been declared not guilty by God are the ones who stand at the judgment seat of Christ. Hear me on this. This judgment we're talking about is not to determine whether somebody goes to heaven or hell.
If you're a Christian, that has already been decided by your faith in Jesus. If you wait until after you die to choose whether you're going to go to heaven or hell, you've waited too long. That's a decision you make now by placing your faith in Jesus Christ. You see, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you trust in Jesus as your Savior, you are justified in the sight of God. When you become a Christian, God no longer sees your sin.
He sees the righteousness of his Son, Jesus Christ. And that's what it means to be justified, to be in a right relationship with God. And what does the Bible say? Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you were a Christian and have been forgiven by God, you never have to worry that one day God's going to condemn you.
For there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. Isn't that a great truth?
Now listen. God's justification exempts us from God's condemnation. But it doesn't exempt us from God's evaluation of our life. When you become a Christian, You don't ever have to worry about God's condemnation, but you still need to be mindful of his evaluation of his life. That's why 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, For we Christians must all appear before this judgment of Christ.
I checked the Greek on it this week, by the way. I looked up that word. All in the Greek language. You know what the word all means? Oh That's what it means.
All. Every one of us is going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. No exceptions. And that's why Paul writes in verse 9, before verse 10: therefore, we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him. Paul said, knowing that we're going to stand before that evaluation, we ought to have as our one aim in life to be pleasing to God.
Now, when does this judgment take place? It doesn't happen the moment we die. Although the Bible doesn't tell us exactly the moment it happens, I believe it happens. at the rapture of the church. at the beginning of the tribulation on earth.
I have two reasons for saying that. First of all, Revelation 4, verse 10. The Bible says: before the tribulation begins, after the rapture, there's a picture of the 24 elders in heaven. Wearing their crowns, praising God.
Now, the 24 elders represent the church, that is, you and I.
So, apparently, the church has already been rewarded at the beginning of the tribulation. The second reason is Revelation 19, verse 8. You know, the Bible says at the end of the tribulation on earth, at the great battle of Armageddon, suddenly the skies will part, Christ appears, and we are with Him. And notice what verse 8 says, and it was given to her, that is the church, to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Apparently, by this time, we have been judged.
We have received our rewards. It's described as bright linen, but it is tied to our righteous acts after we became a Christian. And that leads to an important distinction of the importance of good works in a Christian's life. Do our works really matter to God?
Some people say yes, some people say no. We've got to distinguish between the value of our works before we are saved and the value of our works after we are saved. What are the values of our good works to God before we become a Christian? Zero. Zilch.
Nada. Isaiah said, Our righteousness, the best we can do before God, is like a filthy rag to God. Our works are worthless to God. That's why Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not his works, that no one should boast.
God doesn't allow us to work for our salvation. If he allows us to work for our salvation, then salvation is something he owes us. And God refuses to owe any man or woman anything. No, salvation is simply a measure of God's grace to us. Our value of our good works before we are saved is nothing.
We cannot earn our salvation.
However, there is value to our works after our salvation. I want you to write down this phrase. I have it on your outline. While our works are worthless in securing us a place in heaven, They are integral in determining our experience in heaven. Let me say it again: while our works are worthless in securing a place in heaven, they are integral in determining our experience in our heaven.
We are not saved by good works, but look at Ephesians 2:10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Listen to me this morning. Before we are saved, The only value of our works is our works are sufficient to condemn us before God. But after we are saved, our good works are sufficient to commend us to God.
And that's why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, 9 and 10: Therefore, also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That each one of us may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done. Whether they be good or bad.
Now, this is an unfortunate translation, good or bad, because we think that judgment is based on a moral good or a moral bad. No, that's not what the word means. The word good here refers to that which endures, is lasting. The word bad isn't moral bad. It is thallus, is the word.
It means worthless. Remember, this judgment is not determining whether we go to heaven or hell. This is a judgment of rewards, and the standard by which we're going to be judged is: was our life spent on those things that were important? that have eternal consequence? Or did we spend our lives on those things?
which were worthless. And that's the judgment that we're going to face. How did we invest our time? How did we invest our money? It's not that we invested them in bad things, but were they worthless things compared to the kingdom of God?
That is the judgment seat of Christ. You know, when I think about God's evaluation of our lives, I think about a very embarrassing evaluation I had some years ago. When I lived in Wichita Falls, I used to come to Dallas once a year for a physical at a clinic here in town. And part of that physical involved me standing in my birthday suit. before the physician, the physician's assistant, as I stood there, he'd take this little torture device and start pinching various parts of my arms and appendages to try to measure my body fat.
And that was humiliating. But even the worst part was putting back on my clothes. And sitting down for the evaluation happened every year. He'd bring in this folder and he'd say, now we're gonna talk about your health. And he would always start on a positive note.
He would commend me for the good things I was doing, my exercise, the bran flakes that I gagged on every morning. You know, there are some good things. And then his smile would turn to a frown, and then he would talk about, you know, you need to shave off some points off that cholesterol. That blood pressure isn't exactly where we would like it. He would give a critique and evaluation of my life.
Now, that's what the judgment seat of Christ is going to be. It's going to be an honest evaluation of everything we've done, whether it is good, lasting, eternal, or worthless. Luke 8, 17, Jesus said, For nothing is hidden that shall not become evident, nor anything secret that shall not be known and will come to light. Getting ready to enter the kingdom of God begins today, and each of us needs to become intentional about preparing for our eternal home.
So let me give you a natural place to start. I've written a book titled Encouragement from a Place Called Heaven, and time is running out to request a copy because our teaching series will conclude on Friday. Look, heaven is our greatest hope. It's not a figment of your imagination. Heaven is a real place that's prepared by our Heavenly Father.
And my book will help you revel in this hope, and it will help you keep looking up, no matter what challenges come your way. While there's still time, be sure to request a copy of encouragement from a place called Heaven. A copy is yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. Your gift today does far more than cover the cost of this padded hardcover book. In fact, I've been excited to tell you about the ways God has expanded our ministry.
To reach more men and women than ever before. In recent days, we have welcomed a whole new family of pathway partners into the fold. A Pathway Partner is someone who agrees to give an automated contribution to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. I am so excited about our new pathway partners. You often hear me say, it's my voice that you hear on this program, but it's our pathway partners and all those who give generously that make this program possible.
I couldn't do it without you. There's always room for more. To become one of our pathway partners today. Just follow the simple instructions at ptv.org. Here's David with all the details.
When you support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, you're invited to request a copy of the book from Dr. Jeffers called Encouragement from a Place Called Heaven. To request your copy, call 866-999-2965 or visit online at ptv.org. You can also support this ministry by texting PTV to 78800. And when you give $75 or more, you'll also receive both the CD and DVD teaching sets for a place called Heaven.
you'll get those plus the original best-selling book by that same title. To request the complete package of resources, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. If you'd prefer to contact us by mail, write to P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that's P.O.
Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Join us again next time when Dr. Jeffris presents part two of this message: Will heaven be the same for everyone?
That's Tuesday here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Alaska's pristine wilderness showcases God's glory like nowhere else on earth, and you're invited to experience it firsthand on the Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska. Enjoy daily Bible teaching, worship led by Michael O'Brien, and laughter with Dennis Swanberg.
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