What We Might Lose – Part 1 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Can you imagine what it would be like to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and hear Him say, You were not faithful to me? Your sense of loss could not be fathomed. Yet many believers will hear just that when they appear before their Lord.

Today, what we might lose on that day. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, I would think that being faithful now means being faithful in all the little things of life, as well as the big things. As a matter of fact, Dave, Jesus made it very clear that if we are not faithful in the little things, in eternity, He will not give us the bigger things.

So faithfulness is absolutely necessary in order to receive a reward. Now, I'd like to clarify that the judgment seat of Jesus Christ is for Christians. And then, of course, there is also another judgment called the Great White Throne Judgment, and that judgment is described in the book of Revelation.

It is where unbelievers appear, and it is terrifying. Now, I've written a book entitled Your Eternal Reward – Triumph and Tears at the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ. And at the end of this message, I want you to stay tuned because I'm going to give you an opportunity to receive this particular resource that I think will be transforming for your life.

For now, let us listen. Well, sometimes you hear some interesting things when you listen to the radio. About a week ago, I was driving along, and I heard this advertisement. Recent evidence confirms that you live only once. Are you driving a BMW? Well, since I had the judgment seat of Jesus Christ on my mind, I couldn't help but smile.

First of all, yes, I think that we do live only once here, but we also live forever somewhere else, and the ad didn't tell us that. Secondly, I doubt whether you drive a BMW is going to be the big issue at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, mind you, it might be an issue. Maybe at the judgment seat you wished you had driven a Ford and taken the extra money and given it to missions.

But I don't think that you're going to have to show your registration certificate to show the car that you were driving, but you will have to show your checkbook, no question about that, because that really indicates our priorities. Well, as you know, this is the third in a series of messages on the judgment seat of Jesus Christ and the seriousness with which we must take that judgment seat and the recognition that the Bible teaches that there are going to be really two large camps, two large divisions. There are going to be those who are going to be at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ, who know Christ as Savior and who have trusted him, and that's the topic really of our message. And then there are going to be those at the great white throne judgment. All those of you who are listening who are not born again, we want you to listen today, but I want you to know that the judgment about which I speak, this is not the place where you will be appearing. You will be at the great white throne judgment, a judgment of terror and fierce holiness and judgment.

That's something else. As a matter of fact, at the end of this series, I hope to preach a message on that just simply to round these judgments out and to give the full biblical picture. But today, who do I speak to? I speak first of all to myself. The Apostle Paul was about 55 years old, and he said that he knew that he could be a castaway. He could be tossed aside. Any one of us can fail miserably.

As long as we are alive, we can still blow it. So I speak to myself, and I speak to all the other Christians who are listening as well as the non-Christians who are listening to find out what it is that we are going to be enduring, and then thinking back to that great judgment that they will have to endure, unless they repent and receive Christ as Savior. Let's think of heaven as a theme park. If you use that analogy, then indeed it can be said that the ticket is free to those who admit their helplessness and trust Christ as Savior, not of works lest any man should boast, the Bible says.

But I also want you to know that once you get inside, at least some of the rides are not free. They are dependent upon your faithfulness here on earth. What I'd like to do today is to ask you to take your Bibles and turn to an image that is given to us in the Scriptures, a very powerful image of the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. It's found in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

It probably is known to you. It says in verse 11, for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each man's work will become evident for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built upon remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. As I was meditating on this, it dawned on me that there might be one way by which we could say that we're at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ and be thoroughly evaluated and yet not see our sin. And that way would be if everything that we did was translated either into wood, hay, or straw, or gold, silver, and precious stones, then all that we do is to see the fire, and the bigger the fire, the greater the wasted life. But because of other reasons, I don't think that that's the way we should interpret this.

I think that at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ, if we do see our sins, they will be as forgiven sins, but everything that is hidden shall be revealed, the scripture says. And as we go through the message today, I want you to understand the full implications of that. If you were with us last week, you know that we emphasized that the purpose of God is to find a bride for Christ, an eternal companion who will rule with him forever.

That is God's intention, and all of life is a training ground to train us to rule in the kingdom. What a thrilling message that was to my own heart. Today's message is a little bit more somber. It is a message of warning. But I have the responsibility not only to preach those messages that take us all the way to heaven, but also those that sometimes rebuke us and make us ponder all that is going to happen in eternity. And this is one of those messages, hopefully instructive and life-changing, as we think about the awesome judgment seat before which all of us shall stand.

Well, with our Bibles open, let's look at 1 Corinthians 3 very quickly as we see the principles by which God is going to judge us. Very quickly, first of all, obviously the emphasis is quality, not quantity. Quality, not quantity. You could go in your backyard and find a whole heap of wood, hay, and straw, at least some backyards. Some of you grew up in places where your backyards had that.

No big deal, worth maybe $50, maybe $100. And then in your hand, you could hold gold and silver and a few gems, and they would be worth more than all of the wood and the hay and the straw in the whole neighborhood. And then some. The idea is not how much we do, but what we do and how we do it. What kind of things are going to remain at the judgment seat when it's torched by the fire of God's holiness? Well, one thing is certainly ministries and lives based on the word of God. Paul is talking about the foundation.

The foundation is Jesus Christ. You build your life stone by stone upon that which is in the word of God, and you will be rewarded. And so what we do is we think to the fact that the word of God builds into our lives the kinds of ministries and lives that will do well at the judgment. When I was younger, I used to memorize scripture, and I'm getting away from it. So a week ago, some of us committed to one another to hold each other accountable to memorize five verses a week. We're working at it, and any one of us can say to anybody else that is among our little group, how are you doing today? Do you have your verse down?

Well, you guys, I want you to know I only did four last week, so I'll confess publicly. Just, you know, everything that is hidden shall be revealed. The word of God, the ability to change our lives. And then, of course, character. Character. It is not so much what we do, though that is important, as we shall see in next week's message.

I hope to answer specifically the question of what it is that Jesus Christ is looking for and what will survive the fire. But one of the things is our secret life. You go into the closet to pray, the Father rewards you openly.

You give secretly, the Father rewards you openly. It is character. It is who we are.

D.L. Moody used to say that character is what a man is in the dark. And that's a pretty good definition.

And it was Amy Carmichael who says, the work will never go deeper than we have gone ourselves. So at the judgment seat, it is not just what we do, though that will be included, but who we really were. Character. So it's a matter of quality, not quantity. Secondly, it's a matter of reality. Reality, not appearances.

Not appearances. Just look at verse 13. Underline three words that just pop out of the text regarding how thorough this judgment is going to be. Each man's work will become evident.

There is a word to underline. It's going to be revealed. It's going to be shown.

For the day will show it. There is the word show. And then it says, because it is to be revealed with fire. You see the completeness of it? Somebody said that the imagery here is in someone who takes his pockets and turns them inside out. You remember, as children, sometimes we would say, you know, do you have a penny in your pocket? No, I don't have a penny in your pocket.

I'll bet you do. And so what the child would have to do is to pull out the pocket and turn it inside out so that you could see the seams and every speck of lint and dust had to be thrown away. That's the way it's going to be. Every idle word that a man shall speak, he shall give a counter of in the day of judgment. I've already quoted the text that says that everything that is hidden shall be revealed. And the Bible says, all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

You talk about reality. Why is it that we need to find our works torched? It's because in this life, we can't always tell the difference between the stubble and the gold.

We can't. You look at somebody's life and you may say, and I may say, judging them, well, look at that, nothing but wood, hay and straw, just a big pile of rubble. And yet it's torched. And there amid the hay, there are little nuggets of gold. And we say, wow, that's wonderful. We didn't know it was there.

It was hidden. Jesus said, a cup of cold water given in my name and you won't lose your reward. Then there may be somebody else and we think, now, you know, he is just nothing but having built on the gold, the silver and precious stones. He is full of, he's pure gold. And then his works are torched and we discovered that what we thought was a brick of gold was actually the end of a two by four.

It just goes up in flames. The Apostle Paul says, I can't even really judge myself. In a future message, I hope to talk about this business of motives, which are so mixed in all of us. How does God take our impure, any impure work and make it acceptable? And so there's going to be this revelation and things are going to be revealed.

The Paul says that God is going to expose, this is 1 Corinthians 4, the motives of men's hearts. By the way, this is another reason why I think that the judgment is going to be somewhat public. You remember we dealt with that in the first message. I'll tell you why. Because I think disputes are finally going to be settled here. You know, here's a couple. Let's take a Christian couple who can't get along together. Did you know that there are Christian couples who don't get along very well together? And then they come for counsel and we're trying to find the truth and we're trying to get to the bottom of their problem.

Frankly, it'd be easier to get to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes you want to do that and just stay there rather than trying to solve these other problems. He said this. No, you said that. No, you started it. No, you didn't.

I did this and you did that. And you say, oh God, how in the world are we going to get to the bottom of this? Oh, you say, but then they're going to have glorified bodies so they're going to go into heaven lovey-dovey and love one another forever.

Of course they're going to have glorified bodies and of course they won't have sin natures and of course they're finally going to get along. But what is the judgment seat of Christ all about if it isn't to finally reveal the truth? Here's somebody whose reputation is ruined. Now, nobody can ruin your character, but people can ruin your reputation.

God help the person who doesn't know the difference. But somebody who lies about you, somebody and all these stories have dogged you till the day you die. There's going to be a day of revelation, a day of truth when finally everything will be laid bare and nobody will argue and every mouth will be stopped and everybody will say, well, that's the way it is. I know that some of you are uncomfortable with this because you were taught that because Jesus has forgiven our sins that everybody's going to slip into heaven and the judgment seat of Christ is a bit of a charade that you just get past.

Why would it even be called the judgment seat? Why would Paul say in 1 Corinthians 4, I quoted part of the text, verse 5, do not go on passing judgment before the time but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts. Of course, our sins will be presented as forgiven sins if we see them. They will be forgiven. But God is going to evaluate us very thoroughly, very thoroughly.

Not according to appearance, but according to reality. One other observation and that is, it is a matter of rewards, not a matter of salvation. Notice what the text says now. We're still in 1 Corinthians 3. It says, verse 14, if any man's work, which has been built upon it, if he remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss.

And that's the phrase I'm interested in, by the way, and that is the title of this message. What does it mean to suffer loss? He shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. I think it was Dr. Harry Ironside who used to occupy this pulpit many years ago who said that it'll be just as if a man is running from a house and the house is burning and it collapses behind him. Everything goes up in flames, but he survives.

He'll make it to heaven, but he'll take nothing with him because everything that he did was torched and it all burned. What does it mean to suffer loss? Is that a big deal? Should we just gloss over that and say, well, you know, couldn't be that big because he's in heaven?

How big a deal is it? Well, let me explain to you that I think that there are two ways that we can suffer loss. One is by what we do, by what we do. The other, as we shall see in a moment, is by what we don't do.

And in both instances, we can suffer loss. Now I want you to take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter 5. I'm going to give you an interpretation of Ephesians 5 that not everyone agrees with. This is an interpretation which I hold to, but there are those who would believe that they know better than I, and that is certainly their privilege, and perhaps even they do.

But this is my interpretation of Ephesians 5. In order for you to understand it, I believe that there are two different kinds of inheritances. There is heaven, which all believers will be in, and God and all the other things we talked about in the last message. But then there is an additional inheritance in the kingdom, which is reserved for those who will get to rule with Christ because of faithfulness here on earth. Think about that phrase, to inherit a kingdom, to rule. That's what it means to inherit the kingdom. Now with that background, let's look at Ephesians chapter 5, verse 3. But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

Now comes the shocker. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them, for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

Walk as children of light and learn what is pleasing to God, it says in verse 10. Now here's the difference of interpretation. Some people think that when it says in verse 5 that an immoral or impure person, a covetous man, will not inherit the kingdom, they think that this refers to the unsaved who will not even enter into heaven. I interpret it differently. I think that there are Christians who can be characterized as immoral, impure, and covetous.

Can we just talk plainly here so that we are not accused of ambiguity? Are there not Christians who still struggle with sexual addiction? Are there not men who are addicted to pornography who are Christians?

Certainly we would admit that Christians still have these kinds of sins, at least some Christians do, hopefully few, but it's there. I think when Paul says do not be partakers with them, what he's saying is he recognizes that you can become a part of the same lifestyle. So when he says these kinds of people will not inherit the kingdom of God, I think he means that they will enter the kingdom, but they will not have kingdom rule. They will not inherit it.

They will be denied rule with Christ. What a sobering passage. What a sobering passage.

I know that you're saying to yourself, well, you know, time out, just wait a moment, hang on, not so fast. What if some of these things were characteristic of your life for five years, but not for the last 10 years? Or what if they were characteristic of your life for only a short period of time?

What if, what if, what if, what if? The Bible doesn't answer all of those questions, but this much we can be quite sure of, namely that, that every life is going to be a mixture of wood, hay and straw and gold, silver and precious stones. And, and that both will be taken into account. The years that you lived in purity or the years in which you lived in sin, all of that will be taken into account. Furthermore, I think Paul is referring to those who have these things as their lifestyle. By the way, it's not just immoral immorality, which we often emphasize, but notice he says a covetous man. You think it's possible for a Christian to be covetous and greedy? Paul says he's an idolater and don't let him ever think that he's going to inherit the kingdom. He won't make it. He'll make it into the kingdom, but he's not going to inherit it because God says covetousness is idolatry.

You love money? You're in big trouble, big trouble. Now here's what the Bible would teach us. Two things. First of all, that sin is very, very serious among God's people. Very serious.

This is not play stuff. And secondly, if we judge ourselves and deal with our sins, there's no question about God's grace and mercy. And we have to hold those two truths together and never let them become separate. Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer and I want to emphasize again that I personally do not take the point of view that every single Christian is going to hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant. There are going to be people in heaven, as the Apostle Paul describes them in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, they are saved so as by fire. The imagery is of a house that is burning and someone runs out of the house and is saved, but their entire life, all that they have done collapses behind them because they lived for themselves. Now if you want an exposition of this and much more detail, I've written a book entitled Your Eternal Reward, Triumph and Tears at the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ.

And I've received more than one letter from people who say that their lives were changed, their priorities were totally reordered because they read this book and began to live in light of the fact that we shall give an account to God. Now we're making this resource available to you and for a gift of any amount, it can be yours. Hope that you have a pen or pencil handy. Here is what you can do. Go to rtwofferer.com. That's rtwofferer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. I believe that this resource will help you in your Christian life. So I'm going to give you that contact info again, rtwofferer.com or pick up the phone right now and call 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. You've heard Pastor Erwin Lutzer with part one of What We Might Lose, the third of six messages in his series, Your Eternal Reward. Next time, more about the losses we might encounter when the truth is revealed. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.