Amir Tsarfati: The Bema Seat of Christ

A lot of people are asking me, why is it that you are so obsessed with teaching on End Times,
on the things that are going to happen in the future?

And it’s a legitimate question …

Why should we be so interested in those type of topics,
in topics such as the rapture of the church and the events that will follow that point?

Why can’t we just live the day – Carpe Diem!

Just do the things we need to do and care about the things on earth
… and that’s it.

Well, the Bible says in Colossians, chapter 3 verses 1-2,

“If then you were raised with Christ,”
– it’s a question.

Are you a true Christian … are you born again spiritual?

That means have you been resurrected, while you’re still alive from your deadly sins?

Because the Bible tells us in Colossians 2 that

while we were dead in our trespasses, in our sins,
He resurrected us while we’re still alive.

This is not the resurrection from the dead, that will happen in the future.

So while … if … the Bible says, if then you were raised with Christ,

in other words, if you are a true believer …

Then what? “…seek those things which are above,

where Christ is,” – where is Christ right now?

He’s at the right hand of the Father right now.

And He says so, sitting at the right hand of God, hello.

And then he says, “Set your mind on things above,”

and what? “…not on things on the earth.”

In other words, a true believer is someone who is not always thinking about the things on earth,
but he’s someone who is rapture already, as we just said.

who is geared up to something that is way higher, much better,
greatest calling of all … greatest future of all, this is all temporary here.

This is all… I mean, literally, it’s all plastic. It’s not real.

This thing right now we go through, it is going to be such as a dot in eternity.

And we have to seek those things which are above,
we have to learn to look up.

We have to learn to hope for the future things that
the Lord graciously detailed to us through the apostles and the disciples.

It’s interesting because looking up is super biblical.

In fact, the Bible says in Philippians 3:14:

“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward
call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Even though you run, it’s the prize of the upward call of God.

Psalm 121: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills—”

You can’t just look all around all the time, lift up your eyes
because your help is not coming from the hills or from people,

but from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

Isaiah 40:26: “Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,

Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,

By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.”

Daniel, chapter 4:34, when King Nebuchadnezzar was speaking,
the Bible says:

“And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted my eyes to heaven, –he said,

and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High

and praised and honored Him who lives forever:
For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

And His kingdom is from generation to generation.”

When we lift up our eyes from the things that are all around us,

we understand the greatness of God, we understand the beauty of our future.

John 11: 41, and when Lazarus was resurrected,

“Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.

And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.'”

Jesus Himself looked up and said: Father, I thank you.

He could have looked at people and say, thank you, Father.

– He looked up. It’s a very biblical thing.

Acts 1:10, when Jesus ascended to heaven,

“And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up,

behold, two men stood by them in white apparel…”

You see, the disciples learn to look up from the moment Jesus ascended to heaven.

And He’s now at the right hand of the Father.

Looking up is biblical, looking up is essential.
Looking up is a sign of a true believer.

Hebrews 9:27-28: “And as it is appointed …”

Now comes the point, we look up and we understand our future.

And our future is containing some interesting things.
But we cannot run away from one thing.

No one can … no living creature can escape judgment.

The Bible says: “And as it is appointed for men to die once…”

You can try to die twice, but it won’t help you.

You have to … look, every born person…

if you were born, if you’re alive, right now, there’s two chances

(1) that you will die while you’re on earth right now,
or that you will stay alive when the rapture happens.

You understand that?

But if you die, that’s not the end of the story,
it’s the beginning of the story for you.

You understand that?

But whether you are a believer, or a non-believer, there is judgment awaiting.

I mean, the Bible says: “…but after this the judgment,”
it’s a given, you cannot change it.

“…so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who” – what?

“He was offered ones to bear the sins of many” that means
those who accepted Him, their sins are washed away.

I mean, He died on the cross, you need to believe
and that’s when you have eternal life.

And but … now come your role, your active role of looking up,
of expecting Him, of looking forward to what He’s about to do.

“…to those who eagerly wait for Him, –what?–

He will appear a second time, –the Bible says–

apart from sin, –which was the first coming but this time– for salvation.”

And if you understand, if you want to understand which salvation
His talking about, go to Romans chapter 8,

because it’s the salvation of our body from this evil world.

So Christ came ones to take care of sin issue.

Those who believed in Him throughout the last 2000 years,
these are the many that He bore their sins.

I mean, I wish everyone believed that would mean He bore the sins of all,

but He died for all – that’s a fact
and it’s interesting because He will appear a second time.

By the way, the word appear, is different from the word come.

It’s a very big difference, He will come back – that’s a different thing.

The physical return of Christ with His feet standing on top of Mount of Olives,

the Mount of Olives will split and all of that will happen in
the Second Coming after the 7 years tribulation,

but the appearance – We will appear before Him …
He will appear for us.

This is the language and lingo that the Bible talks about
when it speaks of the rapture of the church.

How He will appear in heaven, and we will appear before Him.
And that is the appearance.

And so, “To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear
a second time, apart from sin,”

because He’s coming back in the clouds to – What?

For us to be saved, the salvation of the body.

And so judgment is inevitable, we already understand that.

And not only the New Testament tells us that,
even Job 19:29, of the oldest books in the Bible says:

“Be afraid of the sword for yourselves;
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,

That you may know there is a judgment.” – judgment is there.

Our deeds have consequences.

Judgment by the way, sounds like a very harsh word
and half of you right now are scared.

“What is he talking about?

Lord I am saved, so this whole thing of judgment is no longer for me.

What am I sitting here for?”

Well, when it comes to you …

it even more so becomes something that you’re intrigued to know
– What judgment is he talking about?

Well, I would like to answer this morning’s 8 different questions regarding that one.

First of all, what is the Bema?

Because we’re going to talk about the Bema Judgment Seat.

Where is the Bema?
How many future judgments are there anyway?

Who is going to stand there before Jesus at the Bema Seat?

How will they even get there?
How is this judgment different from the others and when will that be?

And what is the purpose of the Bema Seat of Christ
and why are we even talking about it today, if it’s in the future?

First of all, what is a Bema?

Before we start, let’s pray.

Father, I thank You for Your word, Your word is truth.
And we ask that You will sanctify us by your truth this morning.

We don’t want to hear any anyone’s opinion or
his own interpretation or his own commentary.

We want to hear You through Your work this morning.
In Jesus name, Amen.

So what is the Bema, the Bema Seat of Christ?

First of all, you have to understand the Bema Seat is the judgment seat
that is known, also translated as a court or tribunal.

And it’s a platform that could be either public or private.

In other words, you could stand alone before the Lord
or you can actually have some sort of a public hearing.

But we are talking about something that is promised in the Scriptures.

The Bible says in John 19:13 (Roman 14:10-12):

“why do you judge your brother?
Or why do you show contempt for your brother?

For we shall all – it’s not maybe, not could be –
we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”

So we already know that is going to happen.

Acts 25:22 is when we have some sort of a public one.

“Then Agrippa said to Festus, ‘I also would like to hear the man myself.'”

That’s actually a private one.

“I’d like to hear the man myself.”
Paul is standing in the theater of Caesarea Philippi.

And he has to stand on a platform that we call even up until today Bema.

And of course,
“‘Tomorrow,’ he said, ‘you shall hear him.'”

Now, where’s exactly the Bema Seat of Christ,
because bemas are everywhere.

I mean, in Romans 14, it says:

“But why do you judge your brother? – we already talked about it,

For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”
I guess I had the wrong verse in John 19:13.

But I do want you to know that in Romans
when he speaks about that, Paul wrote to the Romans,

but for the most part, most of Paul’s writings regarding
the Bema Seat was to the Corinthians.

And if you’ve ever been to ancient Corinth, you would find out
that up until today, a Bema standing in the heart of the old city of Corinth,

which was one of the most sinful, deprived cities on planet earth,
probably only equal to Sodom and Gomorrah of the ancient times.

2nd Corinthians 5:10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

that each one may receive the things done in the body,
according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

So that means that we became believers, and our sins are forgiven,

but still, we have to give Him some sort of accountability
to the things that we do and say and think as believers.

2nd Corinthians 5:10 in the Greek looks like that, can you read it?

Well, I can tell you, you may not be able to read it,
but you can see the highlighted part which is -“bēmatos tou christou”

“bēmatos tou christou” means the judgment seat of Christ,
and it is in the Greek Bema.

Bema or “bēma” is the Greek name for the high platform, elevated platform
that was used in the ancient times for three different things.

For award giving, for judgment of tribunal and also
in the theater world it was used for shows and acts.

The word Bema – in Hebrew, Greek and English would look like that.

Bema in English, Bēma in the Greek and Bima in the Hebrew language.
We’re using the same word even in the Hebrew.

This is what the Bema looks like in ancient Corinth, if you wonder.

In fact, I zoomed in all the way so you can see the word Bema.

You can see one more picture and you can see
the Bema you see right there, right there.

People were judged in daylight, in the middle of the city of Corinth.

Paul understood that if there is a way for me to describe
what it is going to look like in heaven, that’s probably it.

You know, many times in ancient times …

I’m thinking about how would Ezekiel describe
a war involved with rockets and tanks and aircraft?

Those things did not exist in those days.
So he would use vocabulary that was known to him.

He would use, for example, a dark cloud coming from the north.

Dark cloud – something is going to come flying, darker than the sky of course,
all the way towards Northern Israel.

So in Paul’s mind, what will the judgment seat of Christ going to look like?

It’s going to be an elevated, it’s going to be a platform,
it’s going to be a place a tribunal.

But it’s going to be very different.

By the way, if you’ve been with us to Israel, you could see that in Caesarea
there is a big theater that by mistake, you also call it amphitheater.

Can we see it?

You can clearly see…

there’s… can we see it?
… there is another picture …

There you go … the next one

…and that should be a theater right there.

If you don’t have it, then… too bad…

it means you have the old version of it.
Anyway, it’s right here.

And…

The theater itself has a platform, in other words,
when you see what you call amphitheater, it’s actually a semi-circle shaped… building structure,

but it has a stage and that stage is called Bema.

I guess if you don’t have that picture, you may not have also the other pictures.

And the other pictures are of the Jewish, the Israeli National Theater today,

which is called the Bema.

The Bema, Habima, it is in Tel Aviv.
It is tribunal for not punishment, but for us it’s a tribunal for rewards.

The Bema is a tribunal for rewards.

In the large Olympic arenas, there was an elevated seat
on which the judge of the contest sat

and after the contest were over the successful competitors would assemble
before the Bema to receive the rewards or crowns.

You have to remember,

our life as believers are often described as something from the sport world.

We are running the race, we’re fighting the fight,
and for such things an award or reward is awaiting all of us.

Now how many future judgments are there anyway?

This is an interesting thing.

There are three future judgments according to the Bible.

There is the Bema Seat of Christ, number 1,
there is the sheep and the goats, number 2,

and there is the Great White Throne Judgment Seat, which is number 3.

And you can clearly see on this diagram that the other 2…

the first 1 is in heaven, we go up to stand before Christ,

but the other 2 are on earth and it’s judgment that is not for us, the church.
It’s for other people.

So the first 1, in order to go to be with Christ is,
the first 1 because we seek those things which are above

because we have some business to do up above
and we have some great things to see up above.

So the first one requires all of us to go all the way up
and to stand before Jesus.

And that is a different thing – this is a place where you’re going to stand
and get your rewards.

But the other 2 have to do with right after the 7-years tribulation
and right after the 1000-years Millennial Kingdom.

These are the 2 other judgments that the Bible is telling us that are going to be.

My question for you this morning,
which I probably going to ask at the very end as well:

Which judgment here is yours?

Is it the judgment where you go out because you’re a true believer,
and you will be rewarded for the things you did?

Or rewards will be taken from you for the things
you probably did in the wrong way with the wrong heart?

Or are you going to be those who go through the tribulation?

How many volunteer?

There’s a lot of teachers that teach that you will go through the tribulation.

Well, be my guest.

I can tell you one thing.

This whole debate over pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib,
it’s just like going to a restaurant

and how do you want your steak, rare-medium-well-well done?

How do you want to get to heaven?

Rare, medium well or well done?

All I know is one thing, if we need to spend time in front of the Bema Seat of Jesus,

and if we need to stay and have the marriage ceremony up there

and if we want to look at those mention that
He’s been faithfully working on for the last 2000 years,

we’re not described as going with crutches and on wheelchairs,
because we made it through halfway of the tribulation,

or completely dead without heads,
because we are at the end of the tribulation. No.

That’s not the case, we’re standing there.

The only thing that has to happen to all of us prior to us going to be with Him
is that all of those lowly bodies, sorry for my compliment this morning,

all of our lowly bodies will have to change. That’s it.

So who’s gonna stand before the Bema Seat of Christ?

Only the church …

only the church, the participants in that judgment
are members of the New Testament church.

It’s not even the Old Testament saints.

It’s the church, we’re going to stand before Christ.

And the Bible says, the people who have trusted Christ as Savior
from the day of Pentecost, from the time the Holy Spirit came,

because He said, unless I go, I cannot send you the comforter.

And then of course, He said, but if I send it to you,
I will also come back and receive …

I have to go, He said, to prepare a place for you.

You want me to go to prepare a place for you.

And then He says, I will come back and receive you…

I will receive you …. not going to come back to be with you down here.

“I will receive you to Myself, so where I am, there you may be also.”
He said.

Now how will we go to be with Jesus in order to stand before Him
at that Bema Seat, Bema judgment seat? How are we going to do that?

It’s very simple. It’s called the rapture of the church.

And it’s not a word you will find in the Bible.

Because your Bible is in English.

But if your Bible was in Greek, you would have found
that word in the Greek, which is Harpazo.

And if your Bible was in Latin, you would have found
that word in Latin, which means Rapturo.

And so we call it rapture based on the Latin version.

But the word Latin is… the word “rapture” is not in your Bible,
but the action, who cares how they call it.

Look what the Bible says that is going to happen to us,
as Paul describes to the people of Thessaloniki.

Those people were holding on to every word Paul said …

It is the only city that Paul was writing a letter to without
quoting a single word from the Old Testament.

They were only gentiles over there.
They had zero knowledge of the Old Testament.

So he couldn’t … you know, so many people come to Israelis
and try to evangelize to them.

John 3:16 said- Well, we don’t believe in John.

I mean, Israelis don’t take the New Testament as the word of God,
so don’t quote from the New Testament.

Jesus never led anyone to believe in Him through the New Testament.

You know that, only the Old Testament
because there was no New Testament at that time.

And so, Paul could not convince the Thessalonians
of anything using the Old Testament because none of them knew it,

but they were holding on to every word he had to say, regarding their future.

What happens after I die? Will I even die?
They were so worried about that.

They were so worried that people took advantage of that and told them:

You’ve missed a day of the Lord, that’s it.

And they wrote him a letter with one word – What?

And Paul says, Don’t be afraid. You have not missed it…

Read 2nd Thessalonians which normally comes after 1st …

and you read the 2nd chapter, it begins with Paul telling them:
No, there are certain things that must happen first.

And it’s interesting because he described to the Thessalonians
an amazing event where the church … the Bible says:

“The Lord himself with a shout and with an arch angel call
and with a sound of God’s trumpet

He will descend from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first
and we who are alive and remain we will be caught up!

In the Greek – Harpazo … in the clouds together with them
to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Therefore, encourage one another with these words.”

So first we have to be translated into our glorified bodies
in order to make it to be able to even stand before Him.

And in my poor attempt to draw something to explain how it’s going to look like …

First of all, you see that you’re not standing there, Christian should not stand.

He should always run the race, you should always fight the fight.

You know, he shouldn’t sit at home and say:
Well, I’m waiting for the rapture. No.

We have a lot to do. We have to do our Father’s business.
We have to spread the word, teach the word…we have to …

… in season and out of season, we have to be everywhere,
all about God’s word.

So we have to be active and then of course,
as we run the race, our eyes are not fixed on an earthly target,

but on, you know, that which is in Heavens, where Christ is, the Bible says.

And Christ is not only the Lamb of God (on the left),
but He’s also the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

He already won, He already has the victory.

And when we get up there, it’s not about hell or heaven,
because we’re already in heaven.

It’s about receiving rewards.

Now, what’s the difference between this judgment
and all the other judgments – it’s very simple.

The Bible says that God will reward the actions of the believers.

Psalm 62:12, you can see says:

“And that You O Lord, our loving, surely You will reward
each person according to what he has done.”

Matthew 16:27: “For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory

with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what he has done.”

Ephesians 6:8: “Knowing that whatever good we do,

we will receive the same, again, from the Lord,
whether we are slaves or free.”

Your status on earth means nothing regarding your rewards in heaven.

And it’s not going to be judgment for sin.

Make no mistake, the people on earth will be judged for their sins
because their sins are not being covered by the blood of Christ.

They simply did not believe in Him.

Faith is what is required from all people in order to have eternal life.
That’s what John 3:16 says.

So we’re not going to be judged for our sins.

This thing is already something that was dealt with.

… it’s already been forgiven,
the Bible says in Psalm 103, verses 10 to 12:

“He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Our sins have been removed and you better understand that.

Even Micah says in chapter 7:19: “He will again have compassion on us,

And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.”

So the destiny of the Christian has been settled already.

We will make it to heaven and if sin is there, we couldn’t,
but we are no longer going to be judged for our sins.

Our sin issue has been dealt with – past, present and future.

But now we’re going to stand before the Lord.

And there’s something else that we have to deal with.

There’s definitely no condemnation, as Romans 8 says.

The devil wants you to feel that you are not worthy, that you will never make it.

Well, this is from the devil, obviously.

But I want you to know that we do have certain things that
the Bible says, that are part of every promise to every believer,

we have eternal life, the Bible says.

John 5: 24: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears My Word and believes … My Word

and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life
and he will not be condemned.
He has crossed over from death to life.”

Look, when we are born, we’re already condemned.

I don’t know if you know that, we’re born sinners – we’re already condemned.

The Bible says (John3:18): ““He who believes in Him is not condemned;
but he who does not believe is condemned already.”

So all of us were born in the camp of the condemned.

Whenever we place our trust in Jesus,
we then are moved to the camp of the not condemned.

The curse has been removed.

That curse of sin that… it’s a curse,

because, look, a baby’s being born, he did nothing yet,
he’s already a sinner.

Believe it or not, but babies can use their fist.

And babies can want and demand what they want, not what you want.

That curse against believers been removed.
The Bible says in Galatians 3:13:

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us

for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'”

The Bible says that the price for our sins have been fully paid.

1st Peter 2:24: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross,
so that we are free from sins.

We might live for righteousness.” Now you see …

We’re free from sin, but our life now should be for righteousness:
By His wounds, you have been healed.

And of course, the sin offering of Christ in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5:21:

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.!

The believers’ judgment, with respect to sin, is long past.

And the Bible says in Hebrews 12:1: Run the race.

And the Bible says in 1st Timothy 6:12: Fight the good fight.

So what we are going to deal with in heaven
has nothing to do with our sin, with our sinful past.

It has to do with the fruits of that race and that fight.

Those rewards, therefore, the judgment seat of Christ is not designed
to punish believers, but rather to reward them for their faithful service.

All of us will give an account of what we have done after trusting Christ as Savior.

Therefore the judgment seat of Christ is a judgment of believers.

Works! Works cannot save you, but once you have been saved, works count.

Again, you’ll be in heaven, regardless,
because works are not that which saves you or else you can boast.

But once you get to Heaven, you will have to give account …

there’s accountability for the things you did.

Now, you may say I did so many things.

Yeah. But did you do those things with the right heart?

You see, the judgment seat of Christ is a judgment of believers’ works after salvation.

And the analogy that Paul gave to the Corinthians (1 Corinth 3:10) is,

“According to the grace of God which was given to me,
as a wise master builder

I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it.
But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it,”

There is a day that day will declare it,
there is a day we’re going to stand before Christ.

And the things we supposedly did for Him … are going to be exposed.

Because it will be revealed by fire.

It’s interesting because the word revealed by fire or

…probably “refined by fire” is also a word of
the Prophet Zechariah chapter 13 talks about the nation of Israel.

All Israel will be saved according to Romans 11.

But the Bible says that two thirds of Israel will perish
and only the last third, He will bring through the fire.

There is …

The intentions matters even then.
And you have to understand that fire will try each ones work.

And some of us will suffer loss.

You see, it’s not about life or death, hell or heaven.

It’s about standing before Jesus after supposedly we live for Him for the last few years.

And you can either be glad or you can be ashamed.

Suffering loss … the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 3:15:

“If anyone’s work is burned, they will suffer loss;
but they themselves will be saved…”

Look, it’s not about making it to heaven, you are in heaven.

But you’re gonna stand there, looking at everyone else receiving their rewards

and the ones that you thought you had was taken from you

because that which you thought you did in a great way:

Oh, I filled stadiums … Oh, I filled churches …
Oh I had tons of followers here and this…

Everything is going to be tested through fire.

And if it’s not really the right heart,
that which you thought is yours, is taken from you.

You’ll be saved, but as through fire.

It’s like you know when, the cartoons, when they go through fire,
they’re still standing, but smoke comes out of them.

That’s not a picture you want to see yourself like.

Fire … I am sorry about the cartoons,
we were in Disney and all that …

Fire! The judgment will be by fire.

Fire is used in Scripture as a symbol of judgment and holiness of God.

You can see in Genesis 19:24,

“the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah
—from the LORD out of the heavens.”

You see that fire of judgment.

You see in Deuteronomy 4:24:
“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

But in Revelation 1:14, one of the ways to describe the holiness of Jesus,

“His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow.
And his eyes were like flames of fire.”

Now we really want to stand before Jesus.

We already understand the minute the rapture takes place,
whether you’re dead or alive, we will be changed.

The Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 15, verses 50 and 51

“Behold, I tell you a mystery, not all of us are going to sleep – to die,

but all of us are going to change,
in a minute, in a twinkling of an eye,

the last trumpet, we will wear in-corruption…”

You can go to the gym as many times as you want.

That body is dying.

And you will need a new body if you want to enter into heaven.

Your body … I’m not encouraging you not to live healthy lifestyles.

I’m encouraging you not to trust this body will get you to heaven.

1st John 2:28: “And now, little children, abide in him…”

He needs to be the thing you draw your life from.

“…abide in Him, so that when He appears…”

Appears … remember that word?

… pretends to what? … talks about what?

The rapture, the time He appears before us.

“… when He appears, we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”

Wow. So there is a possibility of being ashamed
… at His coming.

We want to receive the full reward.

Believers will receive that full reward for the deeds of faith,

but the question is: What is it going to look like?

2nd John 1:8: “Look to yourselves,
that we do not lose those things we worked for,

but that we may receive a full reward.”

Be careful not to lose them.

It’s not about losing your salvation – it is losing your reward.

Revelations 3:11: “Behold, I am coming quickly!
Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”

That means whatever you do, however you live
the way you believe should be genuine and not phony.

Now I’m very bad in illustrations.

In fact, I don’t even have a clue how to use illustrations.

So I found it online.

We can illustrate the loss of reward in the following manner.

Let us say that you’ve recently built a new two-story house,
while on the second floor you smell smoke,

looking downstairs you see that the first floor is on fire,
you jump out of the second-story window to save your life

but then you watch your new house burned to the ground
and obviously you will have mixed emotions.

You’re thankful that you were able to jump and save your life,

but you’re sad because your new house is destroyed.

This is similar to those believers who are saved, but have nothing to show for it.

They squandered their opportunities to live for Christ,
yet they are enjoying the benefits of heaven with Jesus.

Wow, how sad, instead of rejoicing in the presence of God,
instead of standing before Christ…

making into heaven, that’s the happiest place
on planet earth – not on planet earth, in the world.

Instead of rejoicing, you’re standing there …

Your whole life is passing right in front of you,

and you find out the one thing after the other
that you thought you’re doing for the Lord,

but you actually did it because you wanted other people to see you doing it.

Or you actually did it because there was some sort of gain.

Well, the Bible says, all who experience the judgment seat of Christ
will possess the privilege and honors as children of God.

But Jesus said He will acknowledge those who have believed in Him
before His Father and before the angels, as Matthew 10:32 says,

there will be gifts to be received.

As Paul said to the Corinthians (1Corinth 2:9-10):

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.

For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of Christ – of God,” excuse me.

Now we have to understand that our rewards will be proportionate to
the way we live and to the things we did with that which God gave us.

The reward of the believers is proportionate to the faithfulness they show in this life.

The key is faithfulness to the gifts God has given you.

And the Bible is clearly indicating that 1st Corinthians 4:2:

“Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.”

There is different degrees of rewards.
And Jesus said that, in several of His parables.

In Luke 19:17: “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant;

‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter,
take charge of ten cities.'”

Yet to someone else, he said in verse 19: You take charge of 5 cities.

In other words, that which God gave you is enough to give you everything you need.

But if you don’t do with it anything, then you will not be blessed and rewarded
the way you could have if you were trustworthy, if you were faithful,

because God gave every one of you either time, talent or resources.

And He’s going to ask you:

What have you done with the time, talent and resources that I gave you?

And those crowns – 2nd Timothy 4:7 says: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,”

Paul is at the end of his life, he understands:
Okay, I guess I am going to die.

But look what he says – That I’m going to die with a huge smile.

Why? Because I know, I fought the good fight.
I didn’t stay at home. I didn’t do nothing.

I fought the good fight, I ran that race and I finished it.

I have kept the faith.

I’m faithful.

Because I’ve done everything God gave me, whatever He gave me,
I did something with it.

And look what he says:

“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness,”

And Paul understands the sequence of which things are going to take place.

So he’s not saying, I’m about to appear before Christ today,

and I will receive the crown of righteousness right now. No.

He knows there is a day set.

There is a day reserve, not only for him.

So he said that crown of righteousness,

that the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will award to me – When?
… on that day, he said,

not only to me, but, he says, also to all who have longed
for his – what? … appearing.”

What is appearing means? … exactly!

Him appearing in the sky, in the cloud for us who are taken to be with Him.

To those the crown of righteousness is reserved.

There’s the book of life that the Bible says,

that is part of that judgment seat
because we’re gonna look at what we did in our life.

Death no longer has dominion over the believers.

Believers will be clothed in white garments,
having their names written in the Book …

Now, just so you understand, every person on planet earth
that has ever been born, his name was written automatically in the book of life,

because life means he’s alive.

However, when you die, and you do not have faith in Christ

and your name is not written now in the Lamb’s Book of Life,
with the blood of Jesus can never that can never be raised,

then you’re blotted out of the Book of Life because you’re no longer alive.

You understand? It is very simple.

The Book of Life is for those who are alive.

And then your name is now in the Lamb’s Book of Life that it can’t be blotted out.

That’s why the Bible says in Revelation 3:4-5:

Those who overcome will have their names written in the Book of Life.

That is the Lamb’s Book of Life ….and then he says:

“You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments;

and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments,

and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life;

–because they have eternal life–

And I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

And when will that be? … of course …

First, we have to be with Him – so the rapture.

Then we have to stand right after the rapture,
because first comes judgment.

The Bible says in the book of Hebrews 9:27,
It is appointed upon men to die once and then comes the judgment.

It’s not going to be, Okay you sit here, watch this movie, get this popcorn…

I’ll come back in two years and judge you … No … First thing!

Right after the rapture, the judging of believers will occur right after the rapture.

We’re going to stand before Him.

Revelation 19:7-8: “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.

Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”

That represents the righteous acts of the saints.

That means that you have been already at the Lamb’s Throne of Judgment.

So the judgment seat of Christ is a time of examination and reward.

From Scripture and we can conclude the following,
concerning the judgment seat of Christ.

First of all: The Lord will resurrect the bodies of the saints
who have died during the church age …

as well as change the bodies of those who are still alive … Us – I believe.

2: They will meet the Lord in the air and proceeded to the judgment seat of Christ.

3: This judgment will consist of rewards for faithful service
and it will not be a condemnation for anyone.

4: Rewards will consist of crowns given to believers
based upon our faithful service to Him.

The rewards will be proportionate to our faithfulness.

And now comes the last question:

Why in the world do we have to study about that?

And what is the purpose of the judgment seat of Christ?

Look, I always have to ask myself, what’s the purpose of things?

I struggled when I studied for the Millennial Kingdom message,

I struggled, I said to the Lord, I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with you.

I said, you took me all the way up there to taste heaven
and you’re gonna throw me back for another 1000 years on earth?

And then I had to get all my assurances from the scriptures to understand that …

A: For us who are like Him now, 1000 years is like – what?
… one day, so don’t worry.

Second, I understood that that was a display of His righteousness.

Because after 1000 years, when Christ is in Jerusalem, physically reigning …

no sin, no satanic influence, because he’s locked down in that bottomless pit …

There is still people … at the end of the 1000 years millennium,
are ganging up against Christ and His people,

that means that they do deserve the judgment seat
of the White Judgment Throne at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.

So He is displaying His righteousness for 1000 years.

And here, knowing today what the Bema Seat in heaven is all about
causes us to live faithful lives today, as believers here on earth.

When you understand that Christ will judge you for the things you do as a believer,

then you have to ask yourself now, maybe starting from today,

Am I doing those things with the right attitude?

The greatest consequence of unfaithfulness here on earth
is that it disappoints Christ.

1st John 2:28: “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears,

we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”

It’s a sobering thought that we could be ashamed as we stand before the Lord

at the same time, it should encourage us with the prospect of
receiving His lavish rewards, if we serve Him faithfully during our time on earth.

Sin and indifference in this life rob us of our present desire for serving the Lord.

That in turn means loss of rewards, as in Ephesians 5:15 to 16.

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,

redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Sin and indifference result in a loss of power in our lives.

Because sin grieves the Holy Spirit and sin and indifference
causes also us to pass up opportunities for service

which we would otherwise perform and be rewarded for.

And I would conclude with this
– We are to run the race in order to win.

You don’t show up to the stadium (Gunshot sound)
and then you start walking like that.

You have to run and don’t even just run like that.

Run, the Bible says, look, it says:

Do you not know …1st Corinthians 9:24:

” that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?

Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

–Run as a winner–

And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.

Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown,
but we for an imperishable crown.”

And whatever you do, Colossians 3:23 and 24:

“do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance;
for you serve the Lord Christ.”

And I will conclude with Romans 12:1:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,

that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

Father, we thank You so much for Your Word.

It’s not only giving us comfort, knowing that sin has been dealt with
and there is no condemnation.

But it also encourages us to use the talents we have received,

to be as faithful as we can, to flee from temptation,

and to run the race, fight the fight, and do it in such manner …

in excellence, and in great anticipation
for that day that we will stand before You in heaven.

Father, You said through Jesus, that He will come back the second time
to those who eagerly wait for His appearance.

Obviously, if we’re not ready, we’re not eagerly awaiting.

So Father, we ask that you will work in our lives, to show faithfulness in our service to You

so we will be ready and eagerly await Your return.

If there is anyone here this morning, that his life, even as a believer,
is not reflecting the sincerity of service to You …

and maybe he’s not even aware of the consequences of
how he does things and why he does things.

So Father, this morning, we ask that You, through Your Holy Spirit,
convict, change, renew, redeem and restore.

We bless Your Name this morning.

And we do that in the name of the Holy One of Israel,
in the name of Yeshua, our salvation.

And all of God’s people say -Amen.