We found that there were three facts that stand out concerning the rapture. This word refers to the catching up of believers to meet the Lord in the
air. This event takes place immediately preceding the seven years of judgments that are yet to be fulfilled in God's completion of His program with
Israel. This is the period that we call the tribulation period when the wrath of God is poured out on all humanity, and evil has its day. Things are
not as bad today, and they cannot be as bad as they will be in the tribulation period because God the Holy Spirit acts as a restrainer. He places a
dampening influence through the believers; through the Word of God; and, through the forces that are for morality that exist within our society.
However, once the church is removed, and God the Holy Spirit is removed with them off the scene, then all hell is going to break loose upon this
earth. Evil will have its day as it has never had it before.
If you want to get an idea of what it's going to be like, you just think of the worst expressions in every realm of life that you can think of that
are now restrained; and, imagine those things turned loose and publicly approved, and you'll have some idea of what life is going to be like here
on this earth.
Well, we Christians are going to escape all that. We found that three facts stand out concerning the rapture. One is that Jesus is coming back for
Christians. John 14:1-3 tells us about that. He is now preparing dwelling places in heaven for us to reside in during the tribulation period.
Secondly, we found that some Christians will never experience death. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 tell us that some Christians will be caught up to meet
the Lord alive without going through the experience of death. I firmly and fondly anticipate that many of you who are reading this document right
now will experience the rapture alive. Thirdly, all Christians go to heaven together (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Somebody told me that there was one thing that wasn't clear to them in our last session. We sometimes assume that you know certain things and that
you have certain background information. We don't always touch in detail about certain elements. One question did come up, and perhaps we ought to
clarify it. What happens to the people who are believers, the Christians, who are now dead? Where are they? Well, their bodies are in the grave,
perhaps completely decomposed and returned to dust, but their souls and spirits are in the Lord's presence. "Absent from the body," Paul says,
"Presence with the Lord." Immediately upon death, a believer goes into the Lord's presence. Apparently he has some kind of intermediate body and
covering during the time that he is in the Lord's presence.
Now when the rapture takes place, what happens to those believers who are in heaven now? These believers, who are already in heaven with the
Lord, come down at the rapture--their souls and spirits--with the Lord. They come to the earth. They receive their (now glorified) bodies from the
graves, and the Lord remains in the air. They have their resurrection. They receive their bodies. Then the Christians who are
living, together with these, move to meet the Lord in the air, and then return to the third heaven. So the spirits and souls who are now in the
third heaven in the Lord's presence do come back to earth; receive their bodies; join the live living believers; and, then go on up together to meet
the Lord in the air.
2 Corinthians 5:10: "For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to
that he has done, whether it be good or bad." Is this being spoken to Christians or to unsaved people? When it says, "For we must all appear," who
are the "we?" If you run your eye back over 2 Corinthians 5, you will have indicated to you that the context speaks concerning
Christians.
In 2 Corinthians 5:1, Paul indicates that he's speaking to Christians when he uses the expression, "For we know that if our earthly house (that
is, our body) of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Now the unsaved
people have nothing in heaven. They have no house. They have no place in heaven whatsoever. So obviously, this is talking about Christians who, if
through death they should be separated from their bodies, they will have a dwelling place in the heavens.
In 2 Corinthians 5:4 "For we that are in this tabernacle (these human bodies) do groan, being burdened; not that we would be unclothed, but clothed
upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." Only for believers who are resurrected will mortality (that is, the possibility of dying) be
swallowed up in life. They will receive, in other words, bodies which are glorified--resurrected bodies, like the Lord's. The unsaved people will
not receive bodies such as Jesus Christ has.
2 Corinthians 5:5 says, "Now he that has wrought us for the very same thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the spirit." The word
"earnest" refers to a down payment. God has given us the Spirit of God, God the Holy Spirit, as a seal--as a down payment that He is going to
perform all the things that He has promised to do for us in his Word. Now this, obviously again, is not true of unbelievers, only of believers.
2 Corinthians 5:8 gives us that comforting fact: "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with
the Lord." Only Christians, when they are absent from their physical bodies, are present with the Lord. So he's talking about Christians here.
Unsaved people, when they die, their souls and spirits go into a place called Hades, into a place of torment. They are immediately in conscious
pain, and continue so until they are returned to their physical bodies, and then the body, soul, and spirit of the unbeliever is cast into the lake
of fire, which we commonly referred to as hell. The lake of fire was created for Satan and his rebellious angels, and this is where all unbelievers
will be placed who have sided with Satan.
So from the context you see he's talking about believers. Paul is concerned, himself, to serve the Lord in such a way as to be accepted and approved
in some respect. In 2 Corinthians 5:9, he says, "Wherefore we labor, that whether presence or absent, we may be accepted of Him." Some people have
taken this verse and said, "You see, you do have to work for your salvation. It's okay to believe that Christ died for you, but you better behave
yourself if you want to go to heaven. How you act is going to determine your destiny, whether God is going to accept you or not accept you." Is that
what he's talking about here? Well the context has indicated that he's talking about Christians.
The apostle Paul says, "I want to be sure that I
am accepted of the Lord Jesus Christ in some respect." He tells us what that respect is in 2 Corinthians 5:10: "We (we Christians) must all appear
before the Judgment Seat of Christ. This is not a judgment to determine whether a person is qualified to enter heaven. The context shows that he is
speaking to people who are already qualified to enter heaven. This is not the issue. This is a judgment concerning people who are in heaven in
glorified bodies. In those glorified bodies in the third heaven, they face a certain judgment.
Since a Christian is positionally in Christ, and he
has been placed in Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation, and it is a permanent position, he can never be removed
from being in Christ. It is something that God has done all by Himself. You and I have nothing to do with it. All we have to do with it is a
non-meritorious act of accepting it. We believe it. We take it. In the moment that you take it, God the Holy Spirit snaps you by His baptism into
the body of Christ, and you are permanently attached to the Son of God. Thenceforth, as God the Father looks upon you, He sees you only in the
perfection of His Son. For that reason, you are eternally secure. It is not possible to be a Christian today and to be lost tomorrow. Once you
have entered into Christ, it is a permanent union.
This being the case, we could not be speaking here of a judgment relative to whether you are
going to go to heaven or not--whether you make it or not. This is neither a judgment of sins which are committed, nor is it a judgment of sins which
you have committed since the point of salvation.
Every now and then somebody comes up with a kooky idea that as of the point of salvation all your sins are forgiven, but for what you do from then on,
now that you know better, you're in deep trouble. You're in a heap of trouble for that, fellow. But that, again, is not in the Word of God. This is
a human notion. This is not a judgment of sins committed since salvation because God, in salvation, removes all of our guilt: past, present, and,
future. This is the fact of the wall that once separated us from God, which has been removed, and it has been removed permanently and completely.
Psalm 103:12, Micah 7:19, and Isaiah 38:17 all tell us of the permanency of the removal of our sin and guilt. The word "behind" or "back" in
Isaiah 38:17 is actually "shoulder blades." God has put our sins behind Him, and this means behind His shoulder blades. God cannot take a look at
your sins any more than you can look behind your shoulder blades. Try it. Maybe you better not. You may hurt yourself. You can't turn around and
look at your shoulder blades, and this is what God says is where He has put sins, speaking of Himself anthropomorphically.
Hebrews 8:12 is another verse that indicates to us that salvation has permanently removed our guilt. So our evil works are not to be brought up in
heaven. By the way, you have to be careful when you read commentaries. I read one the other day and it was frightful. It was really pitiful. It was
by a well-known writer and an expert in the Greek language. However, when you read the paragraphs here concerning this passage, and there he has
laid out in all the grim possible detail, your standing up while they say, "OK, what is your name? OK, Arthur Lang. Oh that's a good one. Let's get his
record out here." Then they put up the movie screen and then they start playing the grim and livid life and times of Arthur Lang. And it is all
paraded. Never! It would make interesting viewing, no doubt, but this is not how God acts. And I wouldn't smile, because if that were true, your
time would come too.
God says, "Never. I do not bring what I have already judged." All sin was judged at the cross: your past, your presence, and
your future. If you don't have that clearly understood, then I'd suggest you review the first three sessions on the Basic Bible Doctrine training
series, and get that clarified once and for all.
This is not a judgment either for your unconfessed sins. Every now and then I find a Christian who is worried about dying without having all of his
sins confessed. Well, that's a good old Roman Catholic idea of getting every sin confessed, and giving you a zap of extreme unction at the last
moments to get you in clean, but there can be no judgment concerning sins for any reason concerning the believer. Romans 8:1 spells it out very
clearly: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." And you can run a pencil through the rest of the verse because it
is not in the Greek. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." That means no condemnation now or ever. The removal
of the wall included God taking care of even our unconfessed sins because that only affects our temporal fellowship.
The Bema
So what judgment do we face? We do face a judgment as believers. "For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ." The Judgment Seat of
Christ in the Greek is "bema." We are to face a place called the "bema," and it is the bema of Christ, the Judgment Seat of Christ. This Greek word
referred to a platform. That's all it is. It's just a platform. We would call it, in our day, comparing it to a court of law, "the
bench" where the judge sits, and that's exactly what this platform is. It was a place where a judge sat to pass judgment. In the Olympic Games, there
was a place in the stadium called the bema, the platform which was built. And the athletes who had competed, according to the rules, and who had been
victorious, were led up to the bema. There they were awarded their victory crown which was in the form of some laurel leaves, or oak leaves, or
perhaps a garland which was put across the shoulder, or a crown that they would put on the head. It was a sign of the honor of victory of the
athlete who had won and competed according to the rules.
John 5:22 indicates that all judgment has been placed in the hands of Jesus Christ. So this place, this bema, this judgment seat, is a place at
which Jesus Christ is going to be sitting as judge on this platform, making certain judgments concerning believers. It is necessary that all of us
appear. The word for "necessary" is "dei" in the Greek. This word means that there is no way out. It is absolutely necessary for every believer to
appear before this judgment platform.
"And we must appear." I want you to look at the word for "appear". This word is "phaneroo." As you look at this
word in the English, you might think that what it is saying is that it is absolutely necessary for every Christian to someday stand before the
judgment platform of Christ. But it is saying much more than that. This word does not mean just to be there. This word means that it is necessary
for you and me to stand there and be exposed as to our true character--to be revealed as we really are. Now you might be irritated over the obvious
fact that people have a temperament, which is the real person, and they cover this up with a personality. There might be somebody today that
outright despises you. However, if you were to walk by them, they will look at you and smile and say, "Hello." They will, in all likelihood, not say,
"Drop dead," as you go by. And you, in all likelihood, might not respond, "What? And look like you?" Because we put on a personality front.
Now we do this relative to our Christian service, of all kinds of Christian service. We cannot look within the heart to see motivation. We don't
know whether this Christian service is coming from the filling of the Spirit of God, and is the moving of you in the plan of God, or whether this
is coming as a result of your old sin nature expressing its lusts as Satan and his demons manipulate your old sin nature. We don't know whether your
Christian service is the result of your mentality filled with Bible doctrine or whether your Christian service is being triggered by your emotions
which have taken over dictatorial control of your soul. If emotions take over control of your soul, you're in bad bad trouble. This word "phaneroo,"
means that we're going to stand before God and be disclosed to ourselves in our true character relative to our Christian service. And it's all going
to be made very plain and very clear.
The tense here is aorist, and you know that when the Greek speaks of tenses, it doesn't just mean past, present, and future. That's part of it, but
really more important for a Greek tense, it's telling you the kind of action. The grammatical term is the aktionsart, the kind of action that is
involved. And aorist means a kind of an action like snapping your fingers--one big dramatic moment. Of course, this refers to that big dramatic
moment when Jesus Christ comes; you are caught up to meet him in the air; they move you into the third heaven; and, the first thing you know, you
look up and say, "Well, look at that! There is the bema, just like they told us back at Berean. And here it is. And there you are lined up
before the platform, and an angel is coming down and giving you a number and saying, "So when your number is called, step right up, will you please?"
And everything is getting organized, and you're waiting your turn to come forward. In a moment, all is exposed.
It also is in the passive which means that you, as a Christian, have no choice. It is necessary, and you will be there. The angel won't come up and
say, "Listen. Do you want to come up here and have your life looked over relative to your Christian service?" And you might say, "Ah, no. That's OK."
He's not going to ask you. You are going to be there. When your number is called, you are going to step up and say, "Here I am." It's in the
infinitive mood which expresses purpose here. This is God's purpose for the believer. The minute you leave this earth into the third heaven, His
purpose for you is to stand before the bema. And that's exactly what's going to happen.
What is the reason for this? The context indicates to us that the believers are the subjects of this judgment, so it cannot be to determine
salvation. It says rather, "That everyone may receive." And here is another interesting word. It is "komizo." "Komizo" means to receive what you
have coming. When it says "that everyone may receive," it means that you will receive specifically what is due you, the proper and just recompense.
Again it's in the aorist tense, indicating that point at the Judgment Seat of Christ. However, this time, the voice is different. It's in the middle
voice. In the Greek, middle means that it acts upon the subject. Here is the subject, which is you, and you are the one who is going to benefit or
not. In any case, you're going to get what you deserve.
This is in the subjunctive mood, which indicates purpose. Again, it is God's purpose that you stand at this bema, and that you receive exposé
concerning your Christian service as to what it was really worth, what it was like, and then you will receive what you have coming. These things for
which he shall be judged are identified as the things done in his body. That is, the thing done by means of the body. This is the way it would be
better translated. These are the things done through the body--the things which you did as a Christian in time. This is your service as a believer
on this earth, "according to that you have done," which means in proportion to your deeds which you did in the body. The idea is in proportion to
the things done by means of the body. That's what you're going to be evaluated for. This is to determine "whether it be good or whether it be bad."
This again is not a judgment as to whether you did something morally good or morally bad, because that would mean sins again. We will never be
faced with sins of any kind whatsoever. The wall has been removed. God has solved and settled that issue once and for all. But something else will
be determined--whether an act was good. The Greek word here is "agathos." The word "agathos" means good in the sense of benefit and its effects.
There's a different word which is good intrinsically, like gold is just good in itself. This is good in the sense of its effects. The things that
stem from your work; whether they were good; whether what you performed was beneficial; or, whether it was bad. The word for bad here is the Greek
word "phaulos." The word "phaulos" means worthless--bad in the sense that it was just good for nothing.
So we stand at the bema following the rapture; they call our number; we step up; and, the record is there of all of our good works--not our bad works.
These are all good words. You understand that we're talking about good works. We are talking about good good works and bad good works. We are
talking about works in the body. Some of these are worth something. Some of them are worthless. That is the issue. It is possible for the same items
to be done at one time by you and to be bad and worthless, and another time to be good and worth very much. What we are talking about here, you can
readily see, is what we call human and divine good. Both of these are good. Divine good comes from the filling of God the Holy Spirit. Human good
comes from the old sin nature within us. The old sin nature produces sins and it produces human good. And God rejects everything that comes from the
human good of the old sin nature.
When, therefore, Paul says you will stand before the bema, Jesus Christ will be there. They will evaluate your life as a Christian relative to your
service, and they will decide how much of what you did was divine good. And that's worth something. And they will decide how much of what we did was
human good, and that's worth nothing. Then, on that basis, the Lord Jesus Christ will take action. It makes a difference as to who is influencing
what you do. It is possible for you to do the same act, and when that act is motivated by some lust ambition pattern of the old sin nature, God
rejects it as human good production. But if it is motivated by God the Holy Spirit, it will be a source of great joy and satisfaction, and be stored
as treasures in heaven.
That's what the Bible means by storing treasures in heaven. It does not simply mean that you walk up to the offering box,
and you put money in there. You may put money in there and present it in such a way as to satisfy certain lust for pride, like Ananias and Sapphira
did. Or you may put it there in such a way as indeed to reflect that God the Holy Spirit is leading you to do this, and you are responding to Him.
Then that's worth a great deal.
The translation of 2 Corinthians 5:10 then may be something like this: "For it is necessary for all of us to be revealed as we really are before
the Judgment Seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense in proportion to the things done through the body whether good or bad."
1 Corinthians 3
Now let's look a little more deeply as to the results of this judgment by studying 1 Corinthians 3 where this same subject is dealt with from a
little different point of view. 1 Corinthians 3:10: "According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the
foundation, and another builds upon it. But let every man take heed how we builds upon it." Paul says I have come into the Corinthian church; I
founded it; I brought believers together; and, I established it through Jesus Christ. The foundation is laid. Paul says, "Now everybody who works in
this church, let him be very careful how he builds on the foundation of this ministry in this assembly."
He goes on in 1 Corinthians 3:11 and says,
"For other foundations can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus." The foundation of the Christian's spiritual life, through that
local church is Jesus Christ. That's how you enter the plan of God. Now you're going to build upon this foundation. And Paul says, "Be careful how
you build upon the foundation of your salvation." 1 Corinthians 3:12: "Now if any man build upon this foundation (and then he lists six kinds of
building materials) gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble."
The verse begins with, "Now if." We have learned that there are four
kinds of the word "if" in the Greek Testament. In English, you can't tell what it's saying, but in the Greek it is very revealing. This is a first
class condition. What does a first class condition tell us immediately? It means, "If you would do this, and you will." It's reality. It is truth.
It's the way it is. We may read it, "Now since any man build upon this foundation." You will build upon your Christian life. Upon the foundation of
your salvation, you will build something. There will be nobody who will be able to stand up in heaven and say, "Oh, I didn't really try to build
anything." It will not be taken as an excuse.
This is why it is so sad to think there are so many people, in this city alone, let alone in the
greater Dallas area, who are Christians, who are absolutely never alerted to what they are going to face at the Judgment Seat of Christ, and what
is involved in making their lives count. Many of them are sincere people running around with a lot of do-goodism, and things that God is revolted by,
and which He rejects, because nobody has alerted them to the difference. We are going to build, and they are building, whether they understand it or
not. They're building something during their lives on earth. A Christian's works of service are compared to two kinds of building materials. You will
notice that one set is indestructible. Gold, silver, and precious stones are indestructible under fire. Whereas the other kind are destructible:
wood, hay, and stubble. This put to the flame would be destroyed.
1 Corinthians 3:13: "Every man's work shall be made manifest." Here, again, we have the same word "phaneroo" that we had before. Your works will be
made manifest. Now do you understand what that means? It means that they will be exposed for what they really are. You will see very clearly what
was human good and what was divine good in the process of that examination. They shall be exposed in their true character. This is the same word
which is used here in 2 Corinthians 5:10 that we looked at a moment ago. Every man means that everyone is included. This word in the Greek New
Testament is the word "hekostos."
This word stands at the beginning of a Greek sentence. One of the things that was nice about the Greek language
was that if you wanted to emphasize some idea, you could just throw the word at the beginning of the sentence. That was the most emphatic place, or
you could stick it at the end. The Greek didn't worry about word order. In English, we have to worry about word order or things don't come out
intelligently. They depended on endings, and so on, to indicate relationships and the syntax of the word. So if you wanted to emphasize, you stuck
a thing at the first. That's where this is.
He is saying every man, every woman, every believer, and nobody is excluded. He's stressing the fact
that this is an individual confrontation for each of us. The day is the time of the Judgment Seat of Christ. "Every man's work shall be made manifest
(exposed), for the day shall declare it." Declare here means to make it plain. The day of the Judgment Seat of Christ is going to make the nature
of our words very plain. It is future, so it's still before the Christian. It is active, and it is going to be an evaluation of our works as a
result of that day, and not of other Christians' evaluations of us now.
"Because it shall be revealed by fire." Now here is the analogy carried out to the building materials. What we have built is going to be placed
under a fire judgment. This is an analogy to the evaluation of Jesus Christ. His judgment is going to be like a fire that's going to hit our works,
and the result will be catastrophic in some cases, and the result will be reassuring in others. The word "reveal" means "to uncover." Our works will
be uncovered for what they are. This is translated as "shall be revealed." Actually, in the Greek, it is in the present. This is what is called a
futuristic present. When the Greek language wants to tell you that something is very certain, it will do this. It will take a thing and put it in
the present although it's going to happen in the future. But it's so certain that they put it in the present, like it's right now. It's real. You
can just count on it.
So while in the original this is in the present, we have to translate it as a future event, but it's an emphatic assured event. The fire shall test
every man's work for what sort it is--manifesting its nature. The fire shall test. This word for "test" is an interesting word. In the Greek, it is
"dokimazo." "Dokimazo" is a word to indicate a test such that the purpose of this test is to find what's good, so that it can be approved. The
reason that God is going to bring us to the bema is so that He can find what is good. He's not looking for what is bad. He's not going to shake it
over us and berate us for what we did that was human good. He's just trying to find what is divine good, for which he is eager and delighted to
reward us. So he is going to put this into a testing. There is a different Greek word that means to test to see whether what is good and what is
bad. The idea is mainly to bring to light what is evil. This word is to bring to light what is good.
So the Lord is seeking to identify at the
Judgment Seat that for which He can reward us. Every man's work, and again, it is "hekostos," everybody individually, his work on earth. It's going
to be according to what sort it is. This Greek word is "hopoios." "Hopoios" means what sort. It is not a word for how much. It's not for quantity
that he's going to be testing it, but for quality. There's a different Greek word altogether for quantity. That is not the one used here. What God
wants to know is not how much you did, but what sort of work you did. Now you can readily see that some Christians who are producing hay, wood, and
stubble here among us on earth can look far more impressive than the humble believer who is going along cranking out gold, silver, and precious
stones. The hay, wood, and stubble, pound-for-pound, makes a much bigger pile than gold, silver, and precious stones. On earth, it tends to be far
more impressive.
A man will die, and they will produce his obituary that lists all of his human good from the earth's point of view. It will look
very impressive as a big pile. That very same person may well come into heaven and discover that he's a pauper, because what he did was motivated
from the do-goodism of the old sin nature, and God says, "I reject this." God wants to know what sort of works you have, and He makes his decision
on that--not on quantity, but on quality.
The results of this testing are in 1 Corinthians 3:14-15. "If any man's work abide which he has built upon it (the foundation of Jesus Christ), he
shall receive a reward." If, again, is a first class condition here. If any man's work survives, and some will survive. That is true. He will
receive a reward, each individually. What's the reward? The Bible doesn't specify. It may be commendation as Matthew 25:21 says. It may be the
believers that you find, that you led to salvation, or that you led to maturity through the Word (1 Thessalonians 2:19). It may be a position that
God gives you in the eternal state (Luke 19:17). Or it may just be your capacity to radiate the glory of God (John 12:3), to enter into the
enjoyment of the presence of God. That may be the reward. The Bible doesn't spell it out.
1 Corinthians 3:15 says, "If any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer a loss." There you have the "if" again. This is a first class condition
also. It is true that some Christians' works will not pass. They shall be burned ("katakio"). And there's that word "kata" again that we looked at
in the previous session which means "down." It means burned down. We say we burn it up. This means total destruction. The result will be he shall
suffer loss, and the words "suffer loss" mean to forfeit what could have come to this person as a reward.
It is experienced in the future--the
forfeiting of rewards, not salvation. And just in case somebody got the idea from this that it was salvation that Paul was talking about, he adds
the phrase, "but he himself shall be saved yet as by fire." Just to make it clear, he says, "The person will suffer. He will forfeit a loss relative
to his works, but he himself will go to heaven. He will be saved. He will be saved through my divine judgment on his works.
So the loss stems from failure to recognize the nature of the old sin nature, and from the satanic motivations that are possible in the production
of human good through the old sin nature. This is the thing that happens immediately after the rapture.
What constitutes the works that survive? It is not entirely the work itself. It is what is done under the filling of the Spirit that makes it
survive. The Spirit-filled Christian is moving in the plan of God, and he's producing divine good. The carnal Christian is moving outside the plan
of God, and he's producing human good. He's a carnal Christian because he has known sin that he has not confessed. Both Christians may be doing the
identical thing: one for which God will reward; and, the other for which He will not. Indestructible works are motivated by the Holy Spirit.
Destructible works are motivated by Satan. One set of works brings glory to God. The other brings glory to man. Worthy works stem from a spiritual
maturity structure, while unworthy works stem from the patterns of the old sin nature. Indestructible words are the product of divine viewpoint.
Destructible works are the product of human viewpoint.
The Apostle Paul himself, in 1 Corinthians 9:27, said he was very very much concerned lest after he should have preached and taught others, he
himself should be disapproved relative to his service. The Judgment Seat of Christ will be immediately after the rapture. Luke 14:14 says that
reward is associated with resurrection. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 says that the Christian's resurrection is part of the rapture. Therefore, the reward
must come with the rapture. Revelation 19:7 shows that when the church returns with Jesus Christ at the Second Advent of Christ, he has already been
rewarded. That verse (and I'll let you look that up on your own) speaks about the righteousness of the saints. It should be translated as plural: the
righteousnesses of the saints, because this is referring to divine good. The righteousness of the saints would refer to the righteousness which
Christ imputes to us. This is our works that we come back wearing.
And the rewards are associated with "that day" (1 Corinthians 4:5, 2 Timothy 4:8, Revelation 22:12). And that day is the rapture. So the rewarding
takes place immediately after the rapture during the tribulation period.
I want to show you what the problem is that faces you and me in this issue of producing human and divine good. We have seen that everybody is going
to face the music concerning this thing. We have seen that some are going to be disappointed with loss, while others are going to be delighted with
gain. There is no reason that anybody should have to go to heaven and discover that most of your Christian service was hay, wood, and stubble. If
you understand how your being functions, and you have enough Bible doctrine in your human spirit, you will be able to be productive of divine good.
The Soul
We have in our souls a mind. We also have emotions. And here's where the problem comes. We also have volition; that is, we have a will. This will
has two poles. One is positive. One is negative. One says, "Yes" to God. The other says, "No" to God. The side that says yes does so under the
filling of the Holy Spirit. The side that says no says so under the direction of the old sin nature. Beneath the soul we have the human spirit. The
human spirit has in it full knowledge.
Now here's what happens. Your mind under this condition is in control. Do you understand that? It is running things.
So your mind tells your emotions what to do relative to temporal things. Your mind tells your emotions what to do relative to spiritual things. It
tells your emotions what to do on the basis of doctrine, and the result is that it also directs your will. Your mentality is in full charge of your
soul, and this is how God designed you to function. Out of the directions to your will will come your actions, as a result of what your mind moved
your emotions and your will to do.
However, you may follow another course. You may listen to doctrine, and you will understand it. Then you reject
the doctrine that you have received. You go negative. So it comes down to the negative side. The minute it does that, the old sin nature leaps up
like a raging lion and it takes over. It puts your emotions into gear, and your emotions on the temporal and on the spiritual side of life take over.
These emotions then take over your mentality. The result is that your emotions now direct your will, and thus your actions. And when your emotions
direct your soul, you have blanked out divine guidance. You cannot produce one ounce of divine good when emotion runs your life. And when emotions
take over, you are out of the will of God.
Satan wants to run you through emotions. If he can, you're out here cranking out your little human good.
Instead of cranking out divine good that God has for you, you are squandering your life. This is the emotional control of the soul. This is what
leads to tongues. This is what leads to healings. You can't imagine the inanity that people will come to whose souls are controlled by their
emotions. They will justify everything with, "I just feel this is right. I just feel I should do this." The Bible is full of examples of leaders and
individuals who were run by their emotions, and they destroyed themselves and those whom they led.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1971
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