Darren Tappouras - Class 3: Saved Yet so as by Fire

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Well, good morning, everybody. Excellent. Thanks, Dane, for that. Just a warning, I'm starting to lose my voice. That's probably Dane's fault for yakking all night, but we'll persevere nonetheless. In our first session yesterday, we introduced the concept of the two different views on the judgment seat, probably the two most dominant views that we have in the brotherhood about the judgment seat. We said there's a concept we called the short view that was based on grace and recognition by our Lord, and contrasted that to a view we called the long view, which is sort of a view that involves looking at our works and our life actions and arriving at some sort of verdict as a result of that. And we said, well, which is a view that we think is supported by scripture? And in fact, both views have a lot of support and a lot of underlying sort of evidence in the Bible to support them. So what we have attempted to do is reconcile those views together into a model of the judgment seat that is consistent with all those different verses, that they all can be read into it and make sense. So we said we want to reconcile a number of concepts this week together. We want to reconcile things like the parables, for example. One parable says that everyone gets the same reward, a penny a day, and another parable says, well, there's proportional rewards. People get different rewards based on the results they've achieved or what they've done in their life. And we said, well, how are we going to tie that in? We looked at trying to reconcile things like

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   the process of the judgment seat. The sheep and the goats parable indicates it's a sort of culling process that takes place very early, whereas the parable of the pounds and the cities, or the miners, as one translation has, indicates an account-giving process. That takes much longer and goes into much more detail. So we want to try and reconcile those as well. And this is our little objective. At the end of our week together, I'm going to try and get everyone here to contribute to trying to reconcile these concepts. Now this is the Apostle Paul himself. And in 2 Timothy, he says, and speaks with absolute confidence that there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me in that day. Absolute confidence that the judge will give him this crown. And yet, 1 Corinthians 4, he says, I can't, I don't really know what the judge is going to say about my life and the things that I've done until the day arrives. And you think, well, how do we reconcile those?

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   But we can and we will, and we'll get to that as we go through. So we suggested yesterday that instead of these two views being sort of competing views, they are in fact different stages in the process of the judgment seat. And they both serve a purpose. And that's really where we want to head now and look at the purpose that both of these stages or phases, whatever word we want to use, achieve. So there is, we believe, a short event where we are accepted or rejected in a, based upon grace and something that is not to do with our works necessarily.

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   It's because of our, the fact that we are in Christ and the fact that God recognises us as such. And then our life is reviewed and we're going to talk about that in our subsequent studies as to why that happens. So we also made this suggestion that the judgment seat is not a verdict based process. It's not a binary result sort of thing. Yes, you're in and no, you're out. You know, it's, if there's something, there's more layers to it than that. It's, it's more, it's more complex than that. And there's, there's more nuance than just a in and out sort of result. Um, we suggest that it is the final phase in the whole process of God manifestation, the final phase of our development when God is bringing many sons to glory. It's the final icing on the cake. It's the final part of that process that God has begun in us and he finishes it there through Christ. And we're presented faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. Now, just in case you're thinking a lot of these ideas, some of them may sound novel to you, you may not have heard some of them before, but I'm going to be at pains to emphasise throughout the course of our week. They're not, they're not sort of ideas that I've just come up with and made up myself. I've researched literature of the truth and Christadelphian magazine, testimony magazine. I've, I've scoured the brotherhood looking for ideas on the judgment seat. And, and while I know it's a little bit boring to do this, but I'm going to, from time to time, put up extracts from books by, by Christadelphians, uh, and, and just give

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   you an insight to what other, uh, brethren have written about this subject to show you that it's not just something I'm making up to suit my personality or my stage of life or what I'm trying to sort of make a point. These are, these concepts are, uh, well and truly entrenched, I think, and, and, and, and have been spoken of before. So when I quote these brethren, I'm not necessarily endorsing these brethren or saying that I'm a, I'm a fan of any of these brethren whatsoever or in any way. I'm just trying to show that there is, there is other people out there who've looked at the subject and sort of come to similar conclusions.

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   This is, um, an extract from brother H.P. Mansfield. And, um, I suppose he would, he would represent a particular perspective or view in the brotherhood. And I just found it interesting that he made a comment about the purpose of the judgment seat, which I think is, is, is quite appropriate. And, and, uh, and then I'm going to look at people like, you know, Harry Whittaker and others and say, show that there is a bit of a consistent idea coming from different, different, from brethren, from different corners of the vineyard, if you want to use that phrase or from different, um, perspectives. So, um, brother H.P. Mansfield writes in this article, is the judgment seat necessary? That's the heading of his article. And he asks the question, is it not a clumsy contrivance to set up a judgment seat? Question mark. So it seems a bit clumsy from, it's, it's very, it's very human, isn't it? To have a judgment seat where you call people in and check out what they've done. It just sounds from God's, you know, talking about God and his infinite knowledge. It sounds a bit, a bit clumsy. He says, um, does not Yahweh already know the righteous from the wicked? Question mark. You know, isn't that? That's a fair question.

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   Does Christ have to review our lives to determine whether we're worthy of reward or not? Is that, does that really need to happen? He says, many speak like this and thus give evidence that they do not appreciate, and I've got underlined, this is my underlining here, the real purpose of the judgment seat. Actually, the appearance of believers before the judgment seat is the final act of mercy on the part of a gracious God designed to fit them for the kingdom. Sort of what I've been saying up to this point. If we look inwards, we will recognize that we are not fit for association with Christ or for the bestowal of divine glory. We are conscious of our failings. We constantly sin, often in the same way. True, we bear these up to the Father and plead his forgiveness and strive to correct our faults, but then again, in off-guarded moments, our weakness is often made manifest.

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   Moreover, this is an important point, this is important, and I'm going to sort of, sort of go on about this point a little bit through our studies, but I'm just sort of showing it's not just my point, there are others have come to this conclusion. We're not always cognizant of our weaknesses. If we believe that we are, let us consider our brethren. Do we not observe faults that they reveal?

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   Question mark. It is so easy to see failings in others, so difficult to recognize them in us. Exclamation mark. The appearance of us all before the judgment seat of Christ will reveal us for what we are in the sight of God. How does Yahweh accomplish this? It is a process that begins when a person first comes to a knowledge of the truth in Christ Jesus and will continue until he stands before the judgment seat of Christ. By this process, flesh is humbled and the individual's character is perfected for the bestowal of life eternal. I just think that that really, in a way, captures some of the things that we're going to talk about this week together. The judgment seat is not just a clumsy contrivance.

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    It seems to be very primitive, really, the concept of a judgment seat. It's something that we have in our own legal systems, our puny, sort of finite human legal systems, have this judgment, have a judgment seat or have some sort of court process. Why would God need to do that? It's really the purpose behind it that we need to get a handle on that makes sense of it. God doesn't need to do it for himself.

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    God doesn't need to do it as a culling process or anything. There's no need for God to have to delve into these things, but it's really for us. The benefit is ours and God is fine-tuning us and developing us and perfecting us for the final part of the process that he first called us to to begin with.

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    So hopefully that might help set some context. What we're going to do now is sort of drill down a little bit, as we said, and look at some of these verses a bit more slowly, and I want you to first turn to 1 Corinthians 3, that Dane read for us this morning, and it's probably the closest we have to a judgment seat chapter in the Bible.

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    As I said, there's not many, and there's only these little references tossed through other passages and other parts of the Bible that we have to go on, but here we've got a bit of an exposition, if you like, or a bit of a commentary that we can delve into. Now, the background to this chapter is, I suppose many of us are aware of this, that the immaturity that the first century believers had, particularly here in Corinth, was manifested in a number of ways, but here what is being dealt with is the fact that they stood behind leaders. And so they would get behind these champions or their leaders, and they'd say, you know, I'm a Paul man, I'm a Paul. Another one would say, well, I'm of Apollos, and another one would say, well, I'm of Cephas or Peter, and they'd sort of divide up into these factions. And Paul here says that he's really, really immature, really mature, and he's going to show why it's immature, to try and stand behind a leader, and try and think that if you stand behind a leader, that somehow some of his goodness or glory or grandeur or spirituality or whatever somehow rubs off on you. Because that's sort of what's, that's sort of behind the psychology of it, isn't it? The stand behind a leader is say, I'm of Paul, I'm like him, I'm as good as him, I'm basically him, and I'm with him, and so I sort of get the benefits that he would as well. So Paul hits this on the head very clearly and very quickly. He says, verse 4, or verse 3, he says, he calls it carnal here in the authorised version. He says,

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    you are carnal. And there's this envy and strife that's going on, divisions. It's carnal. It's human. It's not divine sort of thinking. And then verse 4, he says, while one says, I'm of Paul, another says, I'm of Apollos. That's just immature human sort of thinking, this sort of partisan sort of way of approaching your religion. And he asks a question in verse 5 then, who's Paul, really, in the big scheme of things?

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    Who's Apollos? They're not great figureheads. They're just workers on behalf of God. They're doing a job. Yes, they might be gifted in this particular job or have the ability to carry it out, but at the end of the day, they're just brethren doing a job. And he says, who are Paul and Apollos? But they're just ministers or servants, really, as that word means, by whom ye believed, who sort of introduced the truth to you, even as the Lord gave to every man. Now, this little phrase, every man, is the key to this passage. He's going to say, it's not being behind a leader that's important or that Jesus really will care about at the judgment seat. He doesn't care what leader you follow or what faction you belong to.

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    It gets down to every man, what you've done as an individual. That's important. And that's this every man. If you're interested, you might want to underline it in the text because it stands out and it helps us understand what's being said. Every man there in verse 5. Every man appears in verse 8. And even his own is another sort of similar concept, his own reward. And then again, in verse 8, his own labor. Then in verse 10, at the end of verse 10, every man, take heed how he builds. Then in verse 12, any man. So you can see this concept. Verse 13, every man. At the end of verse 13, every man again. Verse 14, any man. And then verse 15, if any man. So I don't think I'm overemphasizing the importance of that little phrase in this chapter. Any man, every man. So it's drilling down to forget Paul and Apollos and trying to be part of their entourage. It's everyone's individual responsibility to grow spiritually. And that's what's going to be looked at at the judgment seat. Now, let's just move our way through the chapter. He initially, to illustrate this point, he initially uses the metaphor of a field or a garden to try and explain what the different roles of people are in contributing to spiritual growth. He says, because he's Paul, of course, he's one of the, so the faction leaders that have been used. So he says in verse 6, I have planted an Apollos, one of the other guys that you're sort of standing behind in these different factions, he's watered. And in a way, that's interesting because both of

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    those men have different talents. And Paul seems to be a good earthbreaker. He can go to a new city and a new town and he can introduce the gospel in a brand new environment. Apollos was apparently a very good orator and he was able to come along and help build up and motivate people and give good exhortation and comfort to people as a speaker. So they were both just workers for God. Maybe their roles were slightly different. Paul would break new ground. Apollos would come and give comfort and exhortation. But by and large, they'll just servants of God carrying out a role. He says in verse 6, I've planted, Apollos watered, but, and this is really important for us to comprehend this, and in fact, this is going to be one of the sort of expositional bases of our whole week together. God gave the increase, that God made the plant grow. The miracle of growth is not really, and this is in the natural realm as well, the guy who throws the seed out and the guy who waters the paddock, they're not really doing anything too miraculous, but the miraculous bit is this dead seed springs to life and grows. And that's us in this analogy here, this metaphor here. God gave us the growth.

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    And I want us to think about the reality of that. When we come into Christ, a miracle happens. It really does. And I think this is really important for us to comprehend. When we come into Christ, we become a saint. God's word springs up in us. There's all those metaphors about the word of God taking root and growing in us. God is born in us in that sense. And it's not just theory, it really happens. Just like the plant grows in the field, when we come into Christ as a miracle takes place. Now sometimes, you know, the impression I got, it might be just because I'm a bit slow or whatever, but when I grew up in Sunday school and as a young person, the impression I got was when you got baptised, it was like you qualified for the Olympics. You hadn't really achieved anything, but you just got into the game. You're allowed to compete. And then your life in the truth was this, we often use the term, a journey or a probation. And it was up to, once you got in the game, then you eventually achieved the medal at the end of it, or you got the reward at the end.

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    And there's a flaw in that analogy. Yes, there are phrases in the Bible that talk about our journey and that we're on a journey or on a growth. And probation is one of those terms Dr. Thomas uses a lot in Elpis Israel, for example. But there's a flaw in that. I mean, it's quite right in its proper context, but the way I perceive that was quite wrong. When the plant grows in this garden, whoever watered and planted, whether it was the brother who took me through for baptism or, you know, the auntie and uncle who gave me a really good spiritual example to follow, they all contributed to this birth, but the growth came from God. It was a miracle.

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    And I became a son of God when his word sort of was born in me, even though it was faint at the time. I still was a son of God. At that moment of conversion and baptism, I became a son of God. And there was a miracle that occurred in that. We can't underplay that. You know, the idea of probation, look, there's an element of truth in it. You know, when a young police officer, you know, leaves the academy, he's a probationary constable. He still carries a gun. He still goes, he can still book people. He's still a policeman, but he's on this period of probation that says, well, if he does something that's really crazy and, you know, fires a gun into a crowd of people, then he'll probably be asked to leave the force. He went past at the end. But nonetheless, he's still a policeman. You know, it's not like we say, well, he's only on probation. He's not a real policeman. He is. And as flawed as that example might be, I'm trying to get across to the point that we are saints right now. And Ephesians and Romans 8 and all those wonderful chapters emphasise that point. Anyway, so that's not the main point of what we're getting to this morning, but it's just something that's going to come up again in our studies as we go through.

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    So God gives the increase. And then it says in verse 7, so that neither is he that plants anything. That's really, he's only, he's sort of just a vehicle of God, really. Neither he that waters is anything. The guy that comes along and gives us some good motivation in our life, really, he's just a, he's just an instrument of God. We shouldn't stand behind him and say, I'm with him because he's a good speaker or he knows all these quotes or whatever. They're just, they're just people that God's using to help your growth. But the real miracle is God's.

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    It says, but, and he repeats this phrase from verse 6, but God gives the growth, gives the increase. You see, so it's, our spiritual birth is due to God. It's real. Now, he says in verse 8, he that plants and he that waters, that's Paul and Apollos, they're working together and they're, they're carrying out a job. They are one. But every man, now this is really important.

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    Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Okay. So it's not about what faction you belong to. It's you will receive your own reward according to your own labor. And then he brings this, this part of the metaphor to a head in verse 9, for we are laborers together with God, me and Apollos. We're one, just little work. We're working together. Yes, we might have different skill sets or different, you know, roles, but we're still one unit working together.

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    Don't divide us up. But you are God's husbandry. Now that's what the A.V.'s got. Any other translations of a better rendition of husbandry? Verse 9. God's field. That's, that's really the best one, I think. God's field, God's farm, God's garden, if you like. We're God's garden. So all of us here are little plants that are springing up in God's garden. God's miraculously grown us in his garden. Yes, he had other brethren and sisters involved in that whole process of our spiritual growth and conversion, but God's the one who made us grow in this garden. So that's a, it's a beautiful metaphor, isn't it? And it really puts the perspective of, you know, not, not, not sort of looking up too much to those people that God uses, but looking to God himself as the originator of that miracle.

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    But now he leaves the metaphor of the garden, because the metaphor of the garden is powerful, but there are some other intricacies that he wants to introduce to this story, to this, this narrative. So he moves from that metaphor of the garden and he says, you are God's husbandry, you're God's garden, but you are also God's building. And now we're going to, the metaphor will change into this from an agricultural metaphor. Now we're going to change into a sort of architectural sort of construction metaphor of a building, but it's the same argument that's coming through dealing with the same problem and the same issue. So, so keep that in mind as well. So he says, um, you are God's building at the end of verse nine, according to the grace of God, which has given me as a wise master builder. So now he's not just a planter of seed, which he was in the first metaphor. Now he's actually a builder, a master builder. He says, I have laid the foundation. That's, that's equivalent to planting the seed. If you, if you want to use, use that. And another has built there upon. Um, but he makes this point again, verse the end of verse 10, every man, let every one of us take heed how we build there upon.

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    Now he's going to go into the foundation and tell us a bit more about that in verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So Paul says, I've laid this foundation. And in a sense, in the foundation, if you want to compare the two metaphors, the foundation becomes equivalent to or synonymous with the garden of God. So we're going to just try and transpose those ideas. So we're little plants in God's garden.

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    One, let's move to the next metaphor where we're impregnated into a foundation, if you like. This foundation is Jesus Christ. But where the other metaphor sort of stopped there, this metaphor says, yep, you're in Christ in the foundation, but there's a process that's going to continue on in your life of building and you're going to build your life on, on that foundation. So it goes a little bit further and brings our involvement into it a bit more starker than does the plant foundation, which relies totally on God. So we'll see the differences we go through. I hope I'm making sense. So he says in verse 10, therefore, he says, I'm the master builder. I've laid the foundation and other builds thereon. Let every man take heed how he builds. I've already read that. Sorry. Verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay in that, which is Christ. Verse 12. Now, if any man build upon this foundation and he lists in descending order, a list of building material in descending order, I mean of value and quality. And he says gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble. Now notice he doesn't say, he doesn't say end in there. I think this is interesting. He doesn't say as we're building our house. So we're all impregnated into this foundation, which is Christ. In our life, then we build on that foundation. He doesn't say some of us build gold houses. Some of us build silver houses. The reality is all our houses are pretty much a mixture. We all have, as we build in the truth in our lives in Christ, we build sometimes

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    with gold, sometimes with silver, sometimes with precious stones, sometimes with wood, sometimes with hay and sometimes with stubble. And it's just a, you know, they're just listed there rather than saying that we build our whole house out of those things. And then what happens is we build our house during our life in Christ. And then at a stage in the future, it says in verse 13, our work's going to be inspected, examined and actually put to the test. And he says in verse 13, every man, is that word again? Every man's work shall be made manifest. Now that word is a real special judgment seat word. We're going to come back to that probably maybe Thursday. That word's the word fanaru. And this word pops up in nearly every judgment seat verse. This word fanaru is a very special word. We'll come to it later on. But it means to be revealed or opened up, if you like, or to be unclothed and made naked and all these different concepts around that word. So our work, which is our house that we're building on the foundation of Christ, will be manifest, will be opened up for examination.

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    And it says, for the day shall declare it. Now in some translations, I think NIV, etc., the day is there in capital, you know, capital T and D. The day, it's really got the concept of this is the day of judgment. It's a phrase that runs through the Old Testament, the day of God, the day of God Almighty. You know, this is the day. So at some stage in the future, there will be an examination of the house that we have built in our personal life. And that day will declare it because it shall be revealed. It's another interesting Greek word, apocalypse.

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    It'll be revealed by fire. Our house will be made known and exposed by fire. And the fire shall try. That word try is another word, another judgment seat word. It means to examine. So the fire is going to examine every man's work of what sort it is. So a house is going to be, and I'll try to illustrate some of these points. So here's the house. The foundation is Jesus Christ and we are in him. As I said, that's not something we've done that we can take credit for really. That was done when we were baptized or we were converted and the word of God came into our lives. It was like when God gave the increase and the plant sprung up. That's a miracle. You know, the plant springing up. That is us being placed upon and built into the very foundation of Christ. No credit to us. That's a work of grace, isn't it?

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    Secondarily though, in our life, we build upon this foundation and we can build using gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay and stubble. So we call, just for the sake of description here, we're calling the house the superstructure. It's the bit above the foundation and the foundation is the substructure. Now whose work is the substructure? I think we've made that very clear, hopefully. That's God's work. That's the work of Christ and our conversion, our calling, you know, all those things. That's God's work that he's done. That's a work of grace.

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    The building on top is our work. And it says that very, I said that in verse 13, let me just remind myself what it says. Every man's work. So this is not God's work. This is our own work. We'll be tried. As the end of verse 13 says, every man's work of what sort it is.

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    So our work's going to be examined. And then verse 14 says, as a result of this examination, we'll come back to that in a minute. As a result of this examination, verse 14, if any man's work abide, it says in the AV, I know other translations have remain. If any man's work remain after this fire is applied, which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. Now reward's another word we're going to explore through this week. So there's going to be a reward that happens if our work survives. But verse 15, if any man's work is burned, he shall suffer loss. Now I'm just going to try and try and illustrate this. This is Darren's house, my house. Okay.

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    Don't know if you can all see that. So Darren's house is built into this foundation. Can everyone see that foundation? It's a serious brick picked up at Bunnings. Okay. It's fallen apart here. So there's a pretty strong foundation and there's a house that's built on top of that foundation. Darren's house. Okay. This is the house that I've built in my life. Is this house built with gold, silver, precious stone, or is it built with stubble and hay and wood? You can see gold and silver and precious stones are sort of rare things, aren't they? They're not everyday items.

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    They're rare. They're precious. And things like hay, wood and stubble are things you find laying around. They're sort of everyday commodities that you see everywhere. So have I built my house with things that are precious? Things that are, in God's eyes, are really valuable and precious? Or have I built it with just common everyday building materials? We'll find out.

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    Kids, do not do this at home. Right. Well, parents can. That's right. So we're just going to test this out. I think it's MasterChef, don't you? All right. So at the judgment seat, I go to the judgment seat and my life is put under the torch, if you like, by the fire that it talks about there in 1 Corinthians. So we apply the torch and see, does it remain? Does it burn? Or is it substantial? Is it gold and silver that will remain? And I say, look, I think there's some things that are precious. There's things that are made of silver and gold. For example, I flew all the way to Perth to do some studies. You think that would be a... I'm starting to thank you. You think that would be a gold, precious stone sort of thing? And the torch is applied?

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    And it's like, well, you just did that so, you know, everyone thinks how spiritual you are. You're just trying to... So what you thought was precious and worthwhile and gold, the torch reveals it was really just wood and stubble. It was just for my own ego or for my own, you know, for my own recognition. And so people would say how spiritual I am. And there's, you know, there's no doubt there's truth in that. So the torch really goes through and looks at all my things. You know, I think I'm very hospitable. I invite people home all the time and I'm a hospitable guy. The torch gets applied to that and really that's just because you like food, you know.

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    And you're hoping to get invited back to their place for a barbie. So what you thought was really, really spiritual. Now this house is surviving more than I'd planned. So I'm going to keep hammering away. It's more resilient than I thought. So we'll just come on, burn. So what happens... Just run out of gas there. I'm sure that's not going to happen at the real one. Let's just pretend that house is burnt to the ground. This is Darren's house.

39. 31:38

    Now, where do I stand here? Keep an eye on that for me. There is some water there at hand if we need it. Now, at the end of the day, have I built with gold and silver? So let's just go to look at what that might mean. You know, gold, as I said, is precious and something that's valuable and rare. And that would be, you know, the things that Jono's talking about this weekend, the Sermon on the Mount and that approach to life, which is, you know, counter intuitive. When you love your enemies and you turn the other cheek, they're sort of...

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    They're rare things. There's a fire going over there and the glasses aren't quite, you know, linking it all together. So it's a bit scary. They're things that aren't natural, aren't they? To love your enemy, to turn the other cheek, to go two miles when you're asked to go one. All these things, they're rare commodities that if I follow, I'm building my life upon.

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    So, you know, gold, silver, precious stones, you know, where I've been persecuted or I've had things set against me and I've suffered quietly. I haven't sort of sort of gone off in a rage and had a major hissy fit. Or I've turned the other cheek when something bad's been done to me. When I've gone unrewarded for things that I've done in God's service and no one's noticed and no one's even given me any credit for it, well, that would be gold and silver. And where I've showed obedience to God, you know, resisted temptation, where I've resisted temptation and gone against my natural feelings that are selfish and self-centred, that is gold. You know, that's gold. We have a saying in New South Wales, that's gold.

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    I don't know if you say that over here as much. Where I've shown love to others, that's gold as well. However, on the negative side, I could be filled with wood, hay and stubble. These are common things. You find them laying around the camp here, don't you? Wood, hay and stubble. They're just anywhere. And it's just how everyone lives their life. It could be worldliness and just wanting to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, as Hebrews 11 mentions. It could be legalism and tradition. They're just human motives, but clothed with some sort of spiritual cloak. Smugness, bitterness, envy, bad habits, you know, not fighting against temptation and just giving into it. Undeserved reputation, unconfessed sin that I might have.

43. 33:56

    These are all wood, hay and stubble. And so when the torch is applied to my life at the judgment see what's left, what's there that may be left after the torch is applied. And you think, well, this is still a pretty scary prospect. And it is daunting. And we're going to talk about the reality of that. But let's just follow through what Paul says about this process.

44. 34:18

    Verse 14 again. If any man's work survives, which he has built there upon, he's going to receive a reward. We'll come back to that. But verse 15, if any man's work shall be burned. Now this word burned, this word burned, it doesn't mean singed. It doesn't mean just, because you could imagine, well, all our houses are going to be singed to a degree. We've all got mixed motives in our life and things that are different. This word actually is, if you look up Strong's Concordance, katokai, means to burn down. This is Strong's definition. To burn to the ground, that is to consume wholly and burned up utterly. And all these other translations, from the NIV to the Amplified Bible, they use burned up to capture the real meaning of that word.

45. 35:05

    So our house can be totally burnt to the ground at the judgment seat. We will suffer loss of rewards, and we will receive a reduced reward, if you like. But this is the crux of our study this morning. He himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Now this is an interesting concept, isn't it? And for some of you who have never looked at this before, it's probably going to be, you're going to resist it, because it just, again, sounds a bit counterintuitive, and it sounds a bit against what we've always been led to believe.

46. 35:44

    So at the judgment seat, I could have my house burnt to the ground and still be saved. Now, how is, how is looking at this little picture here, how come, on what basis could my house be burnt, and yet I'm still saved, in that little analogy? Why, anyone want to hazard a... The brick, the brick, that's it, that's awesome. This torch did nothing to the brick, didn't affect the brick at all, couldn't affect the brick. The brick's impregnable, the brick's eternal, it's there, it's in Christ, and we are in Christ, we are in the foundation. By grace, we're in that foundation.

47. 36:21

    Yes, we're expected to build upon that foundation, and that will be examined, and that will be judged, in a sense, and we'll have to give account for what we've done, and the torch will reveal it, and our motives will be opened. But at the end of the day, even if, in the case of our house being burnt to the ground, we are still saved, yet so as by fire. There's a refining process that will take place to prepare us to get rid of all the dross, to get rid of the wood, to get rid of the hay, get rid of the stubble, and prepare us for immortality. And that's a very powerful little word picture there.

48. 36:55

    Again, just to show that this is just not... I'm not making this up myself. This is from Brother Alfred Norris in his Acts and Epistles book. He's the brother who wrote the Gospel of Mark and the book on Peter. And he comments on 1 Corinthians 3. He says, There will be a special blessing for those who have been found to have built durably.

49. 37:14

    So if you're built with good quality materials in your life, you'll get a special blessing. Not just immortality, not just eternal life. I want to say just, that's probably not the right word. Not only immortality. You'll receive a special blessing. But he says, and this is a bit of underline, even for the remainder, salvation is not to be denied.

50. 37:35

    But there will be the inevitable shame and sorrow of having one's faults exposed by the purifying fire of the Lord's presence. It seems plain that no one can be made perfect on that day without his residual faults being made known to him and admitted and purged. Most of God's servants will have blemishes uncorrected beforehand, which must be brought to light.

51. 38:01

    And he quotes here in Luke 12. We might look at that tomorrow about some will receive few and many stripes. That's an interesting concept we don't think about a lot. And that, as I said, from Brother Norris. So, this is an interesting, and this is probably, as I said, one of the most detailed judgment seat pictures we really have in the whole of Scripture.

52. 38:20

    And it's quite an interesting perspective. Saved, even though the house itself doesn't survive. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must say there is another way of reading this chapter, which obviously I don't agree with necessarily, but I suppose, and you can see why there's this other view on it, I suppose.

53. 38:45

    And it's dealt with in Reston Scriptures by Brother Abel, because he's dealing with people using Scripture and taking it to a wrong extreme, if you like. And so he's combating things like universal salvation and immortal emergence and things, these sort of doctrines that he's trying to deal with. So, he gives a different interpretation, which I've heard other brethren use.

54. 39:10

    I haven't heard anyone actually write, I haven't seen it written, but I've heard it spoken. It says that this chapter is not talking about everyday people like you and me. It's talking about teachers and builders, and it's talking about their work. So, the teacher could go, you know, I could go to a town and preach the truth, and at the end of the day, everyone could leave it and my work could be burnt to the ground, and I don't have any success in that work, but I'm still saved, even though my work is all burnt up.

55. 39:41

    Can you see what I'm saying? That's an alternate way. Now, I don't believe, first I don't believe it follows the flow of the chapter, and I don't believe it answers the actual questions of standing behind Paul and Apollos and Cephas and all that. So, I don't agree with it. I'll just put it there for you, just to show that there is another view.

56. 40:01

    So, in Rest of Scriptures, Brother Abel says, So, my house is how good my converts are that I've brought to the truth. So, if a man's work abides, and he says, if his converts continue on to eternal life, then he's rewarded by seeing them in the kingdom, but if they're rejected, he suffers this sense of loss because his converts are rejected, and he sees his labour all come to naught.

57. 40:32

    Now, I can see where he's coming from, and I can see why he wants to do that, because you look at the problem he's dealing with, but I don't think it's really a fair representation of what's being said here in 1 Corinthians 3, and hopefully, if you follow through that argument, follow through exactly what the problem is that Paul's dealing with, you'll see, I think, the interpretation I've given, and that Brother Norris sort of arrives at as well, and other Bible commentators, that it is about every man's responsibility to build, and that's really what I think it's about.

58. 41:08

    All right, we'd better move on. The next sort of body of evidence we're going to look at... No, actually, here's another... No, no, I've already read that one. I suppose some of you would have already seen and thought about this connection with 1 Peter that talks about our faith being tried by fire, that is a process that happens in our life now, that there's fire, which in a sense is trial and problems in our life, that is developing us and refining our faith, and that is so true, but the judgment seat is like an accelerated process of that happening to us in a much more sort of intense way, that that fire is applied and our character is refined.

59. 41:51

    And it has to be sort of sped up, if you like, and finalised before we're given immortality. As 1 Peter says, The trial of your faith being much more precious and of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found... And look at the positiveness of this. So our faith is found unto praise, honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

60. 42:11

    You see, again, the positive picture of our appearance before Christ using those words. Okay, we're going to finish up now by thinking about another body of evidence on the judgment seat story based upon this concept of a book that runs through the Bible. It starts right back in Exodus and goes right to the end of the Bible, Revelation 21, this idea of a book.

61. 42:36

    It's called the Book of Life. Now I'm going to ask the question, Do you think the Book of Life, it can either be a book of lives, that if your name's in it, you're in the Book of Life and you're in God's life plan, or is it a book of your life, where it's got a book of Darren, where all my life is recorded in this book.

62. 43:02

    So it's either a list of people who are going to be through God's grace in his kingdom, the Book of Life, so it's a book of names or lives that are going to be saved, or is it a book of my life, a book of the details of my life. Now I'm going to just ask everyone, just quick, just your first response, do you think it's a book of life with a list of names?

63. 43:23

    Put your hand up. Okay. Do you think it's a book of my life with my life in it? Put your hand up for that. Not that many. Sorry? Oh, you've jumped, you've gone, my good, yeah, yeah, well, that's it. Okay, good, good point, good point. We'll come to that, we'll come to that.

64. 43:39

    That's right. No, no, yeah, you're spot on. That's good, that's good. So, as I said, we've got this, the Book of Life, which we will say is the book of, those in it will be in the, will be in the kingdom, the Book of Life, if your name's the Book of Life, or a Book of Lives, which details all our lives that God has in a book.

65. 44:01

    Could call it the days of our lives, but no one would know what I'm talking about, of course, like sand through an hourglass. yes, had a few days off school myself over the years.

66. 44:16

    So, so let's, let's, let's try and work out, now we haven't got time to really look at each of these references, so what I've done to try and speed up this process, here's a question, is it a book of names of those saved? Any book, oh yeah, so I've got to link it back to, so if it is a book of, if it was a book of names, if your name's in the Book of Life, you are, you are saved, I suppose that, that book, if that was the book, it would sort of support the short view, wouldn't it?

67. 44:43

    You'd say, well, your name's in the Book of Life, it's not too much drama to go, you know, T for Teporus, do, do, do, do, yeah, Jame and Luke, they're goners, but Darren, yes, you're in, okay,

68. 44:56

    short view, if it's a book of my whole life, man, that would be a long thing, you know, you were born in 1966, you went to this school, and here is, you know, no, that's another, too much television references here, so, my life is examined by God, my thoughts, my actions, my motivations, that would support, if it was that book, it would support the long view, wouldn't it?

69. 45:20

    The long view being a detailed examination, so, which one of these books is it, and which then view does it support? Okay, I've put some references up here, and I've just given out some slips to people, this, could you now, those who have the slips, could you look them up for us, because it'll take too long if we all do it, and if we all just listen as they read it, if you could read it nice and loud when we get to it, I want you to say whether you think it's the book of, the book of life, as in your name is in this book and you're saved, or is it the book of lives, talking about the details of your life.

70. 45:52

    So, the first one, oops, Exodus 32, who has that one? Thanks, do you want to read that nice and loud for us? Just the verse, just verse 32 as well. I think that's it. So, listen.

71. 46:16

    Okay, here's the context of the golden calf, and Moses is saying, blot me out of the book which you have written. So, which book do you reckon that is? What's the consensus there? Okay, so, it's the book of, call on this column names, it's the book of those who are in God's book, and you can be blotted out, and that word blotted out, basically means to be erased.

72. 46:37

    So, there are cases where we go into that book of life of baptism, we're God's people, if we're in that book of life, but we can, by our own actions, put ourselves outside that book and have our name erased. So, that's interesting. The next one, Psalm 56, 8, who are we up to there?

73. 46:53

    Thanks. Thou hast taken into account of my wanderings, put my tears in thy Bible, are they not in thy book? Okay, this is a bit interesting. What do you reckon that one is? Lives. It's about your wanderings, your tears, so it's your life events. There's a book that God has, of course, we don't think it's necessarily a literal, you know, carbon-based book.

74. 47:17

    It's, it's, it's, it's, it's in God's infinite memory, however that works. So, there's some mechanism that God has where he records all our, all the days of our lives, to use that phrase again. So, we'll stick that in this column here, life events. Psalm 69, 28. Let them be blocked out of the book of the living, let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

75. 47:39

    Okay, what do you reckon that one is? Okay, that's, that's interesting, isn't it? The, the concept is linked to this idea of citizenship as well, where in a city, back in ancient times, in a city, the cities, the real citizens of the city had their name enrolled in this, in this book, and they then belonged, they had certain status, they had certain rights, and, and, and, and they were differentiated from strangers and sojourners and slaves, et cetera, and they, they, they had this special privilege.

76. 48:07

    In a sense, we're in God's book, we are God's saints, we are his special people, we are, um, his sons, and, and, and it gives us that, that status as well. Psalm 139, this is an interesting one, 39 verse 16, oh, thanks mate. your eyes saw me when I was inside the water, all the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll, before one of them came to a cross.

77. 48:27

    What do you reckon that one is? That's it. That's, that was good because the, the, the King James really butchers that up a fair bit, so that was, that was nice, that, that sort of put it, in the King James got the word continuance, which just means days, basically, if you look at the word, the word just means days, so, um, it's again the book of our, our, our life events.

78. 48:46

    In interesting, Psalm 139 says it was written before we were even born, that, that book, so, you know, try and work that out. Daniel, yeah, Daniel 12 verse 1.

79. 48:56

    At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charged your people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation to that time. For that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. What do you think that one?

80. 49:16

    Again, back to name again. Thank you for that. Malachi 3, this is one we all know, did I give that one to someone? I think we all know that, why don't we look at that one? We know in Malachi 3 that those who fear God, and thought upon his name, a book of remembrance was written for them, and et cetera, so, we'll put that one in that column as well.

81. 49:33

    Luke 10, 20, this is an awesome one. Anyone got that? No? Oh, sorry. Thank you. Now, this is a really interesting one, because this is a story where the apostles got a little foretaste of what would come later on at Pentecost, and they were given some sort of limited Holy Spirit experience, and they were sent off in twos to do miracles.

82. 50:06

    And you can imagine the kudos they got from that. So, they're out there healing people, and healing people that are mentally ill, et cetera, and healing all these people, and they come back, and they're just, when they come back, it says they're overjoyed, they're like, fully pumped up, and big smiles, and they're all so, this is, you know, telling each other, guess what I did, and the whole village came out and saw me do this and that, and they're all sort of excited about it, which is fair enough.

83. 50:27

    And Jesus says, don't rejoice that this, you know, that these diseases are subject unto you that you've had this power. He said, rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven. Okay? Your names are in God's book. And now, think of the stage of their life when this was written. They were still very immature.

84. 50:46

    They still had to desert him at the arrest, and Peter had to deny him, and they still had a long, long, long, long, long way to go in their spiritual development. But even at that point, the very fact that they had joined with Jesus and left their fishing boats, or their seat of custom, or whatever it was, they joined with Jesus, their names were now written in heaven, in God's book, and they were God's special people.

85. 51:09

    They were God's sons. They were saints, and they were then in God's book of life. Not perfect by any means. Not even spiritually mature. They had all sorts of issues and problems, and a lot of growth to go through. But nonetheless, they were in the book. And Jesus says, don't rejoice about the great works you're doing, and your recognition you're getting, and all these sort of things.

86. 51:29

    Rejoice that your name's in heaven. And if we apply that to ourselves, that should be the most incredible thing in our life, when you think about it. That our names, as saints, are written in heaven. That should supersede any achievement, or any recognition, or anything else that you could possibly even imagine. okay, let's quickly move on.

87. 51:48

    Philippians 4.3, actually, I haven't given this one. We'll all turn this one up, if that's all right. Philippians 4, the New Testament. I have given it to you. Sorry. Okay. You can turn it up if you so desire. Sorry, I haven't given that one yet. Sorry, brother. And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other, my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life.

88. 52:14

    Okay, now, the reason this is interesting, thank you for that, the reason this is really interesting, I don't know if you know the backstory, the backstory to Philippians, but there was these two sisters, they seem to be pretty dominant personalities, Euodius and Syntyche, and they seem to be having a bit of a tug-of-war of power in this ecclesia, and that seems to be sort of behind a lot of the appeals that Paul makes for, you know, humility and submitting one to another and all those sorts of things.

89. 52:42

    Now, these two sisters are at each other's throat or fighting, which is a pretty horrible thing, isn't it? It's totally against the Sermon on the Mount principles, totally against the Spirit of Christ, totally against the values that, you know, God would be pleased with, you know, the meek and quiet spirit and humility and meekness, all these things that we know are gold, they're gold and precious stone type building materials, they're building with, you know, with straw that they found under the dog kennel, you know, it's really, it's really based and really, really based up.

90. 53:15

    Yet, yet, when Paul refers to them, he says their names are in the book of life, and this is what I'm trying to, I'm trying to get across, the miracle of conversion, the miracle of baptism, put your name in the book of life, it doesn't mean you're going to be perfect, doesn't mean you're going to get it right all the time, doesn't mean you're not going to go through phases in your life where you totally make mistakes and you have a wrong perspective on your role and your position and how you view others and all sorts of things, you're going to learn through all that and it's a growth and development that God's working with you as children.

91. 53:49

    Doesn't mean you pop in and out of salvation every day when you do something wrong and then when you do something right you pop back into salvation in some sort of in and out sort of process. You are in the book of life as were Euodius and Syntyche with all their little problems.

92. 54:03

    And if you want to read up on this Brother Barling's book, Letter to the Philippians, he says, who are these yoke fellows Paul requests to lend a hand in effecting the reconciliation of Euodius and Syntyche and he talks about this whole verse and about the context of it and who Paul is referring to that these sisters are the ones that Paul is writing about and includes them in the names of those that are written in the book of life.

93. 54:32

    So these sisters with this issue happening were still in the book of life and just keep that in mind. Yes, if they never repented and they... Christ had returned and they were judged before they repented, their house would be burnt to smithereens, wouldn't it? And their house and their superstructure would be consumed but they're still in the book of life.

94. 54:56

    Alright, let's move along. Hebrews 12, did I give that to anybody? Yep. Thank you. Hebrews 12 verse 23. Thank you. The General Assembly and Leisure of the First War and you were registered in heaven. God the Judge of all and the Spirit was just then and was perfect. Okay, that's awesome. That, again, is linking this idea of the citizenship idea where your name was written in this book.

95. 55:19

    Register that you were a citizen of that town and you had certain privileges associated with that. Now, just to finish off, we'll go to the ones in Revelation. Well, we haven't got time to look at all of them but it starts in Revelation and this book of life runs all the way through the book of Revelation.

96. 55:33

    We'll look at, maybe look at the first and the last one. Let's go to Revelation 3 verse 5 and this hopefully will bring it to a bit of a head and link these books together.

97. 55:48

    What appears to be two books together. Revelation 3 verse 5. He that overcomes the same shall be clothed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life but I'll confess his name before my father and before his angels. So, again, there's a bit of a judgment concept there, isn't there?

98. 56:10

    And his name not being blotted out of the book of life and then you can follow all those other ones through if you like in the comfort of your own home. Let's just go to the very last one. Revelation 20. This is quite lovely. So, we're going right to the end of the Bible here.

99. 56:26

    It's Revelation 20. Now, just a bit of context here. This is a judgment seat picture but it's at the end of the millennium. So, it's called the second judgment. So, the first judgment is the one that we will be part of and then there will, of course, be mortals still living in the thousand year period with us as their priests and their kings, etc.

100. 56:51

     And then there's a judgment for them at the end of the thousand years. So, it's not exactly the same picture that relates to us but I'm sure the concepts are similar. Now, he says in verse 12, okay, just while we're reading just keep this in mind. There are books plural mentioned here and there are books singular.

101. 57:13

     So, let's just go through and look at this and put it together. Verse 12, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the books I did that for emphasis just in case you want to know. The books were opened. So, these are plural books. And another book was opened. So, you've got books and another book which is the book of life.

102. 57:42

     And the dead were judged. Where were they judged out of? They were judged out of the things written in the books according to their works. So, the judgment happened and was based upon what they'd done in their life. Their works were judged and examined out of the plural books. The books that make up the life of Darren for example.

103. 58:05

     However, where does the verdict come from in all this? Run your eyes down to verse 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. You see the interaction between these books. The verdict was based on the book singular. The judgment and examination of our lives like the blowtorch on the house out there was based on the books that record our life events.

104. 58:36

     So, try to put this together. We have there books plural as opposed to a book singular. These books are the book of your life. And of course metaphorical concepts of course but they give us an insight into how it all works. The book of your life records your life events. We're judged out of that and yet there's another book called the book of life.

105. 59:01

     Whether your name's in it or not in it is relevant. As we said before, the books would probably correlate to the long view of the judgment seat, that your whole life is examined over the course of your life is examined and dealt with. That would sort of relate to the books plural. The short view, as I said, would gravitate to the book of life and say, well, it's a very easy process to look up a book.

106. 59:26

     The books plural are based on works, as we saw there in, I think it was verse 12, the works are what are judged there in that particular process, but the verdict is based upon the book singular, the book of life. So, the books and what we do and what we've done in our life are related to our actions or to use another term works that we've carried out or done or haven't done, whereas whether we are in or out is based upon grace, our position before God, that we are in his book.

107. 1:00:03

     And I suppose then to link it to yesterday's study, the books plural would sort of relate to the whole talent parable, where we have to give account of what we've done, whereas the book singular relates back to the parable of the sheep and goats, where you're a sheep or you're a goat and the process is very clear.

108. 1:00:23

     And relating it to this little example here with the blow torch, the book of our life and our life events relates to the house that has a torch applied to it and the book singular that we are in and saved by relates to the foundation that we are in as a result of our conversion.

109. 1:00:45

     Hopefully that makes sense. I'm going to finish now, not just pretending. Just to try and illustrate the emotional difference here. You might be not getting it, but let's do a pretend judgment seat. Let's pretend I'm a rich nobleman in ancient Rome.

110. 1:01:09

     You don't mind if you're the subject here. You're a slave. You're Spartacus, you're my slave. And I as a rich nobleman am going to judge you to see whether, and the results are rather extreme, if you're found worthy, I'm going to give you your own farm, your own property. You can take a wife, because you're a slave, you've got no rights, but I'm going to make you a free man, take a wife, have a family, you'll be also a rich man and part of the aristocracy and you'll be elevated to greatness in Rome.

111. 1:01:37

     However, if you're not worthy, I'm going to skin you alive and crucify you and your whole family. That's pretty gross, isn't it? But I'm trying to make extremes here, because the judgmental outcome is pretty extreme when you think about the results. Now, which book I start with really will have a big bearing on your experience here.

112. 1:01:58

     Let's say I'm going to start with the book of your life. Spartacus boy, while you've been working with me, these are the things that have been reported. At a festival we had last week, you pinched about half a kilo of prawns when no one was looking and took them back to your room.

113. 1:02:15

     Okay, try and imagine the emotion that Spartacus is feeling now. All of a sudden it's not going so well. He can see himself writhing in pain, being crucified upside down or whatever, and his family killed before him. It's a pretty horrible prospect. It would be hard to even remain your bowels intact if you want to be really disgusting here, but it's a pretty serious sort of situation.

114. 1:02:38

     I'm trying to just get to the emotions here. It's a pretty thing. But I mentioned also the day after though, you worked a bit longer in the yard and you swept up all the leaves and no one asked you to do that. It was pretty good. It's like, it's a pretty horrible situation.

115. 1:03:03

     Would you agree? Yes, yes. Okay. Yes, master. Okay. I'll switch it around and say, okay, instead of starting with that book, we're going to start with this book.

116. 1:03:15

     Well done, Spartacus. Well done, my boy. Give me a hug. You are worthy and you're going to be part of my family. I'm going to adopt you as my son. Okay. That's pretty nice. However, before we move on, you're going to be running your own farm now. You're going to have responsibilities. You're going to have people looking up to you.

117. 1:03:35

     You're going to have people working for you. There are some things we need to talk about. And I noticed some things that in your life, you lack a little bit of respect for others and you lack, you know, sometimes you're a bit harsh on some of the other workers and whatever, whatever.

118. 1:03:53

     That's getting a bit close, you reckon. Yes, I did a bit of delving into it, you know. And pinching the prawns, you know, that's me really. So I'm projecting there. Hopefully that sort of illustrates it and it changes the whole judgment seat picture a little bit, doesn't it? If we try and see it from that perspective, we try and say, well, yes, there is the sheep and goat scenario.

119. 1:04:17

     I'm not saying that's not daunting. Of course it's daunting. You know, going for a job interview is daunting. That's going to be a serious emotional thing. But it's not the devastating, you know, gut-wrenching emotions that you can only possibly imagine would be the result of a verdict-based process after which your life is examined.

120. 1:04:38

     So hopefully, I know I've mumbled and stumbled all through this this morning, but I hope it makes some sort of sense and I hope it's starting to crystallise a picture of the judgment seat that will get clearer as we look at some other scriptures as well. Thanks for that, everyone.