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I'm gonna get my perch situated, and we'll be off. You can be turning to Hebrews chapter ten, if you would. Hebrews chapter ten. verse thirty two. But call to remembrance the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions, partly whilst you were made a gazing stock, both by the, by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst you became companions of them that were so used.
For you had compassion of me and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Chapter eleven, chapter eleven, verse six. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Verse twenty four, By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had r- respect unto the recompense of the reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that, that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. Now, tonight, we are continuing our studies into the judgment seat of Christ, and we would like to concentrate more on the reward aspect of this judgment in relation to our Christian life, rather than the loss of reward component of it.
Now, you may recall that the last Wednesday night that we were together, we looked at the example of the Jewish Christians in Hebrews chapter ten. And let's just turn back there to Hebrews chapter ten. but in chapter ten, we learned that these Christians, from the very beginning of their salvation experience, underwent, as the writer said, a great fight of afflictions, verse thirty two. Now, because they had accepted and declared openly the name of Christ, their property and their possessions had been taken away from them.
And despite this happening very early on in their salvation experience, they had joyfully received these trials because they knew they had a better and a lasting possession. And we read about these things in verses thirty two through thirty four. Look again, but call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated, after you were born again, you endured a great fight of afflictions, partly while you were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while you became companions of them that were so used.
For you had compassion of me and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven, heaven is not in the original, a better and an enduring substance. However, later at the, at the ti- at the time of the writing of this letter that the writer wrote to these Christians, these Christians were faltering. You may recall that the writer told them in chapter five of Hebrews, in verse twelve that by now, at the time of this writing of this letter, they should have been teachers of the word of God.
But instead, they were in need that one teach them the first principles of the oracles of God. They were in, in need of milk instead of meat. So, in light of these things, the writer urges them to not throw away their confidence in what they had first believed when they were first illuminated. And in verse thirty five, notice, he tells them that this confidence, which was shown by their actions, that is, the endurance of these trials, would indeed have a great recompense of reward.
A great recompense of reward. Now, we understand that this reward will be given at the judgment seat of Christ. And that is the context that verse thirty seven refers to and is coming from. Note verse thirty seven. it says, for yet a little while, and he, that is Christ, that shall come, will come and will not tarry. That verse is not just thrown in there. It had, it is written in the context of the entire passage. So the writer is saying, so the Lord will come, and as we know, shortly after that coming, at the rapture, the judgment seat of Christ will occur.
So the reward at the judgment seat is the backdrop of this passage, that is, the great recompense of reward that he referred to. So we discover that successfully dealing with trials in this life will have reward in the next. And of course, this is borne out by a number of scriptures. You recall that we referred to one of these in James chapter 1 in verse twelve. And there it says, blessed is the man that endureth trials, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
So there is a crown to be won amidst trials, reward in heaven. So, dear ones, when we respond to life's trials in God's way, we will receive a reward in that coming day. It is referred to as a crown of life. Now, starting in verse thirty eight, we see the connection that faith plays in all of these things. Notice verse thirty eight. Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
So, faith and trials do go together. They, in a very real way, work together, that is faith and trials. Now, we as God's children must exercise faith when undergoing trials and afflictions. And this makes perfect spiritual sense, doesn't it? We trust that God will work all of those unpleasant things in this life that come across our way for his glory and for my good.
And as we shall see in chapter eleven, this is the only way to please our God. Indeed, in verse thirty eight here, if we as a child draw back, as a child of God, draw back and do not exercise faith in God, then God says, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now, I believe that if this is the case, then there will indeed be loss of reward in heaven. That is for faith not exercised.
And so in chapter ten, it introduces us to the great chapter of faith in the scriptures, and that, of course, is chapter eleven. Now, we would like to concentrate our thoughts on one man, just one man in that chapter, and that is the great man of God, Moses. Now, keep in the back of your mind what we learned in chapter ten, and that is that our successful dealings with trials in this life will result in reward in heaven and glory brought to God in the here and now.
And as verse thirty five told us, this has a great and glorious recompense of reward. Now, when we come to verses twenty five and twenty six of chapter eleven, turn over there, we see again the connection of trials linked together with the element of faith. Notice in verse twenty five that Moses, by faith, chose to suffer what? Chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the sin involved in staying in Egypt.
Now, there is one thing that we can learn from such a thing concerning the matter of faith, and it is this. Faith is not an easy thing. Now, this we know by experience, don't we? And the word of God emphasizes this truth as well. The scriptures reinforce our experience. In fact, it predicts our experiences. Now, Moses could have had all the riches and honor of Egypt. That would have been very natural and easy for Moses.
But instead, he gave that up for the people of God. Now, that is faith. And as verse twenty six says, and it says he esteemed the reproach of Christ as greater riches. Now, was this an easy thing? Now, you know that it wasn't. However, making it easy on ourselves, well, that's what we do, isn't it? This is the flesh. But this is not faith.
Faith will cost us. It will cost us. Sometimes a great deal. Now, dear ones, this is what faith is. Faith looks at the unknown at first, at first with fear. Faith looks at the unknown at first with fear. But going beyond that and moving ahead, faith by the Spirit of God trusts God, and the fear is turned into bold confidence.
We see this in verse twenty seven. Notice what it says. By faith he, Moses, forsook Egypt, not fearing, not fearing the wrath of the king. For he endured as seeing him, that is God, who is invisible. Do you see how Moses' faith started and then progressed? Now, anyone with any sense would fear angering the Pharaoh of Egypt. Now, this is a man who had no regard for human life.
A man who would not think twice about beheading anyone for the slightest provocation. Now, Moses' faith started with fear, as does ours, but it says there, not fearing the wrath of the king. And what did faith in his God do for Moses? What did it do for Moses? Well, it led him to ignore his own fear and forsake Egypt and take his people with him. That's what it did. So faith overcomes our fears.
Faith overcomes our fears. Now, dear ones, we fear many things. We have many anxieties, many fears, but this is not faith. Understand that faith in God is faith in God's faithfulness, and it overcomes our fears. As verse twenty seven would tell us concerning Moses' faith, it says, as seeing him who is invisible. Moses reckoned on the invisible God, and even though he could not see him and never saw him, he placed his faith and trust in this invisible God.
Now, we must ask the question concerning and regarding the judgment seat of Christ. Will God reward faith? Will God reward faith? Well, f- for the answer to that, notice the last half of verse twenty six. It says, for he, that is Moses, had respect unto what? The recompense of the reward. This is the same phrase, the same phrase used in verse thirty five of chapter ten concerning this writer's exhortation to the same Hebrew Christians, the very same phrase.
He said there, cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Now, Moses himself understood this principle of future reward. He may not have understood it to the degree that the New Testament saint does, but he understood the principle of future reward regarding not only successfully striving amidst trials, but also future reward e- uh, regarding exercising, believing faith.
He understood these. Now, let us seek to understand how this works. Where does faith start? Where does faith start? Well, it starts in the renewed, regenerated mind and in the renewed and regenerated heart. It does not start in our flesh. It begins with the inward man. Now, this we can understand. So, beginning in the heart and in the will, faith is, and I want you to notice carefully this, faith is carried out with visible actions and deeds on our part.
And we know from our studies on the judgment seat of Christ that our deeds and our actions will indeed be reviewed at that judgment. And we see here that Moses is acted on his faith, and the result was his action. Now, will faith exercised in our daily lives be rewarded in the next life? Absolutely it will. Absolutely it will. What does verse six of this same chapter state? It says, but without faith it is impossible to please him.
For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Now, God rewarded us with eternal life when we exercised faith in the atoning death of his son for us. We understand that. But contextually here, you need to understand this.
This pet verse, verse six, refers to a believer's ongoing faith in his Christian experience. This entire chapter deals with such faith, with believers' faith. And it tells us about various men and women in the Old Testament who exercised faith in the way they lived their lives. And I want you to notice verse thirty three. It's all borne out in verse thirty three. Who, the who referring to all the men and women just mentioned, uh, this great number of men and women.
Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and so on, Sarah. All right, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. A reference to Daniel. Now, I want us to think about the implications of this. I want us to look at our own circumstances and consider in what ways and in what matters should I be exercising faith in God?
Is it a health problem? Is it a money problem? Is it a problem at work? Is it an issue of anxiety or fear? I want you to pin it down in your own mind, and I'm depending on the Spirit of God to do that. Now, I want you to understand something. This problem or issue that you and I have, God permitted it, didn't he? Didn't God permit it? Amen. You say yes. Now ask yourself why.
Why? Why did he permit this? Now let's think about this. Is not God giving you and I an opportunity to exercise faith in him? Is he not proving you and me. It could be a large matter, it could be a small matter, it doesn't matter to God. But in either case, God is giving us opportunities to exercise faith and trust in him. Now, if we ignore or neglect these opportunities, or if we do not exercise believing faith in sometimes very small matters.
Let me ask you, what glory has been brought to God? Well, you say none. What re- reward will I receive at the beam of judgment? None. But there will be loss of reward. It says without faith, the writer says, it's impossible to please him. If you don't please God, you're displeasing God. Will that be rewarded? Now, concerning the aspect of reward in relation to our exercising faith in life's circumstances, I want us right now to think about the great value, the great value of that reward.
Now, do you remember in First Corinthians chapter three that one of the imperishable materials that Christians build on, that Christians can produce in their lives, is the very precious metal gold. It's the first one mentioned, isn't it? Gold. Now, certainly gold can represent many things in scripture, but in relation to faith exercised amidst trials, we will see the connection between gold, our trials, and faith. And we're going to see this in First Peter.
Turn over to First Peter, chapter, uh, chapter one, and we're going to conclude with this. First Peter chapter one, let's look at verse seven. Peter says that the trial, the trial of your faith, the Christian faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes. Though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Verse eight, Whom having not seen, you love.
In whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Does this sort of remind you of Moses' faith in the invisible God that we just read in Hebrews eleven? Now, in verse seven, it says, the trial of our faith is much more precious than earthly gold that will perish. However, we should understand that the trial of our faith will instead produce heavenly gold that will not perish.
And notice in the last half of verse seven that this trial of our faith by fire will, in a coming day, result in praise, honor, and glory for us. The Amplified Version says this, it renders that verse this way, it says, this proving of your faith, this proving of your faith is intended to rebound to your praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
So, dear ones, our response to trials with believing faith and trust in God will have its reward. And like gold, the value of this reward will be great. And notice in verse eight that faith is indeed involved in all of this. It says, whoming- whom having not seen, you love. That i- that's faith, isn't it? Whom having not seen, you love.
And he goes on to say, in whom though now you see him not, yet believing, yet believing. And that believing is most certainly faith, is it not? So we see the connection between our exercise of faith in the midst of our trials and the sure reward that will result. And this reward is not confined to heaven, but it can be experienced in this life as well. Note what it says in verse eight, in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
So we can have unspeakable joy now as we exercise our faith and trust in our God. Gold in heaven, joy now, and glory brought to God both now and in heaven. Now, dear ones, when we stand before our Savior at his judgment seat, will he be looking for faith that I exercised in this life? The scriptures indicate that indeed he will.
Believers' faith, believing faith, will have its own reward. Remember Moses. It said, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. And let us not also forget that faith not exercised will no doubt have its loss of reward. As the word of God says, but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is.
And what? And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hide these things in your heart, dear ones. Brother Earl has prayer requests.