The Olivet Discourse, specifically Matthew 24-25, is examined to understand Christ's teachings on the signs of the end of the age and future judgments. The sermon distinguishes between the judgment at Christ's second coming, as illustrated by the parable of the talents, and the judgment seat of Christ for believers. The parable of the talents highlights the importance of faithful stewardship of God-given resources, warning against neglecting one's responsibilities due to disbelief in the Lord's return. Believers are called to live lives that demonstrate God's glory, earning rewards at the judgment seat of Christ based on their faithfulness, not their inherent abilities.
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The Olivet Discourse, Matthew, twenty-four and twenty-five, and have seen how Christ describes here the signs of the end of the age in keeping with the request of the disciples for knowledge about the signs. And as I pointed out in previous evenings, he discusses the signs. They ask three questions. What's the sign of your coming? and the end of the age, and they also asked, what is going to be the sign of the destruction of the temple, which they didn't like to hear about at all, because they were under the false impression that Christ was going to bring in His glorious kingdom in His life on earth and His first coming.
And they didn't like the way things were going, and it didn't seem like He was getting to conquer the whole world as the Bible seemed to predict. And so that was the reason for their questions. And Christ answers them, as you notice, in Luke's gospel, we have the answer about the destruction of Jerusalem in AD. Seventy, when the Roman armies will surround the city and then capture the city and kill out of the captives and carry the others into slavery around the world. That's exactly what happened. Then it also describes in both Luke and Matthew the great signs that accompany the second coming of Christ, the terrible disasters that are described in the book of Revelation as we're studying in the morning hours. And then the disturbances in the heavens, the earthquakes, stars falling from heaven, pestilence, famine, demon possession, war, you name it, all these horrible things that decimate the world's population and bring drastic judgment from God upon it in preparation for the second coming of Christ.
Now tonight in our study, we've come to chapter twenty-five, the so-called judgment of the talents, And here we have what is called the parable of the talents. And it pictures Christ judging the world concerning their service for him. Now, you'll bear in mind that one of the great tragedies of the study of prophecy in the traditional church is that they've tried to put all the judgments together. They view the world going on to one great judgment at the end of the age, everybody being raised, and then moving on to eternity. Now, the Bible is very clear that everybody's going to be judged. It's appointed on the man once to die, and after this the judgment.
And at that judgment, you're not going to have to answer to me or any other human being. You're going to have to answer to Christ when he asks you the question, what have you done with my life, with the life that I've given you, and the blessings I've given you? And that's a searching question. Now, everybody, saved and unsaved, ultimately, is going to be judged, but not at the same time. And here in Matthew twenty-four, we have a judgment that fits into a particular time slot. It deals with the judgments that relate to the second coming of Christ. And there's two classes of people here being judged. There are first of all the Old Testament saints, which seem to be raised at this time, according to Daniel twelve, one and two. Some people think they're raised at the rapture earlier, but the evidence seems to be that they'll be raised here in connection with the going into the millennial kingdom.
And when the millennial kingdom starts, all the saints of all ages are going to be there, some resurrected, some translated, and some still in their natural bodies who survived the tribulation. But there will be this judgment at that time, both probably for the resurrected as well as the saints that are still living on earth. Now this parable of talents is one of several parables that Christ used just a few days before. In Luke nineteen, he gave the parable of the Minos. And this was a coin or amount of money that added up to about three months' salary for a person working in Christ's day.
Now, you may not make large salaries yourself, but bear in mind that in Christ's day, they worked a whole week for what we would call one dollar. Now, this represented three months' salary. and he called in ten of his servants and gave each one of them one of these minas which represented their work for three months and then he went off and of course came back later in the illustration and they reported and some had gained as much as ten times what he'd given them others five times and others less and of course those who give less are picked out for judgment because they didn't think their Lord was coming back now we have that same thought here in the parable of the talents And we use the word in English, a talent to mean some God-given ability, but that's not what it means here.
A talent was a amount of money, and it was a rather large amount. Back when gold and silver were still very cheap in America, gold, thirty-five dollars an ounce, a talent of gold was worth about thirty thousand dollars, thirty-five cents an ounce, and silver talent was worth about two thousand dollars in other words that was the amount of money involved now when you realize that today gold and silver is about ten times what it was then gold talent would be worth now about three hundred thousand and a silver talent around twenty thousand I'm just guessing it may not be effort but a large sum of money and when you consider that a dollar was a weekly wage you can see how much money is involved in twenty thousand dollars now the Coin that the amount of money that's mentioned here is clearly the silver talent.
And bear that in mind that each talent or each amount of silver that's called this talent is worth about twenty thousand dollars. Now Christ is illustrating here the fact that at the second coming of Christ there's a judgment. We saw it in the parables of ten virgins, how the foolish virgins were shut out and were not allowed to enter into the joy of the kingdom. Earlier we had the parable of the householder, and it depended how he was serving the Lord there, because there was a time of judgment when the master came back. So here. Now it tells us in verse fourteen that the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.
Now you bear in mind these servants are slaves, but sometimes slaves are very capable businessmen. In fact, Sometimes wealthy people would pay a high price for a slave that could manage their entire business, much like corporations today will pay an outlandish salary for a good chief executive officer because you'll make millions of dollars for them. And so it was that way here. And he tells us here that to one of his servants, he gave five talents. In other words, if it is twenty thousand dollars a talent, that's a hundred thousand dollars. You consider the purchasing power at that time. And then to another, two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability.
In other words, he passed judgment on them. This man is capable of handling five talents, this man two, and this man one. And immediately he went on a journey. So these three slaves were left to their devices of what to do with this money. And it tells us in verse sixteen, then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. Now, you know, I've been in a non-profit business all my life because that's the way the Lord's work is as far as finance is concerned, and it can be rather successful non-profit. But in a business world, if you're a non-profit, you don't last very long, do you? And it's not always easy to make a profit.
It's just as easy to lose as it is to make it. Now this five-talent man apparently was gifted, and he worked his money and traded and so on, and he doubled the amount that the Lord had given him. And then it tells us that likewise he who had received the two talents gained two also more. In other words, he was equally successful, but at a lower level because all he had was two talents. But in verse eighteen it says, But he had received the one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. What do you think about when you hear about someone burying money in the backyard? Well, in our modern world, it's usually because they're trying to not pay taxes on it or something.
There's something wrong when you bury your money in the backyard. And, of course, this is the point of this parable. This man was doing something wrong. But after a long time, the Lord of these servants came back and the servants came to him to settle with him concerning their accounts. Now, the point is that sooner or later, whatever God has given us, we are stewards of it, and we're going to have to give an account. So he that had received the five-town came and brought five other towns, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five towns. Look, I have gained five more towns besides me.
That must have been a proud moment in his life. You know you don't... double your money easily. And here he could proudly say that he had really served his Lord faithfully. And the Lord was very happy about it. He said, Well done, now good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. Doesn't sound like a few things to me, but that's what it says. I will make your ruler over many things enter into the joy of your Lord. In other words, the judge when he comes rewards those who have been faithful. And he came also to, he also had received the two talents, came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I have gained two more talents beside them. And his Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful over a few things. I'll make you rule over many things, and it is the joy of your Lord. Now, did you notice something here? The commendation of the two-talent man was exactly the same as the commendation of the five-talent man. It's a wonderful thing. We deal with the Lord. He doesn't compare us to somebody else. He simply asks, what have you done without a given you? You see, that's the issue. And one could be less successful in the sense of not having as much. But if they're equally faithful, they get equal commendation. But then the one-town man came. He had received the one-town came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man.
Reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seeds. You see, in those days when they planted a crop that didn't even bother the plow, they would just throw seeds out. And they weren't too careful where the boundaries were. And sometimes the seed would fall on the neighborhood's property. And what this man is saying, you're a hard man. You even reap where you didn't sow and reap on somebody else's property. And so he said, I was afraid. I went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. Did he rob his master? No. How did the master consider this anyway?
Well, let's see what he says. The Lord answered and said unto him, You wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? I think that's a question. It isn't that way in my Bible they just put a period. But he says, is that what you think about me? That I'm capable of doing that? He didn't admit he did it. But he said, that's what you think? He said, if that's true, you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers. And at my coming, I would have received my own with interest. Why didn't he? That's the point of the story. He didn't use his money wisely.
He buried it. He could have taken it to the bank and at least got some interest on it. Now, why didn't he? Well, you see, this man is an illustration of one who is a servant of the master, at least outwardly. Not very good servant, apparently. That's why he only gave him one talent. But he figured this way. He said, my master's going on a long journey, and I don't know if he's coming back or not. If he doesn't come back, and I still have the talent, I can keep it. So I'll just bury it and not that anybody know I have it.
But if he did come back, then I can produce the talent and he can't accuse me of stealing. The old story of sinning and thinking you're going to get away with it. But he didn't, did he? You see, his problem was he didn't think the Lord would come back. Now that's one of the problems in our modern world. How many people believe in a second coming of Christ? I was very interested in the Gulf War, how the newspapers came alive with the question of, is this Armageddon? Is this the second coming of Christ? Is this the end of the world? Now, the religious papers, the Christian papers, are almost silent on the sudden. Why were they?
Well, the problem was, among their readers, there are people of so many different beliefs and prophecy, and they didn't agree, and no matter what view they took, they'd probably offend the majority of their readers, so they just came quiet. Now, I happened to get involved in this because I wrote a book in nineteen ninety four, nineteen seventy four, I mean, on the golf crisis at that time, the oil crisis, because I thought it was significant that for the first time in history, the whole world was concerned about the Middle East, something that hadn't happened for centuries. And it seemed to be significant, so I wrote the book and They sold about six hundred and fifty thousand in English and about three hundred and fifty thousand in twelve other languages.
So it had quite a spread. And then as the circumstances turned out, the oil crisis subsided and people didn't think there was much to that book, so they dropped out of sight. But then when the Gulf War came out, my publisher wanted it again overnight. He wanted to reprint. Well, fortunately, if you're careful interpreting prophecy, what's true in seventy-four is still true in ninety-one. I don't have to do like some prophecy teachers revise their book every two weeks to keep up with the times. And what I'd said in the seventy-four was true, but I added a chapter because in the meantime some significant things that happen in Europe that I think have a fitting place in the end times. So they published the book and they had to print a million copies to meet the demand.
And of the thirty-five books that were published in connection with the Gulf War, My book was the number one seller. For six weeks, it was on the bestseller secular list, the New York Times list. And the strange thing was I didn't discuss the Gulf War. What I presented in the book was what the Bible teaches about the end of the age, in particular about Armageddon. But the word got out that I had some information about this, and so I got called some over a hundred radio stations, and the major television stations, CBS, had to go all the way to New York to be five minutes on their Good Morning program. And I was on the Southern Baptist program for a half an hour on a hundred television sets. And then I don't know how many radio stations, over a hundred programs, and some of them had tied up with more than a hundred radio stations.
So it really got some coverage. They said even on the television alone that I reached a hundred million people. It's amazing, isn't it, this modern society, how they can get out the word if you just use the mechanical means at our disposal. But you see, it wasn't Armageddon. It wasn't the end of the age. But it amazed me how the secular press was interested. Now, I don't think they believed in the second coming, but they toy with it. They know that this is what Christ said. He said, I'm coming again. And he announced that that was going to be the case. And in the Orthodox creeds of the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church and the Protestant Church, all of them have a statement to the fact that Jesus Christ is coming again to judge the world.
So that is why they picked it up. But you know, the great majority of people don't really believe he's coming. And even those who asked questions about it didn't necessarily believe it. Among other things, I talked to about fifty church editors that had to write about Armageddon and their church columns, and they wanted to get my understanding of it. One of them was the editor of the church section of the Chicago Tribune, one of the great newspapers of the country. And he called me and a number of others and asked questions about it and talked to me for about fifty minutes. And I explained to him what I believed that it wasn't the Gulf War and the Gulf War was not Armageddon.
Then I asked him a question. I said, do you understand the doctrine of the rapture? Now, sometimes church editors do and sometimes they don't. He said, yes, I do. And I said, wouldn't it be interesting to see what the media has to say about the rapture the day afterwards? Well, he didn't say anything. But when he wrote the article, he quoted me and others. In fact, he spread it across all the columns on the front page of the Sunday Morning Edition, right across all the columns. And then he continued it on the inside. Major article. And he quoted numbers. But the very last sentence was something to this effect. He said, Walvard believes that some of the media be unsaved and be able to report the rapture.
That wasn't precisely what I said, but it was the point, wasn't it? And I couldn't help but wonder whether he'd be one of them. You know, they talk about it. They don't necessarily believe it. And that's the trouble with this one-talent man. He thought possibly his master would never come back, and he'd never have to give an account. And there's millions of people living that way today in America. They think there's no judgment. There's no accounting. They're not responsible for what they do. And this is behind the crime and the morality and all the other things that are found in our country in spite of the fact that we have churches all over the place.
You see, there's so many that just don't believe that Christ is coming again. Now, Christ dealt with this man severely. You see, if you don't believe in the second coming of Christ... You don't really believe in the first coming. You know that? In Second Peter three, you know, Peter talks about the scoffers that say, Where is the promise of his coming? That is his second coming. For since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of the world. They're trying to teach there's nothing miraculous. Of course, they're wrong. There's been many miracles in history. The flood was a miracle. The man in the wilderness for Israel was the The water out of the rock was a miracle.
The plagues of Egypt were miracles. Elijah performed all kinds of miracles in Elisha. And then in the New Testament, Christ performed miracles. In fact, salvation itself is a miraculous thing. It's supernatural. We have to have supernatural life before we can meet the Lord and be on his side, not just natural life. We need to be born again. And the Bible emphasizes that again and again. No, it's not true. that all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. But the real trouble with those people in Second Peter three is not that they disbelieved the second coming of Christ. The trouble was they didn't believe the first coming. You see, if you believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, that he was the God man, that he was all he claimed to be, that he died on the cross for our sins and rose again and ascended into heaven, if you believe all that, It's not difficult to believe he's going to come back.
After all, it's the same person. If you believe one thing about him, you'll believe the others. So you see, the fact he didn't believe in the second coming of Christ was proof that he didn't really believe in the first coming. He didn't think his master would ever call him to account. And that's what's wrong with our world today. Now he gives instructions in verse twenty-eight to what happens. Therefore, take the talent from him. and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. Back in my youth, there was a series of books written by an author by Ralph Connor.
That was his literary name. He was actually a Presbyterian preacher in Canada. And it had to do with the of pioneers in Canada who succeeded. And this, one of the books he took out of this, and the title was, To Him That Have. And it pictured the rise and success of this man who had great sacrifice served the Lord. And in the last page, he asked the question, to him that has what? And his answer was to him that has character. I suppose that's a partial answer. But that's not what Christ is talking about here. He's not talking about character. He's talking about your relationship to Jesus Christ as to whether you've really put your trust in him.
And the trouble with this man is he didn't trust his master when he said he was coming back. He didn't believe his master's word. And so Christ says concerning this man, verse thirty, cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now I know there are some Bible teachers that say Christians that don't serve the Lord will be cast in the outer darkness. I can't believe that. This is a picture of unsaved people, people who made a profession perhaps, who utterly seemed to be Christians, but actually never were really born again and received new life in Christ. You see, once we receive new life in Christ, we don't get to heaven on the base of our works. We get to heaven on the base of His works.
We're there by the grace of God. And if we experience the grace of God, almost always there's evidence of it in a transformed life and expectation and hope that's ours in Christ. That goes along with the package. And this is an unsaved man. He demonstrates his unbelief by not believing in his Lord's return. Now this passage doesn't talk about you and me. It's talking about a future situation at the second coming of Christ. But you know, as I pointed out, everybody's going to come at a judgment. And the same thing is true of us. And in Second Corinthians, we have the great fact that we're going to be judged by God and be judged at the judgment seat of Christ.
And in Second Corinthians five, ten, we have this quotation. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men, but we are well known to God and I also trust are well known in your consciences. Now this is the judgment that the Christian is going to face. You remember I pointed out the previous night the wonderful passage and exhortation in First Corinthians, fifteen, fifty-eight, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
In other words, there's judgment coming. Now this is a judgment that's for the church. And after the rapture of the church, which is our future as Christians, we're going to appear before Christ as our judge. Now this verse puts it very plainly. It says our life is going to be examined for the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Now, good or bad are not moral words. They are value words. What's good and what's bad are to be discarded. And you know, when we stand before God, our works are going to be examined and some will be pronounced as bad and worthless and others will be pronounced as good.
So the issue is, what have we done? in our lives with what Christ would consider to be worthwhile for reward. Now, the Apostle Paul uses three figures to explain this, but before we get into that, there are some basic questions we sometimes ask about this judgment. First of all, are we going to have to face our sins at the judgment seat of Christ? Now, I know evangelists sometimes beat people over the head with the idea they've got to behave or they can't get saved. But you're not saved by behaving. You're not saved by being good. You're saved by the grace of God when you put your trust in Christ.
And while good works are important, they are not the basis of salvation. You find that so plainly put. In Ephesians two, eight and nine, by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, but of any man should boast. Nobody gets to heaven because they're good. You get to heaven because he's good, because he died on the cross for you. That's the only way you get to heaven. And as Christ himself said in John, no one comes to the Father. No one comes to heaven but by the Father. You see, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes under God except through Christ. And that's the only way we can get saved. So it's not a question of sins.
And I think that's very, very plain, and Romans were justified by faith. Romans twelve, Romans five, one. Now, what does it mean to be justified? Well, to be justified means that you are declared righteous. And if you're a Christian, do you know that God has declared you righteous? Well, you see, I'm not perfect. Of course you're not. That isn't the point. God sees you even now in the perfections of the person and work of his Son. And he has declared that because you are in Christ, you are justified. You're declared righteous. Now, being justified is more than forgiveness. Perhaps you could use this illustration, supposing you have a checking account in the bank and you write a check that's larger than your balance, and so it would cause an overdraft.
Now, the bank can bounce your check and say insufficient funds, or if you're a good customer, they may pay it. and then write to your call you and say your account is overdrawn. Now, if your account's overdrawn, you could go down and pay the amount of the overdraft and you'd be forgiven. You'd be back to zero, you see. But if someone went down there and deposited a huge sum of money, you'd not only have the overdraft taken care of, you'd be forgiven, but you'd have to your credit this balance. And our standing before God is we have a credit. So I don't believe that we're going to be called to question for sins at this point. These are forgotten. These are put behind us.
As Romans eight makes plain, he that believeth on him is not condemned. He that believeth not is condemned already. We're not condemned if we're trusting in Christ as our Savior. And if God can't condemn us, then no one else can condemn us, obviously. So it's not a question of sin. We do have the question of First John One, Nine, where it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And the Roman Catholic Church builds on this, and they say your sins you confess are forgiven, but the sins you aren't confessed, they haven't confessed. They have to be cared for, and that's why you have to go to purgatory. And whether you're a pope or a cardinal or a priest or ordinary person in the Catholic Church, you have the prospect when you die of going to purgatory.
And that's why they pray, may God have mercy on his soul. They want to stay in purgatory as little as possible. But we as Protestants don't believe that. Our Bible doesn't teach purgatory. Even the Catholics, if you pen them up, will admit that it doesn't because they get it out of First and Second Maccabees, two books that we don't admit in our Bible, and out of the pronouncements of the Roman Catholic Church that we don't accept. The New Testament doesn't teach that. It teaches there is no condemnation to the one who's in Christ Jesus. So it's not a question of sins. But it's a question of reward. And Paul uses three different illustrations about this. First of all, in First Corinthians three, he points out how our life is like a building.
The foundation is supplied. Other foundations can no man lay and that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. In other words, you have to start out with salvation. You can't start a Christian life without the foundation. But then he goes on to say, we build on this foundation gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hair, stubble. And then he tells us this building is going to be tested by fire. Now, he doesn't tell us what these materials mean, but obviously wood, hay, and stubble are various degrees of human worth. Wood is worth more than hay, and hay is worth more than stubble. But when subject to fire, it's all reduced to ashes. But the gold and the silver and precious stones are incombustible, and so they survive. And in the Bible, of course, generally speaking, gold reflects the glory of God.
And it's possible for Christians to live to the glory of God. Did you know that? Now, what does it mean to live to the glory of God? It means that in your life, you demonstrate how God's grace is working, and you illustrate what God himself is, a gracious God and a holy God. I was speaking in a church in New Orleans many years ago for a week, and I was using the tabernacle as a type of the Christian life. And I pointed out how the priests had to wash their own dishes. You see, in the sacrificial system, they used a lot of dishes, and their wives were not permitted in the tabernacle area, and, of course, they didn't have dishwashers, so the priests had to wash the dishes themselves.
And so you can even wash dishes to the glory of God. Well, this struck fire with one of the ladies because she was the sponsor for their youth group, and they had the custom of having some refreshments on Sunday night before the evening service. and they would have their little refreshments, then they'd go off to their meeting and leave her with all the dirty dishes. I think she should have organized something about that and got some help, but she had been washing them all herself. She said, I was getting tired of washing dishes. She said, I didn't know you could wash dishes to the glory of God. Yes, we can have a kind word. We can call on a lonesome person. Whatever we do that demonstrates God's working in our life can be to the glory of God. Then there's the silver, which is the Medal of Redemption.
Through our money, through our prayers, through our testimony, we can win souls to Christ and pray for them. That's silver. And then the precious stones aren't named because there's so many, many, many ways in which we can demonstrate that we're Christians simply by way we act. I'm sorry to say Christians don't always act right. I was chairman of a board that ran a Bible conference in the summer. It used to be one of the large conferences. And of course, we'd have to hire a cook to run the dining room. And usually the cook that didn't have a job, and usually was the reason why he didn't have a job, but we had to hire somebody. And so we'd hire a cook, and sometimes he wasn't the best.
And we'd come to the table, you know, and they'd hire a bunch of college young people, boys and girls, to wait on table, and they weren't professional either. And the people would give them their order, and then they'd wait and wait and wait. And the food didn't come out. Well, it was rather amazing how Christians reacted. You know, they'd bawl off the girls and the boys. It wasn't their fault. The trouble was in the kitchen. But it got so bad. And the young people working in the dining room got such a bad impression of Christianity that we had to organize a special class for them in biblical truth to get them back on the right track.
Christians can be very non-Christian. I had a son who worked in a restaurant. He said he couldn't have any testimony for Christ there. He said their experience was that church groups that came in demanded the most service and tipped the least or not tipped at all. And he said you couldn't say anything about Christ there, even though the owner was a Christian. No, you can be pretty wrong, can't you? And all of us are guilty at times. It's how you treat the girl as the clerk, how you treat your secretaries. how you treat your family, all these things can be a testimony to the fact that you're a Christian. And sometimes you walk into a situation without realizing it.
I was on a plane and across the aisle there was a woman with a small baby and the attendant came back and she was trying to help this lady and this lady had a glass with a handle on it and she wanted it filled with some liquid and the attendant started to fill it And you know the glass slipped right through the handle, hit the floor, and splashed all over the place, including all over me. Well, the tenant, of course, was very apologetic. She was going to get me a check so that I could have my suit cleaned, you know, and the whole thing. But, of course, she had had to report all that in order to get the check. And it was gone on her record that she had dropped something on the floor. And I didn't want to do that, so I told her to skip it.
I had looked at my suit a few minutes before it happened. I decided I needed to go to cleaner anyway, so it wasn't any sudden decision on my part. Well, she went on, and a little bit later, I was reading Christianity today, and she came out in the aisle, and she put her finger on the word Christian. She said, I knew you were a Christian. Boy, I walked into that one. Never suspected there was anything Christian about what I was doing, but we can have a testimony for Christ. before the unsaved world, if our attitude is right, and we're kind and considered and thoughtful of other people. Yes, there's gold, silver, precious stone.
Then there's another illustration found in First Corinthians chapter nine, twenty-four to twenty-seven, running a race. In Corinth they loved to run races, and the winner would get a laurel wreath crown. Made of leaves. Well, in a few days it wasn't worth anything. But it signified that he was the winner of the race. Now, Paul says, when we run, we get an incorruptible crown, a crown that doesn't fade away. Eternal reward. And the interesting thing about a Christian race is that everybody can win. It's not like a race where you're running against somebody. You're running against yourself, running the best possible race.
Now, there's some rules about racing. I was in athletics in high school and college, and among other things, I went out for track. I wasn't a runner, but I heaved the shot put and threw the discus. That was my contribution. At least I did well enough to earn my letter, as they say. But we in college had one runner that was a, he just an outstanding, he ran everywhere. He never saw him walk. He ended up as a missionary in Africa for many years, and I read not long ago that he'd come back now and he's retired, but He was just an outstanding runner. And whether it was a half mile or a mile or two miles, whatever it was, he was almost always out in front. But I learned some things about racing. I watched him when the other runners would line up, you know, I noticed he didn't wear his overcoat.
You know, a runner can't wear an overcoat. He's got to wear the lightest possible clothing. And he has to have shoes with spikes in them that'll hit the ground and not slip. And he'd line up with the others. And the starter would say, Anya Mark, get set, go. What did he do when the starter said, go? He left. I never saw him once turn around to the starter and say, did you mean me? You know, we're like Moses, he said, when the Lord told Moses, I mean, ask Aaron. You know, we always have our Aaron's people that should do our work for us. No, if the Lord says, go to you or do something, do it. Don't hesitate. I so marvel at the story of Abraham, where when he's told to sacrifice Isaac, never even questioned it.
He immediately got ready to do this awful thing that God had told him to do. No, when the Lord says, go, you better go. Now, I noticed another thing. When he ran the race, he never got off the track. If he'd do that, he'd disqualified, you know. And I noticed he never turned around to see where the other runners were, because he was always ahead. But if you turn around, you lose the stride or two, and you might lose the race. And when he went by the grandstand, he didn't wave and see how good I'm doing. You know, sometimes Christians are serving the Lord all right, but they want people to notice, you know. Do you ever find Christians like that? Yes, there's some. And then he never stopped to pick daisies. Now, picking daisies isn't a big crime unless there's a big sign to don't pick the daisies.
But you know why you're picking the daisies? You're not running the race. There's altogether too many picking of daisies in the Lord's work where you do things that aren't bad, but are absolutely of no eternal worth. So we have to ask ourselves, how are we running our race? Now, the illustration I like the best, though, is found in Romans chapter fourteen. It's dealing with questionable things and how we shouldn't judge each other in that respect. But notice the argument he gives us, chapter fourteen of Romans. He tells us in verse ten, why do you judge your brother or why do you show contempt for your brother?
Interesting question. You know, sometimes people will judge their brother. Did you ever do that? I'm afraid we all have. Why? Well, sometimes the bottom line is we're trying to prove to ourselves that we are better than they are, you know. Not a good, would it? We had a student one time at Dallas Seminary, and he just was a specialist in criticism. He had a church, and all he did was criticize everybody from the pulpit, and they fired him. He took a Sunday school class, and he didn't last long there. When he came to his seminary classes, the only notes he took was where he disagreed with the professor.
Well, we learned of all this, and so they assigned me the interesting task of talking to him. Because he was nearing graduation and we had a real question. It's whether we should graduate anybody like that. How could be a successful preacher, you see? So I called him in and asked him, I said, Why are you so critical of everybody? Well, I said, God has given me the gift of criticism. I said, Where is that in the Bible? It isn't there. You know, you weren't appointed a fruit inspector. Do you know that? Now, preachers are told to rebuke. and exhort, and to some extent we have to pass judgment on what's right and wrong. I think that's not wrong. But we have to be very careful how we start evaluating a brother or sister as to her quality of life.
And that's what it's talking about here. Why do you do it? He says, For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ for is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, each of us shall give account of himself to Christ. See, you don't give an account to other people. You give it to Christ. Now, this is a picture of a stewardship or a trusteeship. What's that? Well, a trusteeship is where you have it trusted to you, somebody who doesn't belong to you. But you have the legal responsibility to manage it, and you're also required by law to report your trusteeship.
You go to a bank, get a trustee. He's obligated by law to handle it in a certain way. and he has to be responsible. Now, our life is a trusteeship. You know, the Bible asks the question, what hast thou that thou hast not received? Anything? No. You've got brains? Where'd you get them? You could have been born an imbecile, you know. You've got an education? What if you hadn't born in some country or situation where there wasn't any education? Supposing you were born in a ghetto and couldn't get out. or in the jungle. You see, everything we have, whether it's brains or health or natural ability or spiritual ability, anything that comes to us has come to us from God.
And how foolish it is to be proud. You see, there's no room for pride. If we have accomplished anything for God, it's by His grace. It isn't because we're so great. No, we have... and received these things as a trust. And you see, at the judgment seat of Christ, the question is going to be, not whether you're better than your neighbor or somebody else. The question is, what have you done with what I've given you? Very simple, isn't it? Now, I suppose we've all dreamed of being millionaires, you know, and why we'd give to this missionary cause and we'd give to the church, but you may not be a millionaire.
You see, the problem... of the dollar that's in the other person's pocket is not your problem. The problem is the dollar that's in your pocket, you see, your opportunity, what you can do for God. That's the issue. And to judge and see to Christ, that's going to be the question. And that's why I think it's so important we face up to our responsibility. Some have more than others. But the interesting question is this, that every Christian has exactly the same opportunity of success as every other Christian. Did you know that? Now, we've had some famous graduates in Dallas Seminary.
One of them is Dr. J. Vernon McGee. You've probably heard about him. He's in glory now. But he's had this through the Bible course, daily broadcast. In five years, he goes through the whole book of Bible from Genesis to Revelation. And he's worked out a deal where it's being translated and preached in foreign countries. Last I heard they had some forty languages. And each language requires a translator, requires a secretary, and requires someone to present it on the air. And they have to buy the radio time. And the Lord has provided support for it. He's got whole states sometimes given to him.
And now he's in heaven, but the broadcasts are still going on. Five days a week, all over the world. Now, what are we going to get by way of reward? Well, how do you estimate something like this? Millions of people have heard the gospel through him. Then I was out in Montana, and I was visiting a little church where one of our alumni was, and had about fifty people there on Sunday morning, and our alumnus was trying to minister to these fifty people. He wasn't very successful. I happen to know enough about him to know that when he graduated, he graduated absolutely at the bottom of his class.
If he'd had one grade lower in any course, he wouldn't have graduated. He just got by. He wasn't brilliant. He wasn't talented. But here he was, struggling along with these fifty people. You know, in heaven, he has exactly the same opportunity for reward as Dr. J. Verne McGee. You see, it isn't the question of how Successfully are, it's a question of what have you done without God's given you. That's a very searching question. I ask myself that, and you should ask yourself that. What can I do to serve God? And it's amazing. You know, I watch what God does. He takes very ordinary people and uses them in an extraordinary way, and sometimes he passes by the brilliance, the well-educated, the talented people, who aren't really committed to serving the Lord.
The question we all have to face is, all on the altar have I presented my body a living sacrifice. So we're not going to be asked about the parable of the talents, you see. That's for the people that will be judged at that time at the second coming. If you're a Christian, you're going to be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. And because I believe it could happen at any time, It means we have to keep short accounts. It doesn't mean that we run around frantically, but that we do ask ourselves the searching question, am I serving God to the best of my ability by the grace of God every day? And Lord, help me to do it until Jesus comes.
Now, that's the marvelous factor of the judgment of God. Sooner or later, every one of us will stand before Christ as our judge. Now, tomorrow we're going to be dealing tomorrow evening with the judgment of the Gentiles, the judgment of the nations. It's one of the interesting judgments. And again, it's something that has been greatly misunderstood by the Lord, some of the Lord's people. We're going to try to see what it says, what it doesn't say, and how it relates to you and to me in our own expectation and our hope. And I hope you can join with us on that. But tonight, the challenge, commit your life to God.
live for eternal things and do the things that God wants you to do without question with complete and immediate obedience. Now, of course, I'm talking to Christians. You haven't even started the Christian life. You can't do this. You have to start out by a supernatural birth that when you put your trust in Christ as your Savior, the fact he died on the cross for your sins and rose again becomes applicable to you And you are reconciled to God by the death of his son the moment you put your trust in him. That begins the Christian life. Now, after we are saved, then we have the challenge of living for Christ and living for eternal things.
May God grant that each one of us, as we live our life, may be living it in the will of God and the hope and expectation that is ours for the glorious future that may be very much sooner than any of us realize. Let us pray. Our Father, bless to our hearts thy word and the things of thy word that we have studied together tonight, so important, so precious, so essential to our Christian life and testimony in time and eternity, and speak to our hearts according to our need. For we ask in Christ's name. Amen.