Eternal salvation is a gift from God, not dependent on human works or feelings, but on belief in Jesus Christ. While salvation itself is assured for believers, the Apostle Paul's concern in 1 Corinthians 9:27 about being "disapproved" (a mistranslation of "castaway") highlights the importance of diligent living and service for rewards at the judgment seat of Christ. This judgment, distinct from the Great White Throne judgment for the unsaved, evaluates believers' works performed after salvation, determining their positions and commendations in God's eternal kingdom. Christians are called to run the race of faith with patience, laying aside hindrances and focusing on Christ, the ultimate example, to achieve an incorruptible crown and hear the Lord's "well done, good and faithful servant."
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I would like to read several scriptures tonight from the New Testament. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter three. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter three. Verse nine. For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is lay, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, for he himself shall be saved.
Yet so as by... higher. First Corinthians, same first Corinthians chapter nine, verse nineteen. One Corinthians nine, nineteen. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. and to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without law is without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law.
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize. So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body and I bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast away.
Second Corinthians chapter five. Second Corinthians chapter five and verse seven, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather, to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord. Therefore we labor. that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or whether it be good or bad. Now one more scripture, this is Romans chapter fourteen.
Romans fourteen and verse ten. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, Every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not, therefore, judge another any more. But judge this, rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
May God bless the reading of his word, shall we pray. Blessed God, our Father, we thank you for thy precious word. We thank thee thou hast not left us orphans in this world, but thou hast given us this wonderful book to be a guide to us, to lead us, and teach us thy plan, thy mind, thy will, thy way for us. We ask that all that these verses we have read tonight may bear fruit in our lives. We ask that the Holy Spirit of God might take them and reveal the meaning of them to our hearts now. And grant, Lord, that as we sit here and as we are in fellowship here tonight in this meeting, we might hear thy voice speaking to us. Help us, Lord, to take action on the Word of God.
Help us to do that which thou wouldst have us do for thy glory. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. If you want a text for what I want to say tonight, it would be in that ninth chapter, first Corinthians, where Paul says, I keep my body under and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. lest I be a castaway. Now how can this be? The Apostle Paul a castaway, that great man of God. This is a scripture which, first when you read it, it's rather confusing.
And there are some scriptures which they need to be explained. There are people you know that have an idea, and there are some people that preach this. that you can be saved today and lost tomorrow. There are some people that do not preach eternal salvation. Now the Lord Jesus said of his sheep, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. And we were talking this morning about the assurance of salvation and I really have this burdening my heart these days. that we should emphasize here the assurance of salvation.
Once we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have eternal life. It doesn't depend upon us. It depends upon his word. He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life. So my first point tonight would be this, eternal salvation. Eternal salvation. I remember once when I was serving in the British Royal Air Force in Egypt, in the desert, where I spent some four years out in the sand. I was in a very large repair depot there. There were four thousand of us there.
And on Tuesday nights, I had a Bible reading. We had some very wonderful times there with the young men. There were about thirty to forty every Tuesday night. And one young man came to me one night and said, Mr. Willie, God has been speaking to me and he said, I used to be a Christian. I used to be a Christian. And now I'm not. I said, oh, is that so? He said, yes. Well, I said, now explain it to me. How were you saved? And he explained how he was saved. And he said he was saved in the Salvation Army. I said, oh, yes. I said, but now, when you were born into your father's family, you became his son.
He said, oh, of course I became his son. I was born his son. And I said, will you always be his son? He said, sure, I'll be his son. I said, suppose you disgrace his name and drag his name down in the gutter. Would you still be his son? He said, that's right. I said, because you got into the family. That's right. And I said, do you think you were born again? He said, well, I thought I was. You see, he hadn't got insurance. I thought I was. Well, I said, once you're born again and you've got eternal life, you become a son of God, a child of God, and you're in his family. Nothing can break it. As many as received him, to them gave he authority to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Eternal salvation. So if tonight you are believing in the Lord Jesus, And if you have had a personal experience of salvation and you are born again, let me tell you, you will have eternal life and you will never perish. The Word of God says no. So I said, tell me, you were saved in the salvation army? He said, yes. I said, I'll tell you your trouble. He said, how do you know? I said, well, let me make a case. I said, you're smoking cigarettes. He said, that's right. How do you know? I said, because I know the Salvation Army teaches that when a man smokes or drinks, he's not saved.
He might say he's saved, but once he goes back to cigarettes and goes back to smoking, he's no longer a Christian. He said, that's right. That's what they teach. That's why I say I'm not a Christian. Well, I said, do you want to give up smoking? He said, I most surely do. I said, do you really mean it with all your heart? He said, yeah. I said, let's do it now then. So we know it down on the sand there. I wasn't on the sand. It was inside. We knelt down together. I said, Now you really mean business? He said, Yes. So I prayed for him. I said, Now you tell the Lord that by his grace you've given it up. Finish with it. He did so. He got up, smiling, shook my hand. I said, Now wait a minute. Have you got me cigarettes? He said, Yes. But I said, Give them all to me.
And he gave them all to me. I said, I'll get rid of them. But I said, Don't you keep it? I said, Now one more thing. to have a cigarette case and those young English boys had beautiful silver cigarette boxes, you know. He said, yes, I've got a beauty. My wife gave it to me. I treasure it. I said, you've got to give it to me. And we're going to crush it beneath our feet and we're going to bury it in the sand. That means you'll finish with cigarettes tonight forever. He says, hard to do, but I'm going to do it. I said, if you don't, you'll put it down the bottom of your bag and one night it'll come out and be smoking again. And he finished with cigarettes. Some two years or more later, I was leaving Egypt, and we had a kind of a farewell night, and he came to me and said, Mr.
Willie, thank you so much. He said, I thought I was lost, but I found I was still saved. I found I was still saved. And he said, I've learned that God gives us eternal life. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Now, I wonder if I'm talking to someone here tonight who's got some doubt about your salvation. You're not quite sure yet whether you're really saved. You don't feel saved. Well, I don't know that you'll ever feel saved. Nowhere in the Bible does it say you feel saved. But God says that the one that believes on the Son is saved. It depends upon what God says.
So my first point tonight is eternal salvation, whatever the Apostle Paul felt. And although he said less by any means when I preached to others, I myself should be a castaway, he couldn't have meant that he was going to lose his soul. He couldn't have meant he was going to be lost, because the Apostle Paul was the one who preached this wonderful salvation. And he couldn't have meant whatever else he meant, he didn't mean that he was not going to get to heaven. I'm sure I'll be in heaven. Because he that believeth on the Son has everlasting life, and I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'll be there. And everybody in this room tonight that believes in the Lord Jesus, never mind how weak the faith is.
If you believe in him, you're going to be in heaven. But we've got another problem tonight, not whether we're going to be in heaven. We're going to be there all right. But the problem tonight is what kind of position we're going to get in heaven. Now this is very delicate ground I know. Because I'm bound to go back, and I can't help thinking of those two disciples of the Lord. The Lord was telling them that he was going to the God, he was telling them, he's just given them the bread and the wine in that upper room. And he just told them that he said, do this in remembrance of me.
And he told them he was going to suffer. And he told them he was going to be crucified and all this. and their heads were so thick and their hearts were so dull that two of the disciples immediately, after he'd given them the bread and the wine, after the first supper there, there was a strife among them. Who should be counted the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Can you understand? I can't understand this, but that's what it is. And it happens again in the tenth chapter of Mark, the Lord told them in the tenth chapter of Mark, that he was going up to Jerusalem, and he was going to be crucified. It says, verse thirty-two, they were in the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them, and they were amazed, and as they followed, they were afraid, and he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen to him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man should be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they should condemn him to death, and should deliver him to the Gentile.
And they shall mock him. and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him, and the third day he shall rise again. And that's what he just told them, that he is going to die. Now listen to the very next verses. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou should do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? Mine, James and John, above all people. Listen. They said unto him, grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in the glory. The Lord was not talking about glory. The Lord was talking about a cross.
The Lord was saying, I'm going to give up everything and die on a cross for you. And they said, Lord, give us a great place in the kingdom. Now I can't say that we're all seeking a great place in the kingdom. But I do believe with all my heart that there will be positions of administration in the kingdom. I come from England and I have never personally met the King or Queen of England. I have never personally met the Prime Minister of England.
On one occasion when I was in Egypt, one of the princes of the royal family did come to Egypt. And because I was at that time serving with a Greek squadron, and he came to visit this Greek squadron, they wanted somebody to interpret for him. I had to interpret for Prince Henry, I think he was, of the British royal throne. And I walked all down, talking with him all along the way that nearest I've ever got to royalty. And I believe amid the glory of heaven, we'll all be there. There's no question we'll be there in heaven because we've got eternal life.
But I believe that those that will have administrative positions in the kingdom, I'm talking about the kingdom, the Lord said, he told the parable about the men with the talents, you know, and he said, you've had five talents. and you traded with it, you got ten talents. All right, you said you have charge over ten cities. You made five talents, you have charge over five cities. And positions in the kingdom will be earned. And they will be earned here on earth. And I think this is what Paul means. Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. Now let's examine this word castaway.
I remember mentioning it once down in the lounge some months ago, cast away, the Greek word is adokimus. Adokimus means approved. And adokimus means disapproved or not approved. So what Paul is saying, not that he's going to be cast away, that's the bad translation they give him, lest by any means I should be disapproved in that day. What does he mean? When I worked in Greece in a a Greek government factory there. I had one man that I was responsible to. He was a colonel in the Greek Air Force.
And he used to call me sometimes, just about the time of graduation, and he used to call me and say, now, Willie, he said, we're going to have five docky me, or four docky me. They're coming down. The Air Ministry has sent these docky me to us. Now, docky must means approved. And Documus was the name given to a young man who had passed his examinations and graduated as a sub-luternant in the Air Force. He had graduated and his name was Documus because he was approved. And he says, we're going to send you five Documies. These are five men who have been approved.
The fact is they passed the examination. They passed the test. They had graduated and they called them Documies. Now, this is the word he uses. lest by any means I should be ad hoc in us, I should be disapproved. This is the picture of the school. This is the picture of the college. This is the picture of the student studying for long years, laying aside everything, not going into pleasure and time, spending time on the things of this world, but spending his time studying, study, study, study. What for? because he's got one great grand day in view, the graduation day.
And if the student's not prepared to spend his time studying, he's not going to come out well in a graduation. The judgment seat of Christ is graduation day for the Christians. We are at school now. And inasmuch as we spend our time and our talent, and our energy and our effort for the Lord Jesus, like the student who puts aside everything to study to get the prize, and as much as we do that, we should come out approved at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, we must be very clear on this.
It says, we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, I'm not talking about the great white throne. The Great White Throne mentioned in the Revelation is where the wicked dead, those who have died out of Christ, having not received the Lord Jesus, having rejected God's salvation and gone out into eternity lost, unsaved, after the thousand years reign, the millennial reign, after that, the wicked dead, they will be reigned, and they will stand before the Great White Throne, the books will be opened. And whosoever name is not written in the book will be cast into the lake of fire.
That's the great white throne judgment. But mark this, friend, not one of us here tonight who's believing in the Lord Jesus will stand before the great white throne. No. But we will stand before what is called the judgment seat of Christ. The Greek word is Bima. It means a platform. When I lived in Greece, we had a newspaper called Elephor and Bima. That meant a free platform where people could speak what they like. We can't do that very often in Greece, but that's what it was called. El Ester and Bima, where you could speak freely. Free platform. And the Bima is the platform for use of a better word. If this were in Greece, they'd say, go upon the Bima.
That's upon this platform. And speak to the people. And we shall stand, as it were, on a platform before the Lord Jesus. Every man should give account for himself. And you and I, one by one, when we're called to be with the Lord, when we're after the rapture of the church, I think the next thing after the rapture of the church is the judgment seat of Christ. And it says, I read, every man should give an account of himself to the Lord. That was the fourteen chapters of the Romans. So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God.
For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Not for the question of sin. The question of sin will never come up again, because the Lord Jesus bore the punishment for our sin on Calvary's crown. He bore to the last drop the judgment of God that was due to me on account of my sin. And God will never talk to me about the punishment of my sin because the Lord Jesus bore the punishment of my sin on Calvary's cause. But he will talk to me about what I have done since I was saved. The judgment seat of Christ will deal with that period of your life and mine from the day we were saved until the day we pass into eternity.
And every man is going to give an account of himself to God. I believe the Lord will want to know what we've done with our time. whether we've used our time for Him. I believe the Lord will want to know about our homes, whether we used our homes for Him. I believe the Lord will want to know how much we studied this book. I believe the Lord will want to know about our witness, how much we told our neighbors, how much we told our friends, how much we sought to win men and women to the Lord. Last Sunday morning we were speaking on that question, what is that in thy hand? You think in this day the Lord is going to say, what did you have in your hands? What did you do with what you had in your hands?
For me, I do. Every man should give account of himself before God. Now, in First Corinthians chapter three, it's looked on in another view, from another viewpoint. We're there looked upon as builders. It says, Paul says, According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I've laid a foundation. He went around and preached the gospel and laid the foundation. And other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He's the foundation. And Paul went preaching Christ. Now he says, if any man built upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, that's to say we can build with gold.
These are symbolic words. Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stub. Every man's work shall be made manifest for the day. What day? The day of the judgment seat of Christ. Every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it. But because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he has built thereupon, He shall receive a reward. He shall receive a reward. In other scriptures it says we shall receive a crown. No, I didn't write this.
The Lord said he shall receive a reward. I say this. Let's go in for the reward. Just like the student that studied night and day to get the prize. To get what? A piece of parchment. a degree. And what is it? Paul gives it to us in second chapter of Corinthians chapter four. He says this, We look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal. And whatever degrees we get, whatever honors we get, whatever fame we get here on earth. The things which are seen are temporal, and they're all going to pass away. He says in that Chapter I read just now in Corinthians, he says, they run.
They do it. Every man striveth for the mastery. He's temperate in all things. And they do it to receive a corruptible crown. Do you know what crown they got in those days? Those men that ran in the races out there, in those Greek stadiums, in those Olympic races, the crown they got was a laurel wreath. A wreath of laurel wreath. placed on the head in a couple of weeks to lead for all withered and dead. A corruptible crown, withered away. He says, we do it to receive an incorruptible crown. And Paul says, I am in a race, and I run, not uncertainly, I fight not as one that's feeding the air, but I keep my body under, I bring it into subjection, less by any means when I preach to others.
I don't get that prize. I'm after that prize, he says. I'm controlling myself, I'm temperate. I'm just all the time keeping my body controlled that I might be fit to run the race to get the prize. He says, David, run in a race, run all. But only one gets the prize. So run that ye may obtain. I believe God set a goal before us. And I think as Christians we should have an earnest desire to really serve the Lord for all we want, to use the moments, to use our talents, to use our time, to use whatever God's put in our hand for His glory.
With a view on that eternal day, view to that eternal day, the things which are seen in our temple, the things which are not seen are eternal. I want to read the first verse of chapter twelve of Hebrews. It says, Therefore seeing we also are accomplished about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Here Paul's back in the stadium. Here Paul is in those Roman and those Greek stadiums. And he sees what today we call the bleachers, you know, all around the seats. I've been in some of these Greek stadiums where thousands and thousands of people could sit. Beautiful marble stadiums. seats all the way around. There's one in Athens today, quite modern, and I've been in the old ones two thousand years old with all these seats around, and all the thousands of spectators, like at our ball games, all the thousands of people looking on, and they're all looking down on those that are running the race. He says we're encompassed by a gray cloud of witnesses.
I sometimes think that he's referring to those in the eleventh chapter that ran the race before us. those heroes of faith who are now in the glory. And maybe they can look down, and they're the cloud of witnesses. They're looking down and watching us. Abraham ran. Noah ran. Isaac ran. Jacob, Joseph, Moses. They all ran in the race and got the prize. You and I are left now to these last days of the world's history, and we're running in the race. And God's looking down. And all this cloud of witnesses looking down at us. And he says, lay aside every weight. Don't carry any burden. If there's something in your life that's going to hold you back from getting that price, get rid of it.
Like a boy with a cigarette, get rid of them or anything else. Get rid of it so that you might win the race. And he says, here's the great example. As we look on to the things which are eternal, we see Jesus, looking unto Jesus the author and finish of faith, who for the joy that was set before him, He ran in the race. He laid aside every week, didn't even own a hole, foxes out holes in the birds of the air and nest. He had nothing that would keep him back from doing entirely the will of God. And he ran in the race, and he kept his eye upon the prize. And what was it? The joy that was set before him.
What was that joy? I believe the joy was to have you and me with himself amid the glories of him. He ran all the way, and he endured the cross. He despised the shame. And now he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And the joy is that those for whom he shed his precious blood are going to be with him and share eternal ages with him. We spoke about eternal salvation. I don't know whether I mentioned the words eternal valuation, evaluating the eternal thing. eternal commendation to get the Lord to say, well done, well done, good and faithful servant.
That will be eternal commendation. When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we go over these things. You know, to me there's a very practical side to the judgment seat of Christ. You see, He says every man's going to give an account of himself to God. And suppose I get, suppose I'm treated wrongly here, unjustly here. Suppose some fellow Christian doesn't treat me fairly. Now what have I got to do? Fight it out? And say I want my rights? Well, all right. We settle it all here. We don't need the judgment seat of Christ. The judgment seat of Christ was set that way.
And the Lord Jesus, he ran with patience for age. He tells us, to run with patience. Don't let's try and settle everything now. Let's wait for that judgment. Let's wait for the day when the Lord Jesus will settle it all up. And he'll tell us where we're right and where we're wrong, where the others are right and where they're wrong. And every man will give account of himself. We have to judge others, says Romans fourteen. We have to judge ourselves. And we have to live day by day in light of that judgment seat. When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, Paul says, and what the Apostles did. I was reading tonight some of the wondrous story of the Apostle Paul, how he suffered for Christ.
He says, he gives us the story of his sufferings here in this eleventh chapter, second Corinthians. He says, of the Jews five times, He says, I am in labors more abundant, in strikes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in death's off. Of the Jews five times received I forty strikes save one. Thrice I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeying often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness, beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches, who is weak and I am not weak, who is offended and I burn not.
If I must needs glory, I will glory for things which concern mine for infirmity. is a man that suffers more than any other man for Christ's sake. And yet he said, lest I be a castaway. Lest when I get to glory, I will not have got the prize that I went in for. Oh, may God write this upon your heart and mind. Life's going on for a lot of us. We've been running the race many years. Maybe only a few more yards to go. May God help us. I used to know a man, when a young man used to preach the gospel with me in the open air many years ago in England, and he keeps saying this, Lord save me from becoming a useless old man.
I've often thought of it. Lord save me from becoming a useless old man. May God help us right to the end of the race like the Apostle Paul to keep going, to keep our eye upon the pride and be useful for the Lord Jesus. for his glory until we see him face to face. Number two hundred and fifty-nine. Two hundred and fifty-nine. Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb, and shall I fear to speak his cause or blush to speak his name? In the name of Christ the King was purchased life for me, through grace I'll win the promised crown.
What ere my cross may be, must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, whilst others fought to win the pride and sailed through bloody seas?