Eternity is presented as a continuous journey from the first advent of Christ to His second advent and beyond, emphasizing the reality of hell and the importance of living for God. The sermon uses the story of the rich man and Lazarus from Luke 16 to illustrate the reality of hell and the need to heed Scripture, contrasting it with the thief on the cross in Luke 23 who was promised paradise. It explains that before Christ's resurrection, paradise and hell were both in the earth's depths, separated by a great gulf, but after His resurrection, paradise was emptied and is now in heaven with the Lord. The message concludes by highlighting the Judgment Seat of Christ, where believers' works, not sins, will be evaluated for rewards during the millennial reign, urging a life of service and faithfulness.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.28 → restored 4.49
Let's turn to Luke chapter sixteen. By the way, I just want to say thank you for coming tonight. It's always a big help to the preacher to see comers begin. Those who were here last night are back, and so that's encouraging to me. At least I know that I'm safe tonight. So I thank you very much. And may the Lord bless you indeed for coming out, because let me say again that I don't like to just have meetings. for meetings sake. I don't ever want to have meetings just to occupy your time nor mine, but I want that the meetings should bring glory to the blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
Else why should we meet? So may it be that He'd be glorified in these meetings that we share together. So don't forget, and I'm going to say that if I can find a little box that at home you take a little piece of paper course don't put your name but take a little piece of paper and jot down some questions anywhere from the cross forward on the chart if you have any questions I'm gonna open myself up real big here I was gonna say wait till Friday night have all your questions bring them in Friday night and put them in the box well I still say that but I'm going to say right now so you'll be kind of deciding what questions you want to ask like tonight when you go home and you think of a question jot it down keep it with you or whatever.
And then Friday night I'm going to have a box on that back seat back there and you can just drop your question or questions in there. And then that's certainly going to tell you what I'm going to be doing Saturday and Sunday afternoon, doesn't it? Because in the will of God, Sunday evening I'll spend that final meeting with you and answering the questions. But again, let me say, don't look for me to answer each individual question because I hope I have more than two. I hope to have a good number of questions, but what I will do, I will try to kind of put them together, those questions which are pertaining to approximately the same thing. In other words, catalog them, get them together, and then answer them as a block, in other words.
You see what I mean? Because if I get the number of questions I hope to, I couldn't possibly answer them in one meeting, could I? But maybe if I take several that kind of connect together and answer them under one answer, then at least you'll be helped some, I trust. So be thinking of those, getting them together and keeping them with you. And if I can, I'll have the box back there tomorrow at night. But if not, it will be there Friday night, God willing. And you can put your questions in there. And that'll give me some work Saturday for sure and Sunday afternoon. So try to remember to do that. I'd like to have some questions. In Luke chapter sixteen, let's begin our reading with verse nineteen. We probably won't read all of this story.
I personally believe this is a story. It is not a parable. A parable is a story with a meaning, but it's not necessarily a true story. But I believe that this is a story because a person is mentioned here, Lazarus. And I personally believe that this is a story And so we want to not call it a parable. At least I don't call it a parable. This, to me, really happened. This is a true life story that the Lord Jesus Christ told. And so we begin with verse nineteen. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores. and desiring to be fed with a cronest which fell from the rich man's table, moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, notice, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.
Well, it goes on. And let's read verse twenty-nine. It's a familiar story, so I'm going to pass over part of it. Verse twenty-nine. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. In other words, the rich man wanted Lazarus or someone to go tell his brothers because he thought that that would make the difference. If they just heard that there was such a place as hell, just heard that there was such punishment that surely they would flee from that. He didn't. But he felt like if someone should rise up from the dead and tell the world that, hey, hell is real, this thing is real, and so flee from it.
Don't come here. You know the old adage that hell likes company? or the old adage of the fellow who said, you know, I'm going to have plenty of company in hell. Do you read of any company that the rich man had? Now there were others in hell, I'm sure. But you know, I don't see hell as a place of fellowship and enjoyment. I think it's perhaps the most lonely place that you could ever imagine and the most awful and the most tormenting place that you could ever imagine. Hell is a real place, and that's going to be one of our subjects tonight. So keep that in mind. He said, hey, send someone from death back to life and they'll believe Him. But you know, one did rise from the dead and they didn't believe Him.
They're not believing in today. Well, that's about what the Lord is saying here. No, unless they hear the Scriptures, unless they believe the Word of God, unless they believe that which is written of me, it doesn't matter if one should rise from the dead, they still would not believe. You got that in your mind? All right, we're going to read some more scripture. If you will, turn with me now. I think we will go to Second Corinthians chapter five. No, no, no. Let's go to this day in Luke. Then you're there to Luke twenty three. Luke chapter twenty three. That way I won't be making you go backwards and forwards to the different books. Save you a little time.
Luke chapter twenty three. Let's begin our reading with verse thirty-three. This also should be a familiar scene to my audience tonight. Shouldn't take any explanation here. So we'll just break right in and begin our reading at verse thirty-three of Luke twenty-three. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him in the male factors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. Now let's drop down to verse thirty-nine. And one of the male factors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, say thyself and us.
But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shall thou be with me in paradise. All right, we got that down. Now we're going to read all of our scripture pretty well in order here, or at least one after the other. Second Corinthians chapter five. Second Corinthians and chapter five.
We're going to try to cover so much that it necessitates reading quite a bit of Scripture ahead, and then I hope you'll remember it and go home and read it again, because we won't have time to just go back and reread the individual verses and get some good things out of every little verse, but we will read a block of Scripture and then look at the chart. Second Corinthians chapter five, and let's begin our reading with verse eight. We are confident, I say, and willing, ready to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor that, for the present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all, I want you to get that, a little word, A-L, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his Body, another important word is the reason I'm stressing that.
Very important little phrase there. Things done in his body. According to that he has done, whether it be good or bad. Well, may God bless the reading of his word tonight. I hope that you will see in the coming nights that these scriptures are going to connect, not only those tonight, but the ones we read last night. So try to keep some of the scriptures in mind. If you can, jot them down and reread them because they will make a lot better sense to you then. All right. Let's look up at the chart again tonight, and I want to thank the person who provided the light. Gets this big one right out of my eyes here, and I certainly do thank that person for providing it.
And I hope you can see it. Again, let me encourage you. to come forward and get a closer seat to the front at least. I know you won't sit on the front row, but get a little closer seat to the front and maybe you'll see the chart better. All right, we want you to notice right up on the chart immediately the golden arrow pointing downward towards what we refer to as the earth or down towards this world. And of course that has to do with the first advent or the first coming to this earth of the Lord Jesus Christ. An Advent is simply, I think, if I told you some months ago, an Advent simply means a coming or an arrival.
And it means, in the Scripture relation, a coming or an arrival to this earth. And so the first Advent, the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth, was simply when, as the babe in Bethlehem, it was at his birth that he came. And then we know for some thirty-three, perhaps thirty-three and a half years, He walked this scene doing that which was well pleasing to his father. But there is something else that's very peculiar about this blessed man called the Lord Jesus Christ. And do you know what it is? Well, I was looking at a young man with cowboy boots on tonight in the audience, and I could see that he was just full of life.
He loves life. He likes to chew gum. It's great. He goes to grandmama. You know, life is a tremendous thing. Don't you think so? I do. In fact, we come here doing what? Grasping and gasping for life. You know, in the hospital when the old doctor turns us upside down or whatever position it is nowadays and gives us a good plaque on the speed of our learning or whatever, you know, we immediately begin to cry and gasp for breath, don't we? We come here fighting for what? Life. We want to live. The baby wants to live. They struggle to live. And we want to grow up and we want to have this life. and we want to avoid and we want to shun death, if at all possible, don't we? If there were a cure today for death, and I could say, hubble, bubble, and you know, here it is, here's the pill, come get it, you'd run over me.
Every one of you would, because we want to live. We'd come here with a desire for life, but there was one born. His first advent was simply he came to die. He's the only man that I know of that came into this world with a specific purpose, knowing that he would die. willing to go to the cross of Calvary. And the Lord Jesus Christ is that God-man. He is the one who came willing to die, and in fact he came to die, and we know that he accomplished that death on a tree on a little hill that we sometimes call Calvary, Golgotha, a place of a skull, a real place a real person, really my Lord and Savior, who died on that tree in that place across the ocean.
We sometimes forget that, don't we? But he did. And so through him, I have what? Salvation, eternal life. But now we're getting from this side of the cross, as it were, because he died. He gave his life a ransom for us all on that tree over there on the little hill of Galgotha. But what did they do then? Well, the story goes on that they buried him. They buried him. That is, they put him in a tomb. They put him out of sight, and they thought that was the last they have to do with that man called Christ Jesus. They thought that was the end of it. But of course we know that he wasn't. We know that the third day he arose, victor over the graves, death, and hell for you and I, isn't it?
But now you may wonder, why did he read in Luke chapter sixteen? Because I want you to notice on the chart on this side of the cross we have a black line going down into this old death line, this black line on the bottom of the chart going down indicating to us death in hell, the grave, and etc. That's all broadly what it represents. We have a black arrow pointing downward in relation to the person of Christ. Well, why do we do that? Why is this arrow pointing down towards the death line? Well, it takes the death for every man, you say, but there's more to it than that. Because I want to tell you a story, and they tell me this possibly really happened.
There was a cowboy in the old days out in the West And he comes staggering out of the saloon. He was a town drunkard. He comes staggering out of the saloon, and just as he did, there were a group of Christians going along to go to meeting. And he and his drunken stupor, as he staggered for his horse, he grabbed one of the Christians, and he said, Hey, buddy, how far is it to hell? And he jumped up as best he could on his horse, and he rode around the corner. Well, this Christian that he had spoken to was very sad to see a person in that kind of a condition. And he walked on down to the end of the block and turned the corner, and there a crowd had already gathered around someone lying on the ground.
When this Christian walked up there, there was the cowboy that just a few seconds before had asked him, how far is it to hell that cowboy knew. At that moment in time, he had been thrown by his horse, his neck was broken, and he was dead. So at that moment we believed the cowboy knew how far hell was. But now let me ask you, do you know where hell is? Sometimes we have a tendency even as Christians to put hell out of our mind and think it's not a real place, but it is. It's a real place. And do you know where it's at? Where do you think hell really is? Is it just kind of floating around there somewhere? No, I believe, and I believe the Scripture points out, as far as I'm concerned, that hell is in the bowels of the earth.
It's a real place. And I'll tell you, if you read in Luke chapter sixteen there, you find out that in so many words there and in Luke twenty-three, it's referred to as paradise. Boy, you don't think of paradise like that, do you? All right, let's go back for a minute and look on the chart. Do you remember the Lord Jesus Christ promised that old male factor on the cross, that old thief on the cross? He said, the one that turned to him and said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ said, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And you say, that's not hell. My friend, before the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, hell was in the bowels of the earth, but so was paradise.
That place where the Old Testament saints at that time, their departed spirits and souls awaited the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there was a great gulf fixed. You know, we didn't read that part of the story tonight, but in Luke chapter sixteen... We know that the rich man could look across and see Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. That's another expression for paradise, a place of comfort and keeping and safety. The old rich man could look across there, that great golf pitch, and he could see Lazarus there in comfort, and so he would speak to him. But also in the story we find out that there was no fellowship, no communion, no going over from that place where the rich man was to the place where Lazarus was.
And yet they were both, I believe, in the vows of the earth. And just in a great compartment separated, if you please, at that particular time. But remember, we're talking about the time before Christ's resurrection. Before Christ's resurrection. So as far as that is concerned, hell is still there tonight. Hell, as far as I can see in the Scripture, and as far as I'm concerned, is still in the bowels of the earth tonight. It is a real place. It is a place of torment. It is a place for those souls and spirits to be kept until a future day. And it's not a pleasant place. You say, well, give us some Scripture to back up the fact that hell was in the earth and that paradise was a compartment there at that time.
All right, I'm going to do that. But remember now, we're talking about prior to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're talking about paradise being in the balance of the earth. Let's go to Ephesians chapter four, and I'll clear this up for you and we'll tie it all together. Ephesians and chapter four. Ephesians and chapter four. And I'm going to begin our reading with verse eight. Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.
Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. I believe, beloved, that that refers to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ, at his death, he could promise that thief on the cross. Today, shalt thou be with thee in paradise. And I believe at that point in time, paradise was, as we read in Luke sixteen, just a compartment in the bowels of the earth, separated by a great gulf from that awful place called hell.
But let's remember, it's referred to as Abraham's bosom. The bosom speaks of comfort and protection. And so it was not hell itself in that sense, but it was a compartment there until, because Christ had to be, to fulfill all Scripture, the first fruit of the resurrection. He is the first fruit. And so we know that we read in the Scripture that Christ arose again the third day triumphant over death. held in the grave and etc. And I believe that when he arose, as it were, he led captivity, casket. In other words, he emptied out that compartment called paradise in the bowels of the earth.
And it's no longer there. There's no one any longer in the bowels of the earth in that place called paradise. But it says nothing of those who were in hell. So hell, as far as I can see from the scripture today, is a real place and it's in the bowels of the earth. And it is a place. of great torment. Now I wanted to start off with that tonight because I want you to realize that hell is real. I met a Christian once and he thought he was kind of fictitious, but hell is a real place and a real place of torment. But the Lord Jesus Christ rose again the third day. Now let's find out here on the chart. It says the gift of God is eternal life.
And of course we know through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you also notice this little Mount of Olives, little Mount Obelette. It's called here. And you notice the golden line going upward there. Let's find out what that's all about again. I may have said this before, but turn to, let's see, Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. Acts and chapter two. Acts chapter two. It's important that you look at these things because we are covering so much so fast that it's good to get the scriptures in mind.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. I think that's enough for you Christians tonight to just trigger your thinking. And so what is Pentecost? I told you this before. It's not a magical word. It's nothing mystical, mysterious or anything else. Pentecost simply means fiftieth. That's all that it means. Fiftieth. I want you to look up on the chart. We say the Lord Jesus Christ rose again the third day, but did he go immediately back to heaven? It says he showed himself alive by many infallible proofs for how long?
forty days and forty nights. Then ten days, then he ascended back to heaven. Is that right? After forty days, as the golden arrow indicates, and the golden line he ascended back to heaven. If we read in Acts chapter one, you would see those men in shining garments were saying to the disciples, why stand ye gazing into heaven? And they went on to tell them, He's coming back in like manner. So the Lord Jesus Christ showed Himself alive by many infallible truths for forty days and forty nights, then He ascended back into heaven. Ten days later, though, we have what?
If you add ten and forty, fifty. The fiftieth day, in other words, the fiftieth day after Christ had risen from the grave, what occurred? Well, not only the Feast of Pentecost, which simply means fiftieth, but there's something else happened. Notice on the chart how that there's a blue line and really it descends down. What do you suppose that represents? What occurred on the day of Pentecost there besides the disciples coming together? How many of you have a birthday? What? I better see every hand in this audience. I hope you're not dead on me tonight.
I hope you're alive. And even if you are dead, you had a birthday. Even if you are, please don't die on me tonight. But anyway, here you are and you've had a birthday and that's a joyous occasion. That's how you began life, wasn't it? You began it, naturally speaking, on your birthday. That's the day that you were born. Well, there's a birthday indicated here on the fiftieth day after Christ Resurrection. And whose birthday is it? It's the birthday of the church. Yes, the church has a real beginning. When I have time to slow down and really teach on these things, you realize that we know when the church started and we know when it's going to end.
It does have a beginning. It's already had that. And I believe shortly it's going to have an ending. The bride will be complete. And that will be the ending, won't it? All right, so here we have the birthday of the church. Fifty days after Christ's resurrection, the Holy Spirit descended there. As we have just read in the book of Acts, he descended and formed the church. That is, that's the birthday of the church. Now I have a reason for trying to catch you sleeping here. I want to get you awake, so I'm going to ask you a question. Of course, I don't want anyone to answer it out loud, but I want you to think about it a moment.
So this is the birthday of the church, right? And we're living in the church period, right? Today the Lord Jesus Christ is taking out both Jew and Gentile, and they comprise the bride of Christ, don't they? You say, oh, that's right. Okay. Question. Was John the Baptist, or I should say, is John the Baptist in the church? You know, people like to take great pride today and say, John the Baptist is in the church. Is he in the church? He is not. How can he be in the church when he died before the fiftieth day, when he died before Pentecost, when he died before the birthday of the church?
No, he's not in the church. He's one of what we refer to as the Old Testament saints. He's a great man, a wonderful man, but he's not in the church. And you see how we determine that? Because the church has a birthday and it began on the fiftieth day after Christ's resurrection. You know, that's a marvelous thing. The Lord's been working now almost Two thousand years building his church. Building his church. Some say, you know, Peter is the foundation of the church, the cornerstone and all of that. But you know, and I believe it's Matthew sixteen where the Lord is speaking to Peter and he says, upon this rock I will build. That tells us, number one, that when Christ was here upon the earth, the church was not begun.
because he says, I will build my church. And it certainly was not upon Peter, because who'd like to be built upon old Phelan Peter, as great as he was, you know. Peter's a wonderful man, and I love Peter, and I'm going to enjoy seeing him in heaven. I'm just going to put my arms around Peter and say, hey, Peter, maybe I love you in a little special way, because I'm kind of like you. I'm impetuous and I do things wrong, but I believe we both do love the Lord. I believe Peter loved the Lord and all that, but I don't think I'd want to put my foundation on Peter as great as he was, because he went on to deny the Lord, didn't he? So he was not perfect. Well, even there in Matthew, there's a play on words. You all know this probably. But when he says, upon this rock, I will build my church, he uses the word for foundation stone, meaning himself.
Remember in the scripture where it says, For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So Christ is the foundation of the church, not Peter. And when he used the other word for rock in referring to Peter, he used a little word for chip off the rock, if you want to say it that way, or a little piece of rock, certainly not the bedstone nor the foundation rock. So the church has a birthday. It was on the day of Pentecost. All right. Now, Christians, don't you feel good? Haven't I got you feeling good? Okay. For our purposes tonight, we've been living now, or the church has been going on now for almost two thousand years.
I believe we're right down here in the last of this Laodicean period. The Lord Jesus Christ could come at any moment into the air with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God and so forth, you know, the shout and all of that. And suddenly... we would be changed here tonight and all those bodies of the saints have gone on to the glory and they are in the glory now because remember we empty paradise and we read you there in second corinthians that to be absent from the body today is to be immediately present with the lord and where's the lord he's in heaven and i'm going real fast but think about that if you just look at these scriptures you can know what's going on there's no more paradise in the bowels of the earth when paul was caught up to paradise.
You remember that in second Corinthians two or second Corinthians chapter twelve I believe it is rather notice the wording he was caught up had it been before the cost he would have had to go down wouldn't he but we know to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and if you want to call heaven paradise today I wouldn't fuss with you too much I would say well I just not too sure that's the best language but if you just preferred to call it that perhaps a place of comfort paradise I'd have to say, well, okay, but remember, it's in the glory today because he was caught up in the paradise. And so we know that paradise is no longer in the bowels of the earth, but it's up for the Lord Jesus Christ is in with him.
So I don't mind you saying that because that means to be in the glory with the Lord Jesus Christ. So here we are. We're living right here. We're about to be snatched away. And together with new bodies, you know, these bodies are going to be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, caught up to meet the Lord in the air with all the Old Testament saints and all those who have gone before us having received their bodies, their changed bodies at the same moment. And together we're going to mount up into the sky and be with the Lord Jesus Christ for how long? Forever more. I told you that last night, didn't I? I told you to look on the chart for the blue and the gold line from this point on, and you'll see where you're at and where Christ is at.
And they just never really separate, do they? So we're with the Lord forever. Now, isn't that wonderful? Oh, boy, let's just stop it right there, Glenn. I'd like to stop sometimes right there, because it all sounds, you know, just like I'm going to get to heaven, as it were, scot-free. Well, yes, I'm going to heaven. But do you remember that little verse or two we read there in Second Corinthians, chapter five? about this place called the Judgment Seat of Christ. Now when we hear judgment, we think of standing before the old judge and trembling a little bit and saying, oh boy, I'm going to have to pay the fine. Well, my sins have been dealt with at the cross once and for all.
I don't want you to mistake me now, and I'm going to slow down. I don't want you to mistake me. The sin question was once and forever and for always answered by the Lord Jesus Christ. at the cross. And when I receive Him as my Savior, the sin question is put away forever. No more sin question. No more sin question. My sins have been removed as far as East is from the West. God chooses to remember them no more. That means my past sins, my present sins as a Christian, and those sins I will commit probably within the next hours, if the Lord may not come. All of that was answered at the cross. So get rid of the sin question when you think of the judgment seat of Christ.
It is a place where things will be judged, but not our sin, our works. Now I want you to turn back. It's just worthwhile to turn to Second Corinthians chapter five again. I want to read something there and restress some of the words. Remember now we're talking about the judgment seat of Christ and we are talking about a judgment, but it's not a judgment of our sins, but a judgment of our works. And remember, to be in heaven, you've got to be a Christian. So again, drop out the sin question and think about works. Notice right on the top of the chart it says the judgment seat of Christ.
It's sometimes referred to for you Bible students as the Bema seat, Bema seat of Christ. And so let's read here in verse ten. For we all, or for we must all appear. Now I want you to note that the apostle is speaking to Christians here. This can only be referring to Christians. It has nothing to do with the unbeliever. It has nothing to do with the unbeliever. This is being spoken to Christians. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive, notice you're going to get something or you're going to lose something here, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Beloved, what I'm trying to point out is you're not going to be rewarded here or suffer loss for something that you do in heaven. It's what you've done in this body. and the apostle here is speaking of our lifetime upon this earth it's while we're living upon this earth as a christian and in accordance to how we well i was going to say serve the lord maybe you wouldn't appreciate it as much as if i were to say live because you know being who i am i would Scoot out of that one. I'd say, hey, well, I'm not a servant. You know, I'm not one of those fellas. I'm not a full-time servant.
We might say, you know, I'm not that guy. I'm not a preacher. And so when you use the word service, you might think, well, that lets me out. That's okay. It's talking about somebody else. But it's really referring as to how we live for the Lord. Because, you know, some of the greatest service that we can do for the Lord is simply living for him in this life. Ladies who wash the dishes after a conference. Ladies who work in the home. Men who go along quietly, raising their families, providing for their families, loving the Lord, coming to meeting, reading, praying. And as I can't emphasize enough, simply leading your children in the ways of the Lord, there is a tremendous reward, I believe, coming for that.
Because these are the things done in the body. It does not just refer to this platform service. or the missionary service or anything, but it refers to the things that all, notice A double L. You know, the women are really striking to be liberated. I never saw such liberated women as the Christian women. I never saw anything like it. They're liberated so much they can have all my work. They can do all they want. No, really, you know, there's more liberty in the Christian life than you'll ever find anywhere else. Then you'll ever find anywhere else. And so the wording is here, for we must all appear. Every child of God is going to appear for themselves before the judgment seat of Christ, and they're going to be receiving either reward or loss of reward.
Notice I didn't say loss of life, but either receiving reward or a loss of reward for the things done in this body. Now, we could have gone on tonight and spent a little time on the wood, hay, and stubble. and the gold, silver, and precious stones and that kind of thing. But I think you've heard a lot of this before. I just wanted to bring you up to date again that, listen, it's how you live for the Lord that counts. It's what you do with this life for God that's going to count at the judgment seat of Christ. Again, let me remind you quickly tonight as we get ready to close up here. Let me remind you that those rewards are given for what you do for the Lord Jesus Christ, how you live for Him and all of that in this life.
Then that determines those rewards, as far as I can see in the Scripture, those rewards determine as to your place of service for the Lord in the millennial reign of Christ and His bride over the earth. I think that what we do in this body is exactly going to be rewarded justly so at the judgment seat of Christ. And then in accordance to the rewards received there, we will serve Him here during this millennial reign. We're not going to be lazy Christians, are we? We're going to be busy for God always. You know, heaven's going to be filled with good things. And I'm just looking forward to the time when we will realize that in this life and begin to live more for Him.
Now, tomorrow evening in the will of the Lord... We're going to talk about his second advent, about his coming back, in other words, to the earth, what it has to do with the Battle of Armageddon. And we're going to move in and begin to talk about some of the things and some of the people that will be active during this seven years that we call Daniel's last week. So be looking to that tomorrow night. and be thinking about some things because we will, in the will of God, be talking about that. Now allow me a little leeway, would you? Because I either want to be sure and do that or maybe we'll talk about the resurrection.
I don't want to pin myself down too tight here. I want to be able to go more than one way. But that's my prime thought that we will go to the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ and some of those things that go on during those seven years. Or else we'll talk about the resurrection. How many are there? And who are in them? And such questions as that. So shall we pray. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father tonight, we thank thee for the lovely Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee, our Father, that a good number have come out again to read thy word and to share these things in their hearts about all that we see upon the chart. Do ask thee, our God, that you bless each one and return them safely to their homes.
Bring them out again tomorrow night as the Lord be not come, rejoicing in having learned more about him in whose name we pray. Amen. Okay, so see tomorrow night if you can possibly make it there then. Don't forget to be thinking about those questions.