Category: Judgment Seat of Christ

Paul and Dispensationalism #20

Thursday, August 27, 2015

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:15-18 KJV).

What else can the Apostle Paul teach us about dispensational Bible study?

The only verse that tells us to “study” the Bible tells us how to study it. It is found in the last Bible book Paul wrote. We must “rightly divide the word of truth.” Confusing ourselves with Israel and stealing her passages will cause major problems, both in this life (today’s Scripture) and in the next.

Ignoring dispensational Bible study will affect everyone in eternity. Most Christians will arrive at the Judgment Seat of Christ with worthless information in their inner man. They did not follow Paul’s instructions, but preferred religious tradition, philosophy, non-dispensational Scripture, et cetera. That “wood, hay, and stubble” will result in loss of reward (1 Corinthians 3:9-15). Many lost people will wake up in hell because they grabbed a Gospel for another dispensation as though it applied to them (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, Matthew 19:17, et cetera)!

Friends, may we believe the right Gospel right now. It is not about “repenting,” “turning over a new leaf,” “asking Jesus into your heart,” et cetera. It is about trusting Jesus Christ’s shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection as complete payment for your sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). Paul’s Gospel is the only valid Gospel message today, the Gospel that will save us unto eternal life and guarantee us a place in heaven. We do not have to go to hell!

Brethren, may we study all of the Bible, Genesis through Revelation. May we recognize Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, apply directly to us. Paul is our apostle (Romans 11:13). May we take those grace doctrines in Paul’s books and apply them to life by faith. This is the “gold, silver, and precious stones” that will profit us in eternity (1 Corinthians 3:9-15). We do not have to stay confused and defeated! 🙂

-FINIS!-

Fruit in the Time to Come

Friday, May 22, 2015

“For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end; As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus” (2 Corinthians 1:13,14 KJV).

Oh, what excitement and rejoicing there will be when all members of the Body of Christ in heaven we will see!

In the early 1900s, preacher and Bible scholar Dr. C. I. Scofield led a certain missionary to trust Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. In the 1940s, that missionary led a certain preacher to Jesus Christ. By the early 1970s, that preacher had led a certain woman and her husband to Jesus Christ. In 1980, that woman led Mom and Dad to Jesus Christ. It was in the mid-1990s that Mom led me, at the age of 6 or 7, to trust Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. In just a few lines, that was one route the Gospel of Grace “traveled” in the 20th century!

Today’s Scripture is a very exciting passage in light of the above paragraph. Paul and Timothy knew the Corinthian believers would be their rejoicing at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Conversely, Paul and Timothy would be the rejoicing of the Corinthians in that day. Similar statements were made about the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2:19,20.

When we all arrive at the Judgment Seat of Christ on that glorious day post-Rapture, and the Lord Jesus Himself evaluates the doctrine we have stored in our inner man, there will be great joy, a most glorious reunion, an event that transcends our imagination! There, we will recognize those we led to Jesus Christ, and we will know those Christians whose lives we impacted with sound Bible doctrine (dispensational Bible study). Also, we will be able to thank the saints who were so faithful in leading us to trust Jesus Christ and/or teaching us His wonderful truths. All the memories of the troubles of this world will just melt away. We will be awed by what God Almighty did to get us all there! 🙂

A Love Letter, Not a Dust Collector

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

“Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13 KJV).

You are hereby exhorted to read the Scriptures and learn doctrine!

Earlier this week, I received an email reply from someone I had emailed nearly four years ago! My unopened message sat in her inbox for all those years until someone recently showed her how to finish setting up that account. Till she replied, I had forgotten all about it. Imagine my delight when we finally made contact!

Similarly, God wrote the King James Bible to us, a love letter, written in the blood of His Son Jesus Christ, transmitted through history with the blood of His saints. Yet, there it sits on people’s bookshelves as a dust collector for years! Occasionally, it is taken out to construct a family tree, or put on the coffee table to decorate the room, but it is rarely utilized for its intended purpose. Sadly, time is spent on everything but what matters most. Mainly, these distractions are televisions, computers, and cell phones. People do not put God’s eternal Word in their eternal souls, so out in eternity, what will they have? For the lost, it will be one great strike against them at the Great White Throne Judgment! For Christians, it will be a tremendous loss of reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ!

Oh, beloved, my dear readers, may we not spurn the wonderful Word of God and the wonderful grace of God! May we blow the dust off His Book’s cover and actually read it for once. Consider the lost people who spend their whole lives—70 or 80 years—pursuing vanity and worthlessness. Without Jesus Christ, they go to hell. They could have spent 30 minutes reading the first five chapters of Romans. In that half-hour, they could have learned how to be saved from their sins, and they could have believed the Gospel and gone to heaven. They had many decades to read God’s Word. Now all they have is time without the Bible—eternity in hell!

Whether saved or lost, let us take time today to read and believe Romans chapters 1-5. It will be well worth the 30 minutes! 🙂

Silent Building #7

Sunday, December 7, 2014

“And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building” (1 Kings 6:7 KJV).

God is doing something similar today, very quietly too….

According to 1 Corinthians 3:9-15, we can build into our Christian lives “gold, silver, precious stones” (God’s Word rightly divided), or we can build into our Christian lives “wood, hay, stubble” (religious tradition, non-rightly-divided Bible, philosophy, denominational thinking). Verse 16 asks, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” We should be careful not to defile God’s temple, our bodies. Scripture warns these false teachers who mislead the Body of Christ: “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (verse 17).

We would hate to stand before God as those who stand in the pulpits and parrot nothing but the traditions of men, denominational thinking, worthless religious doctrine. All those false people are undermining God’s people, polluting them with bad doctrine, and yet, they are ever so covert that they appear to be servants of Jesus Christ and are thus rarely identified as ministers of Satan (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Romans 16:25-26 says that God wants to “stablish” (stabilize) us using a three-fold process: “according to my [Paul’s] gospel,” and “the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery,” and “by the scriptures of the prophets.” Paul’s Gospel is the Gospel of Grace (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)—Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day. Jesus Christ according to the mystery (secret) program is revealed in Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon. The Scriptures of the prophets is all of the Bible in light of Paul’s writings.

Since church members usually ignore dispensational Bible study, they lack spiritual stability, they are unskilled in Christian service, and they cannot function as God intended. Let us guard against the Adversary’s wiles, that we may participate in God’s silent building….

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Is the Church the Body of Christ spoken of in Matthew 16:18?”

Waste Not Thy Time

Friday, September 13, 2013

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17 KJV).

Thy time on earth is short, so use it wisely!

There are so many distractions in this world, especially various electronic devices popularized in the last half-century. Technological progress and its products are not evil in and of themselves. Our Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, equipped mankind with extraordinary mental abilities that allow him to take resources from His creation and make various objects. The problem is when we become so distracted by and addicted to these inventions that we have neither time nor energy to think about the literal eternity that awaits once those things pass away!

How true are the words of the late Christian brother who said, “People throw away the things that matter and they hold on to the things that do not.” Although he was referring to lost people, even many Christians have fallen prey to this improper thinking. Think of the hours upon hours upon hours the average Christian sits in front of the television and/or computer per day. Where is the Bible study? The prayer? The soul-winning? The inner man is starving, waning and becoming lean, saturated with the world’s foolishness. Instead of the Christian teaching the lost and dying world the things of God, the lost and dying world is teaching the Christian the things of the adversary!

Beloved, do not let the world distract you from your Christian ambassadorship (today’s Scripture). We all need to guard against this by understanding God’s will. We need to study God’s Word rightly divided every day; otherwise we have no sound doctrine to compensate for the error of the evil world system that we hear and see every day. Extended exposure to the “wisdom” of the world pollutes the Christian’s soul, that which will profit you ABSOLUTELY NOTHING at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10-20).

Thy time on earth is extremely brief, so redeem it for God’s glory! 🙂

Unfathomable Distances, Unsearchable Speeds #5

Saturday, June 8, 2013

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20,21 KJV).

The vastness of space is mindboggling; today’s Scripture is equally mind-blowing….

Having received their glorified bodies, and left planet earth, Jesus Christ is now escorting His Christians across the heavens with speed unsearchable. He brings us outside of the universe.

After we each stand before “the Judgment Seat of Christ” (Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:9,10) where the Lord Jesus Christ evaluates the quality of the doctrine we believed and the quality of our Christian service (1 Corinthians 3:9-15; 1 Corinthians 4:4,5; Colossians 3:23-25), including suffering for His name’s sake (2 Timothy 2:12), He presents us to God the Father in the third heaven. This is where 1 Thessalonians 3:13 picks up: “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” Jesus Christ is with His saints, bringing us before God, His and our Father!

Based on the results of the Judgment Seat of Christ (that is, dependent on the capacity of our inner man to function in the government of the heavenly places), we will receive a reward, an office of heaven’s government (again, these various ranks/offices will be filled up by Christians based on their spiritual maturity levels)—see, whether you believe sound Pauline Bible doctrine or vain religious tradition is of utmost importance!!!!

Once we are individually installed in the offices of government in the heavens, they will be “subdued” under Jesus Christ’s authority (today’s Scripture). Eternity will be busy, especially using those glorified bodies! We will be able to travel those astronomical distances in only a short period of time, carrying out the will of God the Father to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, reigning in the heavenly places, forever, and ever, and ever, and ever! 🙂

Be Not Pierced By the Sword of the Spirit #4

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

“And take… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:17 KJV).

Again, take heed—it does matter what Bible version you read!

Utilizing Greek philosophy, Satan distracted the Corinthians from the sound doctrine Paul preached to them. Hence, the Apostle cautioned them regarding this worthless human wisdom (pagan philosophy).

As Christians, “we are labourers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9a). In Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, God has furnished us with building materials, sound doctrine. When we “study” Pauline doctrine, we understand what God is doing today in the Dispensation of Grace, and by faith, we become “workmen” (2 Timothy 2:15) who cooperate with God and do what He is doing (teaching lost mankind about salvation, educating Christians about God’s will for them, et cetera).

Paul laid the foundation, Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery (1 Corinthians 3:10,11). We can build on that foundation by applying sound Pauline Bible doctrine by faith, symbolized by “gold, silver, precious stones,” or we can use worthless building materials such as philosophy and religious tradition—“wood, hay, stubble” (verses 11,12).

“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 of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (verses 13-15).

After the rapture, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, Jesus Christ will determine the quality of the doctrine we Christians believed and applied to life. That which is worthless—religious tradition, human wisdom, and so on—will burn up. Only sound Pauline Bible doctrine will withstand that fiery test, and only that will remain!

Most, if not all, modern English “bibles” are unsound. Their denominational translators obscure Pauline dispensationalism by omitting, adding, and changing words. Friend, take heed!! Using these perverted books will hinder your spiritual growth and cause you to lose—not salvation—but reward!

Be Not Pierced By the Sword of the Spirit #3

Monday, August 13, 2012

“And take… the sword of the Spirit, which the word of God:” (Ephesians 6:17 KJV).

Take heed—it does matter what Bible version you read!

The Apostle Paul’s least spiritual Christian assembly was at Corinth. These saints were “carnal,” spiritual “babes,” people who had little understanding of God’s Word (1 Corinthians 3:1-3), whose ungodly lifestyles resembled their heathen (pagan/lost/hell-bound) neighbors! Paul had spent 18 months in Corinth teaching them God’s Word (Acts 18:11), but they had since abandoned the Lord’s grace doctrines, preferring to follow the “wisdom” of the pagan Greek philosophers.

Therefore, Paul warned these Corinthians: “For we are labourers 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 masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no may lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:9-11).

In our Dispensation of Grace, God is constructing a house for Himself—we, the saints, are that house (Ephesians 2:21,22)! This house is constructed upon a foundation, “the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery” (Romans 16:25); that is, Jesus Christ according to the special ministry He gave only to the Apostle Paul. Paul warns us to be careful how we “build thereupon;” that is, the doctrine we use/learn/believe must be God’s Word rightly divided (Pauline-dispensationally believed).

He continues in 1 Corinthians 3:12,13: “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 of what sort it is.” This describes “the Judgment Seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10), when we Christians stand before Jesus Christ, and He will examine the doctrine we learned and believed.

Friend, it matters what Bible version you use, for if it is corrupted by man’s philosophy, the doctrine you believe will be unacceptable to God!

Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11 KJV).

In today’s Scripture, our Apostle Paul shows us how to pray!

Notice the three specific things for which Paul prayed for these members of the Body of Christ (this is how we should pray for fellow Christians!):

  • “That your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment:” Paul (and the Holy Spirit) wants Christians to have greater desire and love for spiritual knowledge and discernment. Essentially, he wanted these believers in Philippi to long for sound Bible doctrine, so that they could then be able to make wise, godly decisions.
  • “That ye may approve things that are excellent:” Christians should have high standards—values, beliefs, et cetera. We do not conform to social “norms:” we esteem that which God values (what the world disrespects).
  • “That ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ:” “Sincere” means “genuine,” as opposed to hypocritical; Paul desired these Christians to be genuine (not simply “put-on,” “phonies,” et cetera). That they would be “without offence till the day of Christ [this is the Judgment Seat of Christ]”—that they would lead godly lives that honored the Lord.

These three qualities are fulfilled when we are “filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ.” When we study and believe the Bible dispensationally, the Holy Spirit will use that doctrine to work in us (1 Thessalonians 2:13), to generate His “fruit:” “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22,23). When we allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to work in us and produce that fruit, the Bible calls this “[Holy] Spirit-filled” (Ephesians 5:18). As today’s Scripture says, this will result in “the glory and praise of God!”

Interested in learning more about “Pauline prayer?” Click here.

Let Another Man Praise Thee

Monday, May 7, 2012

“Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips” (Proverbs 27:2 KJV).

As humans, we all have a tendency to brag about ourselves. Religion only makes the matter worse, for it teaches us to perform rites and rituals for others to see. They then “glory in [our] flesh,” boasting in our ability to fulfill those commandments (see Galatians 6:12,13). We need not praise ourselves, dear friends, for in due time, another Man shall praise us.

While we all enjoy someone telling us “Good job” or “Congratulations,” oftentimes these words go unspoken. Some individuals, no matter what we do, will never accept us. Even if it was godly Christian service, they still criticize us. Nothing we do will ever be good enough for them. No matter how kind we are to them, they will never treat us with respect. Do we love man’s praise, or God’s praise (John 12:43)? If we want man’s praise, then we should not be Christ’s servants (Galatians 1:10)!

In 1 Corinthians 4:5, the Apostle Paul talks about Christians having “praise of God” at the Judgment Seat of Christ: “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”

The day is coming, the Judgment Seat of Christ, when Jesus Christ Himself will evaluate us Christians (the Church the Body of Christ) (Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:9,10). He will look into our inner man (soul), searching our hearts and examining the doctrine we studied and believed from His Word rightly divided, the doctrine we stored in our inner man by faith. He will evaluate the doctrine we believed according to Paul’s epistles (1 Corinthians 3:9-15). Finally, we will receive a reward: an office in the government of heaven (Ephesians 1:3,20-23; Ephesians 2:6,7; Colossians 1:16-20; 2 Timothy 2:12)!

While fellow man may never say “Thank you” or “Well done” in response to thy acts of kindness or accomplishments, let another man praise thee… let the God-Man praise thee.