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[0:00] Can we open our Bibles again? We read in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians in the fifth chapter. Tonight, perhaps if we take us a text, the words from verse 14 and 15.

[0:19] For Christ's love compelled us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

[0:31] And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them, and was raised again.

[0:45] Tonight we come again to look at the subject of evangelism. And I'm not taking this passage just to treat it in a normal exposition of trying to go through the passage piece by piece to show what it all means.

[1:03] It is one of these very full chapters of God's Word, one which we have turned to many times for different reasons and different occasions. Tonight, in a sense, I'm going to use it to think more around this subject of evangelism.

[1:22] Now, I'm aware, before we start and before we get into that subject, I'm aware that this is a subject that may have no particular interest, or seem of no relevance, to those who are not professing Christians.

[1:39] And if there are any here, I do not want you to come into this church and feel that there is nothing at all for you in God's Word. Though I'm speaking in the first instance to Christians, there is, I think, quite a lot.

[1:53] Not only in God's Word, but even in a little part of it we can share together tonight. There is a lot here, also, for the person who is not yet a Christian.

[2:04] Perhaps even the very subject, the name evangelism, baffled us. Now, we have tried to explain it and give definitions of it before, and I'm hoping to go over the same kind of territory.

[2:19] Except to say, very simply, that evangelism is bringing a message of good news to others. particularly, the message about Jesus Christ, and of his love for sinners.

[2:37] It's a message that we have so neatly and fully summed up in John's Gospel, the third chapter, the words that we all know so well. Where Jesus said that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[3:01] The message is that Christ died for the ungodly. Christ gave his life for sinners. That's the message.

[3:13] And that is the message that we have here. We are convinced that one, that is Christ, died for all, and therefore all died. Now, it is within that message that I want to share with you, to say that even if you're not a Christian, that message itself in its basic simplicity is God's message for you tonight.

[3:38] Perhaps if you're not interested in any other part of God's Word, or have difficulty in understanding it and trying to sort it all out, then know what it means. Know this.

[3:49] That God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. But whosoever, and that includes you, whoever believes in things, should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[4:05] Now this morning we were asking the question, what side are you on? Because we are, because we are, all of us, either on one side or the other, going through life, either we are for Christ, or we are against Christ.

[4:23] Now it is not just, that's not a conclusion, that I come to individually, it's not a conclusion of the church, or of one part of the church, it's a conclusion, that Jesus Christ, has made it, a definition.

[4:36] Either we are for Christ, or against him. And if we are not yet Christians, we need, this message of good news, that we are bringing.

[4:48] We need, you need this saviour, to save you, from a, a perishing state, from, from being lost. Now as we deal with the subject of evangelism, I am simply, from time to time, going to raise questions, of what we are saying, that relates also, to anybody's life, that relates to those, who as yet do not know Christ.

[5:16] Now let us turn to the subject of evangelism. The last two Sunday evenings, when we looked, at this event, not last, the last day, but the two previous to that, we saw, first of all, that every Christian, is to be an evangelist, both, by life, and by life.

[5:38] The way that they live, and the way that they speak, is to show Christ, to those around them. And, every person, and every place, is also to be evangelised.

[5:52] Every Christian is an evangelist, and every other person, and place, is to be evangelised. Now that is summing up, basically, what we have been trying to say.

[6:04] So tonight, I wanted to come to ask, the very important question, of why, do we evangelise? Why do Christian people, bother?

[6:15] Why should the church, get out, and move out, and do something about, spreading, and bringing this message, to other people? Why is it so important?

[6:26] And why, or how are we going to go and do it? See, the biggest problem, and there are many problems, associated with evangelism, and the biggest problem, of the whole lot, is the problem, of motivation.

[6:40] Or the lack, of motivation. What is going to make us, go and do, what we know, what we know, we should do. We know, we should evangelise, we have, even have an idea, of how we would do it, if only we would do it.

[6:54] It's a question, of getting up, to do it. But it's going to make us. Now I think, we could look at this, in a very negative way, and we could, very easily, give negative reasons, of why, we do not evangelise.

[7:08] For example, we do not evangelise, because we do not know, ourselves, well enough. I'm saying this to Christians. We do not know ourselves.

[7:20] We do not know, our own sinfulness. We haven't reckoned with it, properly. We are, amongst other things, by nature, lazy.

[7:32] We are proud. We are complacent. We are uncaring. We are unloving. We are materialistic. We are unspiritual. We are unconcerned.

[7:45] Now, we may or may not, have all these, things together in our life, as sort of negative qualities. But because of these things, because of the reality, of what we are, and of our own sinfulness, that is one reason, why we do not evangelise.

[8:03] The other is, not only that we do not, know ourselves, and reckon with ourselves, but we do not know our God, well enough. We do not realise, and have a clear vision, of his holiness, and of his grace, towards us.

[8:22] If you, turn over to the sixth chapter, of the prophecy of Isaiah, Isaiah, you see there, the very specific vision, that Isaiah had, a vision, of God's, holy majesty, before him.

[8:36] And it was this, along with the sense, of his own, unworthiness, and of the sense of grace, that God gave to him, that drove Isaiah, to be, to offer himself, in God's service, and to be the kind of evangelist, that he was, in his own day, and his own generation.

[8:53] The prophet Daniel, he said this, that it is the people, who know their God, who shall be strong, and who shall do great things.

[9:05] It is these people, the people who have, a clear concept, of the God, who is their God, the God whom they profess, to worship, and the God, in whose hands, they have placed themselves. If we know our God, it will motivate us.

[9:20] God's salvation, is so great. His grace, has been great to us, but then so is our apathy, something that is great.

[9:32] We haven't a clear, knowledge of ourselves, or of our God, and also I believe, that we do not properly know, our fellow man. We do not think, of the people around us, in terms, that are people, that need to be cared for, in a gospel way.

[9:51] We do not reckon, with the real plight, of those, who do not know past. It was Amy Carmichael, I think, who recorded, the dream that she had, of people, who were Christians, sitting around, making daisy chains, when, all the time, there were hundreds, and thousands of people, rushing over the cliff tops, into a lostness, of eternity.

[10:21] Now it is that sort of vision, that is very, very hard, to live with indeed. It is the sort of thing, that made McChain, not only the great preacher, but the one, who wept, through his prayers, and wept over his congregation, of those, at least, who did not know Christ.

[10:36] Because he saw, and he felt, their lostness. And we do not always reckon, with, we do not know, our fellow man, in that sense. But these are negative reasons, why we don't evangelise.

[10:50] I want us tonight, to be positive. I want to find here, reasons, why we, should, and can, evangelise. To discover the, incentives, that are to make us evangelise.

[11:05] Now there is something, very important, we have to say here. And all, true motives, for evangelism, indeed for any work, of the gospel, all true motives, must be Christ centred.

[11:19] It is not just something, of a feeling, that we get, within ourselves, from time to time. There is something, more than that. We are Christ centred, for reasons, and motives.

[11:30] And if, the Lord Jesus, as our gracious, saviour, doesn't motivate us, nothing, and no one else, will properly.

[11:42] Now I think, the first, motivating factor, that we have, for, giving the gospel, to anyone else, is the command, of Christ. The command, of Christ.

[11:55] Now I know, that duty alone, will never move us, to do, what we ought, to do. We know, so many things, in our Christian lives, that are in the category, of, well we should, be doing this.

[12:08] But it starts, and it stops there. We ought to. But in itself, it doesn't, necessarily make us do. And yet, at the same time, though it doesn't, move us, the command of Christ, is, a legitimate motive.

[12:24] There are many times, in the Christian life, when we do, do things, only out of, a sheer, mere, sense of duty. Simply because, we know that we ought to.

[12:34] That's the only thing, that keeps us moving. Very often, if we waited, till we were in the mood, to do some things, we would just never, do them at all. If a mother, has a, has a little baby, she needs, his or her nappy changed, in the morning, she can't just wait, till sometime, during the day, or later on in the week, when she feels, in the mood for it.

[12:55] It's a task, that she is responsible, to do, as soon as, it requires doing. And there are, a thousand and one, illustrations of that in life. And so it is for Christians, that often we do things, not because we still, like doing it, but simply because, it is our plain, simple duty to do it.

[13:14] I believe that, a sense of responsibility, is a great thing, is a good thing, in order to keep us loyal, to keep us faithful, to keep us doing, the things, that we know, we ought to do.

[13:27] I'm sure the people, who come along here, to lead them, to help them, to organise them, to organise them, to Muslims, on a Friday night, very often feel, that they didn't have to do it, at the end of a busy week, and the last place, in some ways, that they would want to be.

[13:40] Many of us, who are involved, in whatever responsibilities, are in life, there's many a time, we don't feel like doing it, but just a sense, of responsibility, is the thing, that keeps us loyal, and keeps us involved.

[13:51] Simon, Peter, the fisherman, when Jesus came to him, after they had been out, all night fishing, working hard, came back in, we had nothing at all, in your nets to show, and Jesus said, go back out, and go into the deep waters, and throw your net over, on the other side.

[14:11] But now, Peter immediately protested, I mean, he was tagged out, he had his night's work, he would want him to rest, but he said, nevertheless, Lord, after your word, I will let down the men.

[14:24] And there is that sense, of duty, plain and simple, which is often, the thing, that makes us, do what we have to do, and with it, often, may also bring us, the success, that we need, and want to see.

[14:42] Obedience, to Christ, is in a sense, the first, and the last, qualification, of a Christian disciple. What is it that Jesus wants of us?

[14:54] He wants us, we are not obedient, to a system, we are not obedient, to the regulations, that the General Assembly, of the Free Church, we issue alone, not by themselves, we are not obedient, simply to a book, we are obedient, to a person, Jesus Christ, but it is that obedience, that is the first, and the last, qualification, of a Christian disciple.

[15:16] And when Jesus says, go, preach, disciple, baptize, teach, these are commands, and commands, that he expects, his church, to comply with.

[15:30] Now, I'll say it again, if, if, if, if, this, sense of duty, is our only motive, for doing things, well, that thing is going to become, a hard slog.

[15:43] But if we love Christ at all, the first response of love, that he can expect from us, is this love of obedience, of our willingness to do, what he asks, simply because he asks.

[15:57] to the Christians, to the Christians, to go, if you love me, says Jesus, keep my commandments. Now that is our motivation, our first motivation, for being involved in the work of bringing the gospel to others, telling others about Jesus, simply because Jesus asks us to do it.

[16:14] It's his command. Now my word here, to those of you who are not Christians, is this, that Jesus doesn't give you this command. He doesn't say to you, as he says to the Christians, to go.

[16:27] But what he's commanded to do, is still a command. And this, is the opposite, it's come. Come unto me, all you that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[16:41] Come to Jesus. Now that's a wide open, and wonderful invitation, to the person who doesn't know Jesus Christ, as our saviour, and as our master, and as our friend.

[16:53] But that is what Jesus says. It is not just an invitation, it is also the command of Christ to you. Come to me. I wonder, what we make, of Jesus' commands.

[17:10] Now there is a second, motivation that we have here, to evangelism. And it is, not the command of Christ, but the love of Christ, that I want to emphasize here.

[17:21] We see this, within the words of our text itself, in verse 14, for Christ's love, compels us. That's what Paul says. I want to sort out something here.

[17:34] that Paul is not speaking about, our feelings for Christ, our love for Christ. It's not that at all. He is speaking about Christ's love, towards us.

[17:47] And there's a big difference between the two. and you know it from your own experience. That your love to Christ, whatever else it is, is something that is very variable indeed.

[17:58] It's something that fluctuates from day to day, and from moment to moment. But Christ's love to you is not like that. Christ's love to you is something that is constant.

[18:09] It is steady, it is invariable, it is faithful to the very end. Now it is this sense of Christ's love for us, which is a motivating, uncompelling factor.

[18:24] You see, by our experience, we know from our own experience, that duty by itself is seldom a sufficient motive. It is a motive, and a proper one.

[18:35] But by itself, it is never sufficient to get us going to do. But it's when we begin to contemplate just how much Jesus has given to us, how much he has loved us, then that is what makes us move.

[18:52] What should motivate us more than anything is perhaps this appreciation of the love of Christ to us. Do we ourselves honestly, and it's a question perhaps we often ask?

[19:06] I'm not asking a new question here, am I? But how much do we really appreciate what Jesus has done for us? Peter says, unto them who believe he is precious.

[19:19] And I wonder, when we look at ourselves, I have to ask myself, without asking anyone else, how much do I love Jesus? How precious is he to me? How much do I recognise his love to me?

[19:31] Do we see just how great a saviour is we have? Do we see just how great a love he has lavished on us? Do we see how great a salvation he has given to us, to rescue us, to bring us up out of that deep pit, that maury clay, and to set our feet on a rock, and to set us going on a new track, and to give us a whole new life, and a new song in our mouths, and in our hearts?

[19:55] That's how Christ has done for us. He has rescued us from an emptiness, and a lostness, and a hopelessness in life. He gave us all that is good and wonderful, in the very best of senses, to bless us with every spiritual blessing, in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, all of his great love to us.

[20:15] Now what are we going to do with that? That's the question. Paul comes out with his amazed statement of praise, when he says, the Son of God loved me, and he gave himself for me.

[20:33] And it is that sense, I believe it is that thing, that was not just one sentence, that Paul wrote down in a letter to the Galatians. That was something that Paul lived with all his days, I believe, as much as a human person can stay invariably.

[20:48] It was one theme. It was this that kept him going, it was Christ's love for him, that made him do the desperate things that he often did, through the great exploits for his God, that he went through.

[21:03] Now I wonder what do we do? Do we imagine perhaps sometimes, that somehow or other we become entitled, to be calling ourselves a Christian, that somehow Christ had a duty to love us, and so therefore we owe him nothing in return?

[21:19] For where is our gratitude to the Jesus who died on the cross? What is it? Have we perhaps, as Paul says, taken the grace of God for granted?

[21:30] Because if we deserved it? Because if we deserved it? There is that one essential qualification, for any person who is going to evangelise, any person who is going to be involved in Christian work, part of obedience, and that is to know our own sinfulness, and to know the grace of God to us, as Isaiah did, our own sense of nothingness, and that we owe everything to Jesus.

[21:58] Now Jesus' love and his forgiveness were so real to the early church, to the apostles, when they made their defence to the Jewish council, when they were trying to be stopped from preaching, they said, but we cannot but speak of the things that we have seen and heard.

[22:15] It was so real, so wonderful, so essential to them, that nothing was going to stop them, even the threat of imprisonment, and death wasn't going to hold them back, because these things were so real.

[22:26] and Paul himself so deeply felt, and deeply saw this, that he says here, the love of Christ compelled me.

[22:37] I am forced to give it, simply because I see the love of Christ so clearly towards me. And that was his motivation. Now as Christians, how we appreciated that love of Christ to us, and does it motivate us?

[22:56] To live as Christ wants us to live. As C.T. Studd, the great pioneer missionary, said, in his own specific type of logic, he calculated thus, that if Christ be God, and he died for me, then nothing is too much for me, to do for him.

[23:21] Now think about that. In fact, if you take nothing else away, from this service tonight, take this with you, that statement of C.T. Studd, that if Christ be God, and if he died for me, then nothing is too much for me, to do for him.

[23:41] And how, not only actual logic is it, but absolute truth as well. that if you believe in Christ, you will not perish. It is because of that love. And I want to ask this question. that the love of Christ for you, as a sinner, as a sinner, draw you to him.

[23:54] And I want to ask this question. Does the love of Christ for you, as a sinner, draw you to him? And I want to ask this question. Does the love of Christ for you, as a sinner, draw you to him? Or does it make you run away? Do you want to love the Christ? He showed his love for sinners, such as you are?

[24:10] And every thing that is offered to you, the love of Christ, that is because God so loved the world, that he gave Christ, so that if you believe in Christ, you will not perish. It is because of that love. And I want to ask this question. Does the love of Christ for you, as a sinner, draw you to him?

[24:22] Or does it make you run away? Do you want to love the Christ, He showed his love for sinners such as you are.

[24:34] Can we come to another motivation for evangelism? What is it that's going to make us evangelised? I believe there is this, the coming of Christ.

[24:47] Jesus has a message for the church. In fact, it's a message for the whole world, because the whole world will see it. He says, look, I am coming again.

[25:01] Behold, I come quickly. I believe that as Christians, sometimes this truth is not as prominent in our thinking or in our acting as it should be.

[25:14] The reality of Christ reappearing in this world, in this scene of time. Yet it is this expectation of Christ's return that is to be the greatest impetus to your Christian lives, and the greatest impetus to your evangelism.

[25:34] The Thessalonians had a problem. The people who lived in Thessalonica as Christians, though they figured quite strongly on this particular doctrine of Jesus coming again, they tended to sort of just sit there and wait for it to happen.

[25:49] And they folded their arms and they laid back and they became idle in the Lord's work and even in their normal family responsibilities. That ought not to be. The coming of Christ is something that should stimulate us to action anything daily.

[26:04] The fact that Jesus is going to come again. And I believe that throughout the history of the church, the evangelistic zeal of the church has been at its strongest when this particular expectation of the coming again of Christ has been at its highest.

[26:23] The more that we dwell on this doctrine without making us go into slumbers, but rather to waken us up from our sleep, should lead us out into urgent action on behalf of the same Christ.

[26:37] And this is the Christian's great hope. That's what the Bible calls the Christian hope. That Christ is going to come again. This world isn't going to go on and on in its same greedy fashion from year to year and generation to generation going through all its fads and fashions and fantasies.

[26:56] It is something that is going to eventually come to a great climate in a day when Christ shall appear in the heavens. Now this is the hope of the Christian.

[27:08] And indeed Jesus himself said, as recorded for example in Mark's Gospel, chapter 13, that his return to this world was very closely connected with the whole work and program of evangelism.

[27:24] He said when the disciples were asking the question, when is it going to happen? When are these things going to be of the last days? When you will appear again? When is it going to be? Jesus says it shall not, it cannot be, until the Gospel has been preached unto all nations.

[27:41] So there it is, tied in. The necessity that evangelism must come before the great appearing of our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

[27:53] But Peter also says this later on in his second letter. He says that as Christians we can be involved in speeding up the coming again of Christ.

[28:04] Now sometimes I think as Calvinistic Christians particularly, or as Christians generally may be, we think it is not possible to shift about God's timetable and from one side of the fence it is not.

[28:16] But carried into God's timetable is this, it is our own involvement, the involvement of the church in carrying out the great commission of preaching the gospel to every nation.

[28:29] And Peter speaks about hastening the coming again of the Lord Jesus. That is by our own involvement as Christians within the world. Last Sunday morning we were speaking about prayer, the Lord's prayer in particular.

[28:45] And how there Jesus gave us one thing to pray for amongst others. And that is that we would pray that his kingdom would come. And by that we mean that his kingdom would come in this world.

[28:57] Now we would see his will be done even in this world, in this earth, even as it is done in heaven. But to pray that his kingdom would come is not just for this world, though it is that.

[29:09] To pray that his kingdom would come is really to pray also that as soon as possible, he himself would come in all his might and glory and splendour back to this world to save us from it.

[29:24] I wonder do we want to see the kingdom of God coming? The great advance of the church, the gospel being preached to all nations. Do we want to see people being evangelised? Do we want most of all to see Christ coming again?

[29:38] Because this is a great motive that we have of his coming, that we evangelise. Pray on, preach on.

[29:51] I think there is something here also that very directly affects the person who doesn't know Christ. Because the coming again of Christ isn't something that's going to happen in a corner.

[30:03] It's not going to happen in secret. There is not going to be some kind of secret rapture where the Christians will suddenly disappear and the world will not know a thing about it. Christ will come and every eye shall see him.

[30:14] And every knee shall bow before him. And every tongue shall confess him. And those who do not know him shall cry out even to the very rocks to fall on top of them, to hide them from the face of the wrath of the Lamb and of him that sits on the throne.

[30:31] I wonder do we really believe that? It's in the Bible. But then in our own day of course there are many people who don't believe two words of us in the Bible. But not long ago I was watching them, I'm sure you saw some of them too, some programmes, fairly horrific programmes.

[30:48] And what might be the effects of a nuclear war? In fact not even an all out war, just several nuclear explosions or even one. And if you've seen any of that you begin to think and to imagine the horror that could actually be caused within our own world.

[31:05] Instead of the glory of the gospel being preached and being believed, you see all these lives being destroyed all around you. And not something that's going to happen that people will recover from next week or next month or next year.

[31:18] But such ongoing effects from a nuclear explosion that we cannot believe that the world would ever survive the same again. No, I'm not saying that that will ever happen.

[31:29] In fact I personally have doubts and questions that if ever will, I believe that Christ will come before it happens. And if you're going to tell a lot of people that it's never going to happen, Christ is going to come first, even if they believe you, they will say, well that's fine, we don't need to worry.

[31:46] Of course you need to worry. Because if there's anything worse for the non-Christian than a nuclear war, it's a fact that Christ will come again before they have put their trust in him.

[32:02] Because then it's not effects that will last for a moment or a week or a year where there's some hope of recovery. A lostness and a separation from God and his grace that will go on forever and forever and forever.

[32:18] And that is why the coming again of Christ is something that appeals, has to appeal, makes its own appeal necessarily to anybody who doesn't know Jesus as their own Saviour.

[32:31] And I pray that in light of that you may come to know him and to trust him even tonight. The coming again of Christ. Now we have yet another motivation and it's connected with what we've just said.

[32:47] And that is the judgment seat of Christ. You know there is a great responsibility lying on the Christian to do but one thing all this life long.

[33:01] And that is to please God. And to please God whether he's dead or alive. I don't mean God but the person. That is what Paul is saying here in 2 Corinthians 5.

[33:12] And whether we live or die we aim to please God. Now here we have also this awesome appointment.

[33:23] We must please God simply because one day we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Now Paul is not saying this as an evangelistic address to the people who lived in Corinth and to those who were Christians and telling them there is a terrible thing going to happen to them.

[33:41] One day you've got to appear before Christ as your judge. He is saying about himself as a Christian. And he is writing to the Christians in the church in Corinth. He is saying to them you must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

[33:54] We all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And if there is one point, one destiny in all history which every man must pass on you.

[34:06] It's not just our birth of the world. It's not just our death out of the world. It is the judgment seat of Christ. It is the inescapable one. It is the one where the hound of heaven eventually catches up even with the person who has run the fastest and the hardest from him all our lives.

[34:25] It is totally unavoidable. Now those who are Christians will appear before the judgment seat of Christ as people who have been justified. Who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.

[34:38] Whose clothes have been made clean. Whose hearts have been made clean. And they will not be condemned in the judgment. That's what we were saying in Psalm 1 this morning. But the wicked, they will not be able to stand up in the judgment.

[34:51] Because they will be condemned. But the Christian though he is not condemned, he will still be assessed. His life will be reviewed. All that we are and all that we have done in the body.

[35:02] Whether it is good or whether it is bad. It will all be taken into account before that great white throne. And that is something I think as Christians that we live very carelessly in this world.

[35:14] Very thoughtlessly. Simply because we live on this justification by faith alone that we are all right and nothing to worry about at all. That's not the way that Paul saw it.

[35:25] He saw himself as standing one day before Christ to give an account for his life. What was he going to do? What was he going to do? Was he going to go? Well he had a great brain. He had a great mind. He was in university.

[35:36] He could have gone and had a wonderful career. He could have been a famous person. Would he have ever been an apostle? But it was a judgment seat of Christ. And made him do what he did.

[35:48] He could have sat home. Either in Tarshish or gone to Jerusalem or stayed up in Antioch and looked after the church there. But no he felt compelled to go out.

[35:59] Simply because he had a responsibility both to the Greeks and to the barbarians. He owed them the gospel. Because he knew that one day he had to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

[36:11] And he dared not waste a moment. You know I think of all the idle words that I have said. And I think of all the wrong thoughts that I have had.

[36:24] And I think of not this wasted moment but days and weeks and months as a Christian. I have to stop them. One day I must give a reason.

[36:37] I must stand and give an account before the God of heaven. And before the Christ who is my Saviour. And there is one thing that Christ is going to ask for them on that day to every Christian.

[36:49] It is this. What have you done with my gospel? You know it is not just to the non-Christians that are after.

[37:02] Particularly to the Christians. To the person who has believed that gospel, received it for themselves, made valuable to themselves. He is going to say, what have you done with it?

[37:13] Have you taken that same good message and passed it on to other people? How will it be for us as we walk that lonesome valley and as we stand there by ourselves?

[37:30] Will it be as Paul suggested also in the same letter? That our works may be burned up. They will be a trivial life, a wasted life. And they will all evaporate and vanish. Is it not true that this story, and I am sure some of you already know it perhaps quite well.

[37:46] Or somebody over in the Western Isles who has a famous son and famous family come from them.

[37:57] This man who seemed to waste so much of his life. One night he had a dream. And he dreamt that he had died.

[38:08] And he had gone up to heaven and he was met by some angel. And the angel said, what are you doing here? Where is your testimony? What can you show me? And he went into his pocket and took out this rather crumpled, torn, worn piece of paper.

[38:23] The angel said, this is your testimony right enough. But look what a mess you have made of it. I believe there are Christians who will go into heaven, yes.

[38:35] But they will do so at the skin of their teeth. Because all their works, all their life will have been wasted on themselves and not have been spent for Christ. So happened that the morning after that man had that dream he went out to his fishing boat as usual.

[38:51] And the boat was capsized and he was drowned. And that's true to life story. God gives us special dealings and special warnings. Perhaps not just for ourselves but for others also.

[39:04] And there is something that we have to reckon with. And we have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Non-Christian, it's equally true for you.

[39:15] None of us can avoid it. Each of us have to face Christ face to face and be judged. And if you are not forgiven, and not washed in the blood of Jesus, you can be as clever as you like.

[39:29] But there are no excuses before Christ. None at all. And if you have no forgiveness, you have no salvation.

[39:40] And no way into God's presence. The judgment seat of Christ. There is one last thing that we have to think about. One last essential part of Christ's coming and judgment is the reward of Christ.

[39:57] This is, I would say, a very legitimate incentive for Christian service. Some people who discuss philosophy say that you cannot expect people to do things, or shouldn't expect people to do things simply on the basis of reward, like holding out some carrot in front of them.

[40:13] But I don't accept that. Our whole life is properly based on rewards. You work because you know you are getting wages at the end of the day. You are not normally going to work just for nothing at all all your days.

[40:24] You can't afford to. We give rewards to our children when they behave themselves in order to train them to live in a certain way. And the way that God deals with us, he deals on the basis of rewards.

[40:37] Jesus says, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me. We are blessed and we are rewarded. Why?

[40:49] On the basis of what our Lord finds in our lives. Blessed, says Jesus in some of his parables, whom the Lord, blessed is the servant whom his Lord finds doom when he comes.

[41:06] Now this applies, I think, to all of our gifts in the Christian life, but it applies also and includes the task of evangelism. Our eternal glory is guaranteed to us.

[41:21] Not on the basis of what we do by ourselves or what we invest in life. Our eternal glory is guaranteed to us by Christ's obedience on our behalf.

[41:34] Because Christ lived a perfect life, because Christ died a perfect death. If we trust in him not, and trust in him, our eternal glory is guaranteed.

[41:45] But our enjoyment of glory is something that is shaped by the measure of our own obedience to Christ. And that is something that we have to take into account.

[41:57] Will your heaven be large or small? It depends on what you have yourself have responded to Christ. It depends on what you have done with your life in this world. Your reward is a proportionate to your service for Jesus Christ.

[42:12] We said it to the children. We quoted it before. And it's very appropriate. There is only one life. It will soon be passed. It's only what's done for Jesus will last.

[42:26] There is a reward for everyone who serves Christ faithfully. And the more faithfully we serve him, not the most successful, but the most faithfully we serve him, the bigger, the greater our reward will be.

[42:42] Now there is something here, I think, for the non-Christian. That this whole experience is a very solemn and separating experience. When Christ hands out his rewards at his judgment seat, He will say to those who do not know him then, that all your days I have handed out gifts to you.

[43:02] I have given you health and strength and your homes and your families. I have given you your food and your clothing. I have looked after you all your life. Because Christ is looking after you. And I have given you grace and I have given you mercy and I have kept you alive and I have given you opportunities to know me.

[43:18] But he says, now I can give you no more. And he can only say to those who do not know him then, Depart from me, you curse it, into everlasting fire, for I never knew you.

[43:35] I wonder what the reward is that we will receive from trust. We stand before him. He will separate the sheep and the goats. Which side will we be on?

[43:49] He didn't remember when he picks the sheep while being unprogram loaded. I think we will be WordPress in a new line. When I started, it's not a dream. Then I's the goal of Sophia and Laura picks a young man. Whenever there's some forms that he tells you to meet神 and a thousand people, He says, oh, it's good!

[44:01] Say thanks. Get out now or here.飛 in to breathe in a row of my school. You can sit. I connect until next time. Once you have a dream and seven months ago would happen.

[44:15]  Who was a crazy ticket at Mobile war ? If you're un Always nine months after all?