This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

We're walking through 2 Corinthians 5 this week, this is day 3, and we're going
to focus on verse 10 today because I know many people have a lot of questions
about what Paul talks about here in verse 10. Let me read 2 Corinthians 5 verse
10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one
may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good
or bad. " Yesterday we talked about the fact that we all live our lives with a
goal in sight and an end in sight.

The goal is to please Him. That's how you live your daily life. And the end in
sight that Paul talks about here, he talks about the judgment seat of Christ.

Now, just that phrase, a lot of people read it and say, "Wait, wait, wait, I
thought Christians weren't judged for their sins. I thought Jesus said in John 5
that when we come to Him, we have passed out of judgment into life. " So if
we've passed out of judgment into life, why is there this judgment seat of
Christ?

Why is Paul writing to a bunch of Christians here that they have to appear
before this judgment seat? You need to understand as you walk through the New
Testament that there are two judgments talked about in the New Testament. There
is what's called the great white throne judgment, which is not talked about
here.

And there's another judgment which is called the Bema judgment. Bema comes from
the Greek word for judgment seat that's used here. The great white throne
judgment is where the nations are judged for their sins and told why they will
be separated from God for all of eternity.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, you are not a part of that judgment. You've
already passed out of death into life. As a believer in Jesus Christ, this
picture that some people have of us all sitting before God wondering if we've
made it into heaven, and all of a sudden somehow God or one of His angels points
at us and says, "You're in.

" And we like swipe the sweat off of our forehead and say, "I wasn't sure. "
There is none of that in the New Testament. What's in the New Testament is the
moment you come to Jesus Christ, it's done.

It's sealed and delivered. You are in Christ. And because you are in Christ, you
are with Him for all eternity.

So we're not a part of this great white throne judgment about whether we're in
God's presence or out of God's presence for all of eternity. That's already been
settled. But there's a couple of places in the New Testament that talk about a
judgment for believers.

It's called the Bema judgment for this word judgment seat, and it has to do with
what God's going to do with all of us at the end of time. Notice Paul says here,
"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. " All, that means me,
that means you, that means every believer who's ever lived.

But this is not a judgment, again, of whether or not you will be in heaven for
all eternity. This is a judgment that's about rewards or the loss of rewards in
your faith, in the way that you've lived for Christ. Remember, Paul has just
talked about living to please the Lord.

And then he immediately talks about this judgment. This is the place where all
that you've done to please the Lord will be rewarded and rewarded all into
eternity. And all that you've done to please just yourself or please just the
things that are in this world will be lost.

It'll just be, well, 1 Corinthians chapter 3 talks about it just being burned up
as through the fire. I saw, years ago, I saw a great illustration of this
judgment seat in a third grade elementary school class. It was the last day of
school, and we parents had joined the children and their teacher in the
classroom.

It was, it was, she called it awards day. On that day, each child was to be
given an award for the learning that they had accomplished all through that year
and the character that they'd exhibited as they learned. Mrs.

Rhodes, the teacher, pulled out this stool, put it in front of the class, and
each child was going to come and sit on this stool and receive their rewards
from their teacher. As she put the stool down, Mrs. Rhodes said, "This is our
awards chair.

Actually, it's the same chair that was our test chair for the children's final
oral test last week, but today it's the awards chair. " And I thought, as she
was saying that, what a picture of this moment when we stand before Jesus. Will
all be tested in the presence of Jesus?

What we've built into our lives will be tested. Will it last, or will it be
lost? Our works will be tested.

And then in the presence of all, in the presence of all, we will be rewarded for
what we have done for that which does last. Just like every child in the class
made their way to that chair on that day, every one of us will be rewarded for
our faith, and that is what will be remembered. That's what will last, all
through eternity.

Now the question is, what lasts? If I know there's going to be a day when I sit
in Jesus' presence, and there's some that is lost and it will be forgotten, not
remembered, I don't know what it's going to feel like. There may be a moment of
pain in that.

There may not. The Bible doesn't tell us. What the Bible does tell us clearly is
the ways that I've built into my life that is just temporary, that's not
lasting, it's going to be lost.

That's very clear. But the Bible also says to us very clearly, those ways that
I've built in that last, the gold and silver and precious stones that 1
Corinthians 3 talks about, that is going to be rewarded. So what lasts?

Well, the Bible tells us that faith, hope, and love lasts. So you build on faith
because you hope, motivated by love, that's going to last. The truth is, there
are some very good things that even Christians do that aren't going to last
because they were built on my pride.

The only reason I built that ministry, the only reason I built that church was
because I wanted people to think well of me. That's not going to last. It wasn't
motivated by love, it wasn't built on faith.

And there are some things that no one's noticed in this world that are going to
last forever because it was built on faith, because somebody hoped, motivated by
love in their life. Now, by the way, don't make a mistake about this. Sometimes
I build in a selfish way.

I may build a ministry or even a church based on my selfish motivations. I get
no reward for that, but many people in that church or ministry, they may get
reward for that because they have an unselfish spirit. That's why the ministry
grew.

That's why good things happen. It wasn't because of me, it was because of them.
God's a great God and he's able to do things in that way.

So faith, hope, and love, they last. What lasts? God's truth lasts.

So you build your life on God's word. Now, what does it mean to build your life
on God's word, the truth in God's word? It doesn't just mean you memorize
verses, although I am a great proponent of memorizing verses, getting them into
your heart and mind.

It doesn't just mean that you do Bible studies. It means you act upon God's
word. Every time you read a Bible verse and it caused you to think differently
in that moment, to hope differently, to pray differently, you've just built
something that lasts for all eternity.

Every time you read a Bible verse and it causes you to love differently, to
reach out to someone, to say something to somebody, to write a note, you've just
built into your life in a way that lasts for all eternity. Every time you read a
Bible verse and it causes you to say no to a temptation and yes to the holiness
of God in your life, that day, that moment, you've just built something into
your life that lasts for all eternity. God's truth lasts and as you allow it to
build into your life, that lasts in you forever.

Faith, hope, and love, they last. God's truth lasts. Character lasts.

You let God build into you the character that he has, character of honesty, a
character of kindness, a character of goodness, a character of integrity, a
character of caring for others, having a compassion towards other people. You
let God build that into your life, that lasts forever. Now, you let God build
that into you and then through God's word, you become an example and through
you, God builds that into somebody else.

That double lasts. God's built into you and he's used you to be an example to
build it into somebody else. Now, there's a few other things that we could talk
about, but let's focus on these today because I've got to live life today.

You've got to live life today. How are you going to live it? Am I going to live
for just stuff that's going to be lost or am I going to live for that which will
last?

You may think what I'm doing today is not that important. I'm in a menial job or
I'm in a routine job or I've got a bunch of routine tasks. Let me ask you, can
you do them with faith?

Can you do them with hope? Can you do them with love? Praying about the people
and for the people that you're interacting with, trusting God for the strength
to do that seemingly small thing that you're doing?

If you can do that, you are building in ways that last. You see, the things that
last in this world, we sometimes think are the great things that everybody
notices they are not. The things that last, the things that last are the things
that are dependent on who God is, what God has taught us, and the character that
God shows us.

Let's pray together. Jesus, I want to live for what lasts. You might just say
that to him.

Jesus, I want to live for what lasts. So whatever I'm doing today, help me to do
it by faith, trusting you for the strength. Whatever I'm doing today, help me to
do it motivated by love, your love within me, hoping in you, looking forward to
eternity.

I want to build in ways that last today. So I ask for the strength to do this,
to see in brand new ways, to walk by faith, not by sight today. In Jesus' name,
amen.

Tomorrow we're going to look at the great truth. The old has gone, the new has
come.