Turning Point - David Jeremiah

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
In Heaven, Jesus will reward believers based on the works
and actions we perform here on earth. Does that change
how you think, speak, and act Right now? Today on
Turning Point, doctor David Jeremiah takes a closer look and
why you don't need to wait for Heaven to experience
the benefit of your rewards from the Promise of Heaven.

(00:28):
Here's David to introduce the conclusion of his message.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Five crowns, and thank you for joining us today. We
are moving our way through the subjects that are found
in the chapters of a book called The Promise of Heaven.
This book was released this month and it is already
going everywhere. We've had many, many orders from Turning Point
in the bookstores are reshelving, and we're excited to know

(00:52):
that Heaven's on the minds of a lot of people today.
I think one of the reasons for that is Earth
has become kind of unsettled for many Many of the
people who thought the earth was going to provide all
of the answers to their happiness now know better. We
can have joy and happiness on this earth, but ultimate
happiness and joy is reserved for Heaven. The Bible says
God has put eternity in every heart. Until we get

(01:15):
to be with the Lord and know him personally and
go to Heaven, we will never fill in our own
hearts the joy that we look forward to. So Heaven
is the ultimate place, the fulfillment of your longing and mind.
The Bible says, we've actually grown thinking about it and
waiting for it to happen. I've written a lot about
it in this book, two hundred and forty pages thirty

(01:36):
one chapters, answering many of the questions you have about Heaven,
and we want you to have the book. It's available
for a gift of any size from Turning Point. Ask
for your copy of the book and it will be
sent to you. You can get it from the bookstores
in your community. I'm talking about Barnes and Noble, Walmart,
you can get it from Target. Hobby Lobby carries this book.

(01:56):
And you can grow and understand more about Heaven as
you read the book. Let's get started now with part
two of the crowns that we can receive when we
get to Heaven and what we're going to do with
them when we get them. God wants us to do
good things with our lives. We should never just view

(02:16):
our salvation as an escape ticket from hell. The Bible
says that even if someone doesn't have many good works
to show, they can still be saved, but it will
be like escaping through a fire. Many people I know
become Christians, I believe they're genuinely born again, but then
they kind of go into autopilot. You never know anybody
like that. They just sort of go along with the flow.

(02:38):
They never stand out for anything they're doing for the Lord.
They never seek to do anything for the Lord. Their
attitude is I'm going to heaven, That's all that matters,
and I'll live my life the way I want to.
Bruce made these distinctions. He said, our eternal destination is
the consequence of what we believe on this earth, but
our eternal compensation, our rewards, is the consequence of how

(03:02):
we behave on the earth. So Bible history is filled
with people who began the race with great success but
failed at the end because they disregarded God's rules. You
know their stories. They did not lose their salvation, but
they did lose their rewards. Happened a lot to Samson,

(03:23):
to Saul, to Anonius, and Saphirah and can happen to
us if we become careless about our walk with Christ.
So the judgment Seed of Christ is not the final
exam for heaven. Number two, The judgment seed of Christ
is not found to be judging one believer by another,

(03:44):
because all believers will stand before the judgment Seed of Christ.
Each of us is giving an account of himself to God.
Do you hear that we give account of ourselves to God.
We have no right to judge the work of another believer.
We do not even know what rewards we will receive
for ourselves. How will we ever know how another person

(04:05):
will be rewarded. We do not know enough about anyone
else's heart, or motives, or faithfulness to know what rewards given,
or whether or not they're deserved. This is what Paul
was talking about when he wrote these words to the Corinthians.
Listen carefully, Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the

(04:26):
Lord comes, who will bring both to light the hidden
things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.
Then each one's praise will come from God. Listen, If
we knew what was in everybody's heart, there would be
a lot of judgment that we would never make. We
would know we don't have any right to judge that person.
Look at that person's heart, But we can't see their heart,

(04:47):
can we. We don't know what's inside a person's heart.
We don't know what their motives are, what their mindset is.
So oftentimes we make flip judgments, and many times they're
hurtful and destructive. The says, God is the judge. Don't
you surp his authority. Let him be the judge. You
be the servant that you've been called to be. The

(05:11):
day of Heaven's rewards and the distinctions, Now, let's describe
Heaven's rewards. We often wonder what will be the nature
of these rewards, what will they look like? I want
to talk to you about five crowns. These are the
crowns that are mentioned specifically in the Bible. These are
five things that will be awarded at the judgment seat

(05:32):
of Christ. First of all, the victor's crown. One Corinthians
nine says, everyone who competes for the prize is temperate
in all things. Now they do it to obtain a
perishable crown, But we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I
run not with uncertainty. I fight not as one who
beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring

(05:55):
it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others,
I myself be disqualified. Now this is based upon the
culture that Paul wrote to at that time. There were
two kind of Olympic Games that took place during Paul's day.
There was the Olympic Games themselves, and there was another
set of games called the Isthmian Games. And the Isthmian

(06:17):
Games were held at Corinth. So when Paul writes this
letter to Corinth, they already know all of this. They
see the background. The contestants in the games had to
prove rigorous training for ten months. The last month was
spent at Corinth, and it was supervised every day in
the gym and on the athletic fields. They didn't just

(06:38):
get judged at the event. They were judged as they
prepared for the event, getting ready for the race. And
the race was always a major attraction at the games.
And that is the figure Paul uses to illustrate the
faithful Christian life. He says, those who run in a
race run all, but only one receives the prize. No

(06:59):
one would train so hard for so long without at
least having a thought that you might win. You run,
you train to win, Yet out of the large number
of runners, only one wins. The prize indicates that the
Apostle had in mind service and rewards, not salvation in life.
The Isthmian athletes discipline themselves to win an insignificant prize.

(07:23):
How much more ought we to discipline ourselves to win
the crown, the victor's crown that's going to be presented
at the judgment seat. The thought, of course, is that
of personal discipline. I don't know if you've noticed it,
but walking with God demands a bit of sacrifice, sacrifice
of things not necessarily evil, but which prevent the full

(07:45):
devotion of the soul to God. In an age of
luxury like the present time, these words have real significance.
A great difference between those races and the Christian race
is that every Christian who will pay the price of
careful training can be a winner. You can be a winner.
I can be a winner if I'm willing to discipline

(08:07):
myself to do that. In a sense, every Christian runs
his own race, enabling each one of us to be
a winner in winning souls to Christ. Paul therefore challenges
all believers to run in such a way that you
may win by setting aside anything that might hinder the
reception of the Gospel. In the insthmy of the games.

(08:31):
In Paul's day, the prize was pretty pathetic. It was
a pine wreath. The contestants competed for more than that,
of course, but the wreath that they got represented fame,
a claim, and the life of a hero. Winners of
that race were immortalized, much as they are today. But
that immortality was just as mortal as the wreath itself,

(08:52):
because they died, and if they hadn't, no Christ, they
didn't get any reward. For sure. The one who disciplines
his body, like Paul said, was a candidate for the
victor's crown. Most people, including many Christians, are instead slaves
to their bodies. Their bodies tell their minds what to do.

(09:12):
Their bodies decide when to eat, what to eat, how
much to eat, when to sleep, when to get up,
and so on. An athlete cannot allow that. If you're
training for the Olympics, you're getting ready for an event.
You follow the training rules, not your body. One thing
I've learned don't let your body tell you what to do,
because you will do the wrong thing most of the time.

(09:34):
The athlete runs when he would rather be resting. He
eats a balanced meal when he would rather have a
chocolate sundy. He goes to bed when he would rather
stay up. He gets up when he would rather stay
in bed, and he leads his body. He does not
follow it. It is his slave, not the other way around.

(09:54):
It is to this kind of soldier that the victor's
crown will be given. The Bible says that the there
are some people who live the Christian life with such
great discipline that nothing else matters. They set their eyes
on the goal of pleasing Christ, and nothing else gets
in their way. I've known a few people like that,
and so have you. Many of them find their way

(10:16):
to the mission field. Many of them are in churches,
some of them are pastors, some are workers in the church.
But the good news is that all of us can
be candidates for the victor's crown. If we're willing to
live a disciplined life and walk with Christ, then there's
the crown of rejoicing. The Bible says in First Thessalonians
two nineteen, for what is our hope or joy or

(10:40):
crown of rejoicing. Is it not even you in the
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming. Paul's
love for these Thessalonians is very emotional, not even our
hope or joy or crown of rejoicing. This is an
allusion to the wreath or the garland of victory awarded
to winners in the games AND's hope, and his only

(11:02):
grounds for boasting was the thought of the souls he
would present to Christ. This crown is sometimes called the
soul winner's crown. So if God has given you the
ability to talk to people about your faith win them
to Christ. When you get to heaven, there's going to
be a special crown for soul winners. And there aren't
too many people that have that gift from what I've observed,

(11:23):
but some people really do. I've been with some people
that have this gift so deeply ingrained that you're almost
embarrassed to be with them, because wherever they go they
talk to people about Jesus. You go in a restaurant
with them and before you can sit down, they have
engaged the waiter in the conversation about whether they're going
to heaven or not. I don't know where the line is.

(11:44):
But I know people, and I could name some that
you would know, who are so focused and motivated by
winning people to Jesus Christ. That's all they live for.
Every day they get up with that thought in their mind.
How can I find someone and about Jesus. Well, the
Bible says for a person like that, they can win
the crown of rejoicing. The third crown is the crown

(12:08):
of righteousness. You will find that in two Timothy four eight.
Finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the Righteous Judge will give to me
on that day, and not to me only, but also
to all who have loved his appearing. Paul said, there's
a special award that will be given at the judgment

(12:31):
seat of Christ for people who look forward to the
coming of Jesus Christ, who were focused on his coming,
who didn't just believe it, but lived in light of it.
I don't know very many people like that. I know
a few. I suppose in some way I might be
involved in that, because I've preached so much on prophecy
over the years and told so many people about Jesus

(12:53):
coming back. But since I've been teaching on heaven, several
people have told me they're almost embarrassed. One of them said,
I haven't thought about heaven in a long time, and
one person joked, why should I care about heaven. I
haven't even been to Hawaii yet. That kind of comment
shows how easy it is for our hearts to get

(13:14):
focused on the here and now. The Bible tells us
that some people live with their hearts set on heaven.
It's what motivates them every day when they get up,
that's what they think about throughout the day. They're looking
forward to seeing Christ. And those are the ones who
will receive this crown because they love and they long
for his appearing. So there's the Victor's crown, there's the

(13:37):
Crown of rejoicing, and there's the Crown of righteousness. Number four,
the fourth crown in the five crowns is the Crown
of Life. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for
when he has been approved, he will receive the crown
of life, which the Lord has promised to those who
love him. Now, this crown is for people who suffer.

(14:00):
The revelation two says, do not fear any of those
things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil
is about to throw some of you into prison, that
you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days.
Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the
crown of life. So the crown of life is for
people who pay a price for their faith. We haven't

(14:22):
had too much of that in our culture. We had
some of it. This week I saw a group of
Christians being persecuted for what they were doing. And every
month it seems like it's a little bit more Christians
are more on the outside than they are on the inside,
and we become almost the enemy of the woke generation.

(14:42):
The Bible says, when you suffer for your faith, when
you speak about the Lord and you get shunned, or
maybe you lose a promotion, or maybe you even lose
your job, the Bible says, when you endure temptation and testing,
you become a candidate for the crown of life. The
early Christians lived in the days of intense persecution. The

(15:06):
apostles counseled them to persevere so that they would inherit
the crown of life. Now, in much of the Western
world today. If we're honest, the churches facing discrimination and
the erosion of religious liberty. But elsewhere around the globe,
Christians face the burning of their churches, the confiscation of

(15:28):
their goods, ostracism and even prison. Torture and the death
of believers is everywhere. Some of you followed the story
of the man who went to preach in South Africa
and was arrested because he was giving the Gospel. We
got him back, but it was hard. The people who
don't like Christianity are vicious people, and they don't care

(15:51):
how much they hurt the Christians if they can just
shut them up. The Bible says all who desire to
live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. If you're
a Christian, just get ready for the fact you're not
going to be loved by everybody. Satan will batter you
with temptations of all kinds. But what a wonderful opportunity

(16:12):
to lay claim to the crown of life. The crown
of life is for those who suffer in behalf of Christ.
And then the last one kind of special to me,
the crown of Glory. And when the Chief Shepherd appears,
he will receive the crown of glory that does not
fade away. This crown is for faithful shepherds of the

(16:32):
people of God. Some have called this the pastor's crown.
I might be in the running for this if I
behave myself. And guess what. You don't have to be
a pastor to make a difference. Maybe you lead a
small group, and you pastor a small group, you would
be a shepherd in that regard. Maybe you teach a
class and you shepherd the people in your class, You

(16:54):
pray for them, you help them. That's a big deal,
and the Bible says that people like that can receive
a special reward in heaven. I hope you see that
these crowns are for us today, and before we close
our bibles, just a couple of thoughts to leave in
your head. Number one, With all of this stuff about crowns,

(17:14):
just remember that the Lord himself is your chief reward.
He is the one that you are rewarded by. Genesis
fifteen one says after these things, the word of the
Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, do not
be afraid, Abram, I am your shield. Your exceedingly great reward.

(17:35):
God is our great reward. The promise comes right after
Abraham refused to take the spoils from the King of Sodom.
Any reward gains its values from the character of the
person who gives the reward, and God is that person.
So when we get to heaven, whether it's any of
the crowns or not, our reward will be in knowing
God and finding in Him our hope totally fulfilled. And

(17:58):
that will be something else. Believe me. Number two, resist
doing works outwardly just for the purpose of receiving a reward.
Take heed. Says Matthew, that you do not do your
charitable deeds before men to be seen by them, Otherwise
you have no reward from your father in heaven. But

(18:20):
when you do a charitable deed, do not let your
left hand know what your right hand is doing. That
your charitable deed may be in secret, and your father,
who sees in secret, will reward you openly. If you're
serving as a Christian and all you think about is
I'm really working hard to get an award in heaven,
you're going at this the wrong way. The rewards are

(18:42):
given to us as we faithfully serve, but they're not
something we devote our lives to One writer said it
might be possible to pursue eternal rewards with fleshly motives,
but he said, I've never met anyone who is guilty
of doing that. I've never heard someone say I'm a
missionctionary in the dark deep jungle, because when I get

(19:02):
to heaven, I want to mention that's bigger than the
Joneses or I can't remember ever thinking if I witness
to that guy, God will owe me big time. That's
not the way it works. Number three, reflect upon the
ultimate goal of any rewards. You may receive one last

(19:23):
thought from the rewards section of the Bible. When we
get all these crowns, what in a will were going
to do with them? Are we're going to go through heaven.
We're in our crowns, and you know I got this one?
Which one did you get? No? The Bible says, it's
something very special is going to happen. Listen to this.
The twenty four elders fall down before him who sits

(19:44):
on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever.
And they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, you
are worthy, o Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.
For you created all things, and by your will they exist,
and we're created. The Bible says that when we get

(20:05):
our crowns in heaven, we're going to go to Jesus
and cast them down before him as an act of worship.
You say, well, I guess it won't make that much
difference if I don't have one. Then if that's all
we're going to do with them, know it'll make a
big difference. Frankly, I don't want to be in the
line of people with no crowns. I want to be
in the line waiting to cast my crowns to the
feet of Jesus. The Bible says that's what we're going

(20:25):
to do with our crowns. When we're giving them, we're
going to give them to Jesus as an act of worship.
There's an old tale about three men crossing the desert
by camel at night. They were crossing the desert, a
voice came out of the darkness, and the voice commanded
them to dismount, pick up some pebbles and put them

(20:46):
in their pockets. And the voice said, at the coming
of the sun, you will be both glad and sad.
The travelers did as they were told, and later, as
the sun came up, they remembered what the voice had said,
at the coming of the sun, you will be both
glad and sad. They reached into their pockets and pulled
out not pebbles, but diamonds. They were both glad and sad.

(21:09):
Glad they took as many as they could, and sorry
they didn't take more. Right now, God gives us opportunities,
and he's saying to us that at the coming of
his son, we will be both glad and sad. We
will be glad for the opportunities that we took advantage of,
and will be sad for the ones we knew we
could have and didn't. There's an old story about a

(21:32):
missionary couple that had been working in Africa for years
and they were returning to New York to retire. Had
no pension, their health was broken. They were defeated, discouraged,
and afraid. They discovered they were booked on the same
ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one

(21:55):
of his big game hunting expeditions. No one paid attention
to these missionaries. They watched the fanfairy that accompanied the
President's entourage with passengers trying to catch a glimpse of
the great Man. As the ship moved across the ocean,
the old missionary said to his wife, something is wrong here.

(22:16):
Why should we have given our lives in faithful service
to God in Africa all these many years and have
no one care a thing about us. Here's this man
coming back from a hunting trip and everybody makes so
much over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us.
Dare you shouldn't feel that way? His wife said, I
can't help, but it just doesn't seem right. When the

(22:38):
ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to
greet the president. The mayor and other dignitaries were there.
The papers were full of the president's arrival, but no
one noticed this missionary couple. They slipped off the ship
and found a cheap flat on the east side, hoping
the next day to see what they could do to
make a living for the city. That night, the man's

(23:02):
spirit broke. He said to his wife, I can't take this.
God is not treating us fairly. Why don't you go
to the bedroom and tell that to the Lord? Said
his wife, a smart woman, A short time later, he
came out of the bedroom. Now his face was completely different.
His wife said to him, Dear, what happened in there. Well,

(23:24):
the Lord settled it with me, he said. I told
him how bitter I was that the president should receive
this tremendous homecoming when no one met us as we
return home. And when I finished, it seemed as though
the Lord put his hand on my shoulder and he
simply said, but you're not home yet. And that's the
real secret, isn't it. We're not home yet. Some of

(23:45):
you may feel like you're serving the Lord and nobody notices,
but you're not home yet. Yeah, And that's what helps
us keep going, doesn't it, knowing that there's an ultimate
reward coming. And one of these days we will hear
our Lord say to us, welcome into the joy of
your Lord, and that will be a wonderful day for everyone. Well,

(24:05):
it's Friday. I need to take my little special weekend
announcement to heart and let everybody you know that it's
important to get to church. I have been a preacher
of going to church for all these years. Hardly every
week goes by than on the Friday edition of Turning point.
I don't mention to you how important it is to
go to church. And it's not my church you're going to,

(24:26):
it's the churches all over this country where the Bible
is taught. You say, well, my church is not perfect,
and that's true, but neither are you. So get there
with your imperfect friends and fellowship together and enjoy the
ministry of reaching others for Christ. Go to church Sunday
and we'll be here for you on Monday and over
the weekend on television. I'm David Jeremiah. Thank you for

(24:48):
being a part of what we do. See you next time.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Our message today came to you from Shadow Mountain Community
Church and senior pastor, doctor David Jeremiah. Turning Point is
also on radio and TV this weekend. To learn where
to find it, visit our website Davidjeremiah dot org, slash Radio.
That's Davidjeremiah dotorg, slash Radio, or call eight hundred nine
four seven nineteen ninety three. Ask for your copy of

(25:18):
David's new book, The Promise of Heaven, thirty one Reasons
to get excited about your eternal Home. It's yours for
a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the
Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International, and
New King James versions, complete with notes and articles from
doctor Jeremiah's decades of study. We welcome your notes of encouragement,

(25:39):
so please write us at Turning Point PO Box thirty
eight thirty eight, San Diego, California, nine two one sixty three.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
This is David Michael Jeremiah.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Join us Monday as we continue the series The Promise
of Heaven on Turning Point with Doctor David Jeremiah