And it's a blessing to have our brother Ottavio with us this Lord's Day and for the next few months. And brother, come now and lead us in the word of Christ. Good morning, each and every one of you. It is a privilege for me to be back together with you after a period of six months or more, and it is such a privilege again to be back together, even though in different circumstances, with many of you. And I just want to thank you for, again, believing in us, and we are back here. And this morning, I'm afraid to say that we are posed before a test, an exam, Many of you are familiar with how exams work. Perhaps you have faced exams in your life. Perhaps you have been through school and you were to do a specific exam. And as you take that test in your hand, the question is on a chapter that you did not study. How would you feel in that moment? Probably shaking and trembling. What am I going to do? Or perhaps some of you are applying for a job and go through the interviews process and do all the questions and yet, when the time comes to start a job, the boss noticed that everything you wrote was not actually compiling with what you said and what you're doing and your skills, and they have to fire you. How would you feel about that? Or perhaps you are working on a construction building, whether through the shipyard or through building houses, landscapings, and you fix certain things, and months later they call you back and they tell you, well, everything is falling apart. And you, your conscience knows that you that time chose perhaps cheaper materials to fix the problem. You went to IKEA or other places, and you didn't choose the lasting materials, and now they have to start all over again. Or what if in this situation of coronavirus, a virus that is taking over our land, you test positive to that virus? How would that leave you? But friends, I think that we have something that is far greater of a test before us. Something that as Christians, God wants us to focus upon this morning. Something that all these other things might look secondary compared to this test. And you know what that test is? That test is God's ultimate testing of everything you have done in the flesh as a Christian. That is where I would like you to focus this morning with me. And you might say, well, I thought we are saved by grace. I don't need any testing now. Somehow I can pass the test. I thought that I had my ticket to heaven, and now I'm forgiven anyway. And that doesn't matter, right? Well, I'm afraid to tell you that even though as believers, yes, we escape the flames of hell, praise the Lord, but we do not escape the fact that our God is still a consuming fire. And He's going to ask us this question. How have you managed the kingdom resources in your life that I gave you, as we will be indeed, as Christians, be tested by fire." Where do we find this? We find this in the first letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, where I would like you to turn this morning. First letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. In chapter 3, Paul speaks to us. We will start reading from verse 9 of chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians. Hear now the word of the Lord. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. According to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear. For the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test each one's work of what sword it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work will be burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet though as through fire." Thus far the reading of the word of God. Let us pray the Lord for blessing the exposition of this word. O gracious God, and yet our consuming fire, we come before you trembling, knowing that we have nothing to bring in our hands. And yet, Lord, we pray that all of our efforts in our Christian lives, all of our works will be examined this morning, even our hidden and secret attitude and motivation behind what we do. And we pray, Lord, that we will indeed examine ourselves, and that everything will come to light, and that we will not shy away from your tests. but that we will be preparing ourselves and perhaps redirecting ourselves toward that greater day. We ask you this in Jesus' name. Amen. So this morning again the word has come to us from the letter of the Apostle to the Corinthians. This city of Corinth, you might know, is located in Greece. And there's two things that characterize that city. That city was a city of gross immorality, mixed with religion. But it was also a city of great intellectual skills. You have rhetoricians, you had philosophers. And so those two things were the culture around the church in Corinth. And in this first part of the letter, Paul has to address the result of this culture upon the church. He has to deal with internal divisions in the Church, misunderstanding on what does it mean to be part of the Church and leading the Church. And what is Christian leadership? Paul has to demolish the ideas of the world. Leadership is not based on manipulations or self-promoting, eloquent, earthly, demonic, divisive wisdom. Corinthians were talking with one another and saying, oh, I'm with such and such a preacher. Look how great and skillful he is. No, I'm with this other one. And as a result, division has spread in the church. They did not realize that this man of God were only jars of clay by the grace of God given for the benefit of God's church. They had forgotten that this Christian experience is not about who is more rhetoric and more wise. It is all about Christ and Christ crucified. In fact, taking the gospel would have meant for disbelievers to actually bearing the shame Below, being a spectacle in the arena of the Romans as they are persecuting the Christians. But the glory is above, is not from below. It is foolish things of the world that God has chosen to demonstrate His wisdom from above. And some of these believers, And Corinth had misunderstood even the fact that we are free from the ceremonial law has to mean that we are somehow free from the law, that we can go on in sin. But God, Paul says, will judge even the unholy unfaithfulness to the gospel even among believers. And he's tackling that question in this chapter. And in verse 9, he makes clear that this has to deal with primarily believers, but also ministers, chiefly the ministers of God. Since verse 9 says, we are God's fellow workers, you are God's building, which means we who teach will undergo a stricter judgment before God. Those given much, much will be demanded of them." And the chief point of examination for the pastors today is to examine what type of message we are preaching, and what is the spiritual state of our congregation. And yet, this exhortation for leaders has a lot of ramification and implication for every believer. Because in chapter 5, Paul will apply this testing to address the sexual immorality that is going on in the Church of Corinth. And so both leaders and believers will still undergo judgment, according to this text, for their works. They will still undergo a judgment. But it will not be a judgment of punishment irrevocable, as we will see. It will be a judgment where rewards and loss of rewards are at stake. So how do we prepare as Christians for this testing. And Paul gives us the preparation for this testing in the first verses, verse 10 to 11. He tells us to keep watch, to take heed. Paul says in verse 10 that he has laid the foundation of the building of God, the church. I mean, you know that any building cannot support unless it has a proper foundation. It is a strong foundation. And Paul is saying that that action has already ceased. He has already laid the foundation. There's no need to go back to that foundation. And he has done so according to the grace of God. as a wise master builder. Now, you notice, first of all, that the wisdom Paul has received is not a reason for boasting. He's saying it is by the grace of God. He still receives his gifts and abilities as an apostle by the grace of God. And so we infer by this that even good works, as we shall see, done by believers, are still the result of the grace of God. are still the gift of God, not of works, as Ephesians 2.8 says. Lest anyone should boast. And the Corinthians were boasting a lot. But that verse doesn't end there. In verse 10 of Ephesians 2. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. And that's what we want to focus on today. The works of the believers and the testing of those works. Paul has been like a wise architect here. He designed everything. He superintended the works. Because you see, the Corinthians were undermining Paul. They said, oh well, he speaks well in his letters, but when he comes, he's not like those rhetoricians that we know. He's weak. Yet he has no secondary role in the Corinthians' life. I mean, he has established and planned the church. He has given a central role in that ministry. So they needed to be reminded what God had done through Paul in their lives to sweep away their pride. Paul has been like Solomon. He has built the temple. He has had oversight over carpenters, builders, and masons in the temple of God. Or even you can think of the temple that was rebuilt in Ezra. And Paul later reflects to the fact that, in verse 16 of our chapter, we are God's temple. And so this is indeed an analogy that Paul is using here. As this architect is now, has left the city, and another has taken place and is continuing the building. Evidently, some ministers in Corinth are taking over what Paul has started in his missionary journey. And that in itself is good. Paul is not jealous that somebody else will take over his area of ministry. But since he hears that these believers are being puffed up in human wisdom, they are divided by a party spirit, involved in gross immorality, he has to warn them. Each must take heed. We must be very careful how we are doing the work of God. This is a command. This is not a suggestion, which means we must process what Paul is telling us here, or we will lose sight of where we stand, or we will lose sight of the rewards in heaven. I remember in Italy, there was an earthquake years ago in South Italy, in the town of Aquila. That was an earthquake that really went across Europe. I was in the Netherlands back then, and the news were telling of this earthquake. Essentially, the old town of Aquila had collapsed. There was no building that remained. And the investigation starts. And guess what? They found out that the reason for this was architects who had, in building those buildings years past, mixed cement with other materials to save money and to actually get more money out of it. And now the blood of countless souls is on their hands. And I'm asking myself, are we looking at this and saying, what am I doing with what God has entrusted me? How are you building on this foundation, believer? How are you building your Christian life? First of all, Paul says, keep the foundation. He says in verse 11, I assume that no one is able to lay another foundation beside the one which is being laid. The base, the foundation which supports the whole building. You can't remove this foundation without Collapsing the whole building. No matter how tall you build, it will collapse. And what is this foundation? Christ. Jesus is our solid rock, isn't He? As we often sing, our sure and firm foundation. And if you want to remove that foundation, you can go on and add and build a club. That is no longer the church. If you remove the foundation of the true message of the gospel, that is no longer. You might as well not call it Christianity. And this, friends, is more than an exhortation to build a foundation. It's an exhortation to keep it. The Corinthians need to keep that foundation, because Paul had already laid it. Ephesians 2.20 tells us that prophets and apostles have already laid the foundation in the Church. You cannot remove the Gospel. You cannot remove Jesus Christ. That foundation is also reflected in heaven. foundations in the city of God, Jerusalem, which comes from above, in Revelations 21-14. That is the foundation. And the temptation for all these Corinthians is with philosophy, pagan traditions, to end up with something else in order to reach the culture. Christ warned the Pharisees, who were the greatest leaders in the synagogues, that they were sacrificing in the physical temple and yet they killed the spiritual temple, Jesus Christ, the real temple. They killed Him. The stone that was supposed to be the cornerstone of their old temple was taken away, was removed as something of no value. Friends, be careful how you treat this foundation. You must examine how You are building, and on what basis do you stand? On what basis are you serving God? But first, we notice again that even rewards, Paul says, are gracious. It is according to the grace of God that I build. All we do is always taint with sin. This is not something that God has owed me somehow to give me rewards in heaven. No. We owe obedience to Him simply because of who He is. He's our Creator. So our works are just the minimum of what should I do. Being saved by grace. Even His rewards are gracious. In no way this judgment of believers works, perhaps, and pertains, as unfortunately some even conservative teachers have said, it pertains to their justification. We will have a justification in heaven? No, friends. We are justified by faith alone, through Christ alone. That must never be removed. That is our foundation. Otherwise, we remove the graceful foundation. of being justified by faith. I mean, what worth of excellency can you bring to God? If you realize how depraved you are, how you have defiled His love over and over again, and every works that you bring are tainted still with sin, believer. All beauty and the glory of the church of God's building. It is only from the bridegroom. It is only from Christ. The foundation of any works that we do and being acceptable before God, it is not dependent on your work. It is not dependent on mine. It is dependent on the righteousness of Christ, which has been now clothed to me, given free by grace. He makes us righteous by His perfect work, not my work. Christ alone, therefore, is the foundation, and it must be kept as a foundation. And anything you add on that building must go in conformity with that gospel. But still, the temptation for us is real, that we want to move from the gospel through time, through ages, through years, without even knowing it. Somehow, we must add something else. We must find some other things. You may hear surface statements today in the church. Oh, all we do, it's all about the gospel. And those are very, very good statements on the surface. But sometimes I'm drawn to ask them, what do you mean by that exactly? You see, it's easy to have those label ideas. What is the container of that idea is what God wants to know. And He will know, and He will make it known. We are called to lay things in the church suitable to the foundation, which is the gospel. And instead, the temptation again is from divine, from God-led works. We start to have works in the church based on human wisdom. I mean, even as Reformed people, we throw around the word, let God be, everything we do is for the glory of God. Isn't that beautiful? And I love it, but is it reflected by our action or our works are demonstrated, actually, that we are making techniques, we are making leadership patterns, we are making human traditions, a system of philosophy, worldly standards, the center of all of our energy, our thoughts, all of our efforts. Therefore, we, as Reformed people, too, can turn spiritual leaders into celebrities. That is not giving the glory to God. That is giving glory to one another. And that was the problem of Pharisees. They were stealing glory from one another instead of doing everything to the glory of God. And as the Corinthians, we perhaps, we have not transformed our worldview of the world of North America that influenced us. We have taken that for granted and We want to impress others. We want to climb the scale of social approval. We live by our partisan heroes. That is no proof of our spirituality. That is proof of our carnality, friends. We are not denying ourselves. We are not living the theology of the cross, but the theology of glory. We are living out of ourselves, and we exalt ourselves. We try to live by perhaps a more sanitized view of the American dream. But it's still not. The theology of the cross is still not Christ and Him crucified. And that is where we should prepare ourselves for this testing. Examine our foundation and examine how are we rebuilding. But let's look at the second element. How is this process of testing actually going to take place? And we have it in verse 12 to 13 of our text. And first notice that the materials that you choose in building and working for God, in doing things for God, are the key here. Now that the fact that the foundation is taken off the way, now that it is taken for granted, as a body without head just dies, so the church without the foundation, which is Christ, dies immediately. The greater focus now is how do you guide the church? How do you give this message? What are the leadership patterns you are producing? What are the ways in which you are doing things for God? Not just doing things for God. It says here, builds, is building upon the foundation, which is again Christ, with gold and silver, or precious stones, costly stones. Now notice, those are materials that are precious. They are materials that are lasting. They are materials that are of decoration and of greater beauty. They don't support the building. But again, then we move to other materials in the list that are cheaper, that you can assemble together. They might require less work. and they might require less efforts, and yet they can easily divide the whole structure of the church, they can easily collapse the entire building. Wood, grass still in the ground, or straw already cut. Notice how in this list, Matthew goes from the most precious and rare to the most vile and common, Matthew. And that is something that Paul had warned the believers elsewhere. In 2 Timothy 2.20 he said, "...in a great house," and he's talking about heaven, "...there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor." And so as these materials, by believers in the church are chosen, regardless of what seems right to you, regardless of what is the easiest way. Paul is saying to you, you must take particular care what you pick and introduce in the church. Because even good things mixed with bad things become bad. And so, it's not because these materials of wood and hay are intrinsically evil sometimes. No. The problem is that they are not lasting. that they do not stand the test of time, nor the test, as we shall see, of fire." They have no eternal value. They're things that the wind can blow away. And this is a serious business. It ought to lead us to reflect and pause and realize, how am I building my life upon? The things that are lasting or things that are temporal? Because the fire of the Lord our consuming fire lord will reveal that look at verse 13 now in verse 13 paul switched to the future tense which means there will come a day when each one's work will be tested by fire if you are building the church in those various materials not the physical building but the spiritual church of god these works will become evident there will be Plainly seen. It will be seen for what it is. It will be obvious to everyone's eyes on that day. Now, if a cheating or a questionable act has escaped the eyes of your congregation, or perhaps of your professors when you were doing a test, or your worker, and your boss, if that has escaped their eyes, it will not escape the all-knowledge of God, the omniscient, all-knowing eye of God. Nothing will escape that divine test. Nothing will be hidden. And the reason because this is going to be so plain is because that day, day with a D capital letter, is referring to the day of the Lord, the second coming of Christ. It is a judgment over every man and woman. To that judgment, God says in the prophets, woe to those who are awaiting that judgment as if it's something nice. How many unbelievers like to speculate to the second coming of Christ? They like to talk about great apocalypse. Don't they know that it's going to go a day of darkness for them and not of light? Now, for believers, that will not be the case. Although for the believer such a day will not be dreadful judgment of punishment without any hope. Because that's what the judgment of hell, those who are not in Christ, will be. Eternal fire. It will still, for the believer, involve a testing of examination of people saved by grace. But they will still undergo a testing according to works. And such day will disclose our works. It will expose them. All will be watching. Think of it. Every believer, friends, family members will be watching you as you undergo that test on that day. All will see what was underneath the surface. That's why Paul in the next chapter, chapter 4, verse 5 says, Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the heart, then each one's praise will come from God. There will be no way, Christian, on that day, to hide the secret motivations or the questionable means you use to achieve even the most humanly praiseworthy work. All your earthly accomplishments will be as visible as the way and the means you use to achieve those accomplishments. Why? Because the fire of the Lord will reveal it. That word in the original is actually apocalypto. It's a revealing, an eschatological, last day revelation of the nature of our works as believers. God will test it and will reveal what matter of works all of us have done. Was it done for the glory of God? Or was it done for my own glory? Was it done out of the fear of God? Or was it done out of the fear of men? Was it done for serving God and others in the advancement of His kingdom? Or was it done for a selfish ambition and deceit? Did it mirror Christ-like faith and obedience? Or was it all done under the power of the flesh? All done under complaints and murmuring? Friends, there's going to be a time, a testing, at Christ's Judgment Day, even for us as believers. All works will be put through the fire, and the fire will prove by testing, by examination, scrutinizing. And what was built in a lifetime might collapse in a moment, friends. All the things that we value so much. Paul declared to do this testing, not just for the church, but it's a testing that he does to himself. He says in 1 Thessalonians 2.4, I have been approved and entrusted with the gospel to speak, not as pleasing men, but as pleasing God. Who tests the hearts? Our gold, our silver, our costly materials, which are reflecting a word-based, a biblical-based act, might pass the test and even be more refined by the fire, as gold is refined by fire. But all this chaff, All this wood, all this grass, all this straw, definitely not. It will not pass. The last fire might even collapse golden things above because they were based on things that were chaff and straw. They were insignificant things. They will evaporate. And so the question each believer in this church and each minister needs to ask himself is, what am I building my life upon? What am I building my ministry upon? Paul's reward was only preaching the gospel without even charging, not abusing his authority over his people. And he encourages the churches to test leaders and deacons before being brought to such testing. and being brought into service. God calls even those who are external members of the church in Corinth to examine themselves if they are in the faith. Test yourself on that nature, because that will be a fire that never ends for those who do not know God. What we sow is what we reap. We've sown in the flesh, we will reap in the flesh. Judah Iscariot, member of the Twelve, He sown iniquity and he reaped hell and destruction. That was his payment for few coins of money. May we not go that route. Let each one examine his own work, says Galatians 6 verse 4. And then he will have rejoicing in himself alone. Not as we compare to each other. Not as I look at, oh, I'm better than that guy. No! I examine myself in the light of the holiness of God and I say, Lord, what areas of my life am I failing? What are the wood and chaff that is in my heart? Would you please help me to remove them now that I have time? Because God's tribunal on that day, friends, will be able to draw a conclusion about the worth of the works you've done on basing of this testing. All will see whether it will survive, whether it was done, and received by the approval of God? And friends, I don't care how many men are praising you today, how many men are putting the stamp of approval all over you, and I say, oh, he's such a good man. That doesn't care of this testing. On that day, you will be before the Lord naked, and you will have to give an account of this. Have you done things out of inferior and cheap materials? Or have you done things out of lasting? eternal materials. Children, you might have watched this cartoon or know the story of the three little pigs. It seems an innocent story, doesn't it? And yet it has a lot of lessons for us this morning. Because here you have three little pigs who have to build houses, and two of them choose what? They choose hay, and they choose wood. And this ravenous wolf comes, and he just breathes on them, and everything they've done evaporates. Evaporates. And I'm afraid that we are not considering, as Christians, we spend time, you know, comfortable life, doing things easiest way, I'm giving my 10% for God, He's gonna be happy. And that day comes and blows everything away. That day when God will test the consistency of your works. Therefore, you have a day today to choose the lasting things, the eternal things over the perishable. God's Word is the only lasting thing. It abides forever. And so, if it is not rooted in the standard that God has given in His Word, it will vanish. You must choose the harder ways over the easiest ways as well. We're called to walk a daily walk in the narrow path, Christian. That's the definition of a Christian life. Not to be entangled with worldly ways. And I'm afraid that there's so much chaff in the church, isn't there? When the church today in North America But even we can think of closest environments. We substitute the Word of God with fancies, invention. And whether in evangelism we introduce them, whether in worship. or church activities, worldly methods are introduced that are only able to appeal to the carnal mind of people, and they only create superficial converts, and they might last for a little time. This apparent shows, oh, that's all chaff. That's all chaff. They have no eternal value in them. Programs, committees, business-centered and man-centered methods, I mean, try to go into a leadership meeting in a church, or try to go into a Christian bookstore today. 80%, 90% of the words and the books that are there, that is all chaff. That is all to be burned in a fire. That has no eternal value. It is not based on the Scripture. Preaching has become so and so shallow, friends, that you almost wonder, are they really churches? where the preaching of the Word is nothing else than a motivational speech. And while we might not struggle with some of this as Reformed Baptists, what are the things that we do in our church that are a risk of evaporation on that day? Have we, let me give you an example, have we only fed the mind of our flocks with big gigantic truths, or have we actually equipped the saints for the work of ministry. Have we done so as to bring lasting fruit, so that the day that I'm gone, these believers are going to bring and bear fruit for eternal life, to bring in many to salvation. Now, having heard this warning, Christian, you might come, and I know a lot of those who chose the path that I described now. They will come to me and say, well, come on, There's no reward in heaven. What are you talking about? I mean, it's so ungraceful even to think that God will somehow put some people in this position, in that position. Well, you may trust to the fact that you... Even if there is a testing, I will make it anyway. I'm saved by grace, right? You will face that day, you will face that test, and there will be greater shame before God, And people you know, and Christian fellows, they will witness on your shortcoming. You will enter into the gates of perils, yes, but you will lose your awards. Or you choose another option, and you say, I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to deal with my heart right now that I have a time. I will identify the holes of my Christian life, and I will ask the Lord by His grace to help me to fix that. to help me to move away from that unrepentant sin, and divide them, and kill and mortify that sin, now that I still have time. And whatever it might cost me, if it means an amputation, an amputation be. As George Washington say, labor, friends, labor to keep that fire of your conscience alive. And I'm afraid that the reason for such apathy in churches these days, such comfort zone, is that we have really desanitized our conscience. And so we no longer are even having any fear of God. What is going to happen to us as our works are meaningless, friends, if they are not driven by a sanctified, holy impulse of holiness? Even though, yes, our sins have been covered by the Lamb. Praise the Lord! But look at the price that has caused that coverage, first of all. And think of the cross, how devastating to trample that blood underfoot. And think of how devastating can even tiny little sins, secrets that are kept there, can really devastate entire ministries, can really disqualify ministers, can really bring entire church bodies to complete. collapse. And if this is the case, let us hear what Matthew Henry says. He says, the day is coming when hypocrites will be stripped of their fig leaves. There will be no more fig leaves like for Adam and Eve to hide our sin. On that day, I'm afraid that we have not dealt with still a lot of respectable sin in our life right now. And we are unwilling to deal with them. but we're called to cleanse and to prepare and make haste for the coming of the Lord that is coming for a pure bride, friends. These honorable patterns in our lives, these spots that will taint everything we do and will bring us to lose our rewards. And that is, indeed, the outcome of this testing, the product of the testing. We saw the preparation for the testing. We saw the process of testing. Let us now look at the product of this testing, the outcome. Verse 14 to 15. And we see, first of all, in verse 14, that God will reward the wise builder. That's what God is going to do. In verse 14, it says, If the work of anyone who has built survives and remains, If the work of anyone stands the test, if it passes the inspection, then that builder, that Christian will receive a reward. He will get his pay and the wage for the work done on earth. He will receive recognition by God for the moral quality of his action. God will recompense him. Surely He will. God will affirm the conduct by the words given in heaven. Christ is saying, Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to what? To his work. And that is going to happen. That is a material, physical, that is something that will take place. Revelations 22, verse 12. So if that's true for the believer, every believer will have that stamp of approval, not according to our text. We have in verse 15, as a parallel, the loss of reward for the unwise builder. If, however, in opposite to the person that will receive approval from God, anyone's work will be burned, if the fire of testing will dissolve your works that have been done shallow and not through the Word of God, or done with secret motives, that one will still suffer loss. He will be forfeiting all that looked to His eyes so precious. He will be penalized. He will be such a great loss. He will be like being placed in front of a mirror and realizing that you have done everything wrong and it is too late to start all over. Which of you, says Jesus, as He's looking to the crowd, who are trying to follow him, but he's saying, count the cost of discipleship, and he says, which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first to count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it, lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish it. So many uncompleted things for those who Fail this test. Spiritual and eternal losses or rewards are at stake here, friends. The people around you might have thought that you had done genuine works, but they will be torn out in an instant. And yet, the text says, this will not be as a punishment without hope, as the unbelievers will undergo. That person will still be saved, says our text. That person will still escape with his life. Perhaps Paul is referring to that believer in Corinth who had done such a gross sexual immorality, committing incest, and having sex with his mother. And Paul says in chapter 5, verse 5, to that man, I deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Oh, there will be a lot of losses for that man. He will not be completely torn out. He is still a believer. He will still go through heaven, but it will be as through fire, friends. It will not be an easy process. He will escape as through the flames, barely making it. Now, this is not talking about, as unfortunately growing up, Catholicism says, purgatory, the fire of hell of unbelievers, or somehow that our works become worthy. No. This is talking about rewards of people who are saved and who are believers, and on that day will be saved. Then the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with angels, and He will reward each one according to His works. Matthew 16, verse 27. One will lose it, one will gain it. And so the question is, what does remain of our works before God? You may have heard the quote, only one life, only what's done for Christ will last. And that is true. That God will assign us cities or responsibilities in proportion to our works. God will reward your works done, but when they will be done in love, out of the love that God has given you. God will reward the time that you were persecuted for the sake, or anyone even who helps those who have been persecuted. It says that it will not forfeit even if they have given a little glass of water. God will reward you when you have loved those who are not easy to love. And yet, Have you done these works out of love? Have you done these works out of abiding in Christ? And I have an example that is fresh. Weeks ago, I was counseling a couple who just came out of a non-denominational church, and they were recounting me their experience in that church. They were doing so many things for the church. They were so active, and yet he was so drained. He was doing everything he could out of his own strength. And that led to a complete bankrupt. until he enters our Reformed Baptist Church, he starts to hear about this big God, what He has done for me. And finally, refreshment, comfort. You see that if you do works, not necessarily what is done for Christ will last. There is a sense in which rewards will be not dependent on the quantity of things you've done for God. Think of the unthankful servants. They come to the Master and they want to receive more. No. The heart disposition is the key. Have I done this out of love? Have I served my service to God, mixing it with unconfessed sin? And let me give you some example. Jealousy toward others. Deceit. Copying, pasting. Lazy, approximate compilance to the standard of the Word of God. Being content with second best. All these things and many others you can think. will not pass that test. And some of us as believers, I'm afraid, will be snatched out of the fires like Lot, who is being taken out of Sodom, because he had one feet to the world, and one feet he was thinking about Abraham, following Abraham, his uncle. So, let us be examining ourselves in conclusion. Think of it. We get so ashamed when people are exposing our failures. Some of you at the top of this will tremble. Oh man, if I will have to expose to everyone my failures, oh, I will tremble and I want to go away. What is that? That's fear of men. And that is stronger in you than the fear of God. When you realize that there is going to be a judgment, there's going to be angels, there's going to be the throne of God, and your entire life will be tested before everyone. and you do not busy yourself to look at your life, friends? And what is that referring to? I mean, I'm afraid that even as believers say, we have lost some of the piety of this. During the plague of the Reformation times, You can have people like Theodore Beza, and I was studying this, he went and rebuked the pastors and he went to the lepers, he went and he spent life, he did things, or as I was reading a biography, you know, building schools for people or helping what is the need of our people around us. And just the Christian became a channel for those things. It was taken for granted. There is an overemphasis on, yes, we are saved by grace, but there is still an impulse that should drive us to good works. With all of our might, how are we spending our life? What are we leaving behind? Have we invested our talents or are we burying them into the ground, waiting for the train for the rapture? Some, again, as I said, might be convicted of this and say, oh, well, there's no rewards. Well, you cannot expect God to give you a stamp of approval over your laziness. Don't expect that on that day. But again, even if you are doing many things for God, remember that the quality and not the quantity is the key. Remember that your heart disposition and things that you know in secret, things that God knows too, that will be the test. And so friends, the Christian life will be indeed a test. And so please, study. Study. Study His words. Study to show yourself approved before God, to appear before His throne and say, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful for little things. And friends, I have heard godly brothers in Christ. I have heard many coming to me with tears, thinking, oh, that's going to be me. One moment they said that in front of congregations. One moment they said that on a book. And then in the next very moment, they justify sin, they do things in secret. And I'm like, what is the process in your mind that you do not see the connection between those things? So examine ourselves so that we might pass this test, friends. So that we might appear before Him as a spotless bride. And we can only do this by His grace, can't we? It is nothing that we can do on our strength. And so let us bow our head now with receiving this word. Lord, gracious God, we ask you to forgive us for the much laxity and lack of diligence in which we have, in the past, looked at our devotions and our seeking to You, in our reading of Scripture, in our testing everything according to Your Word. And then, Lord, in the things that we have done, perhaps we have been that cistern that has come empty, giving, giving, giving, because we did not abide in You. O Lord, help us to return to You, and when we abide in You, to bear much fruit, Help us, Lord, to really do not take this test and these instructions, this manual of instructions that is given to us today, and come on that day and have a building made of our own. Like that foolish man who was going with the pilgrim to the celestial city, he had no letter of invitation. And he thought, well, they will give that to me there. I pray, Lord, that even this morning people who are listening to us, if there's any who is without Christ, Lord, that you will bring them to yourself. And for us as believers as well, help us to test and examine our life in the light of this coming fire. Oh God, may we stand and build according to your scripture. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.