I was thinking when our brother Doug said that they, he had found the solution to the problems that we have in the chapel by putting a fire in the front. I thought of a story that I heard many, many years ago. The preacher was a little long-winded, and he was sent off on a sabbatical. He was away for a long time. And when he came back, to his amazement, when he came into the church, he was met by the elders, and there just was one pew at the back of the church. And he said, what has happened? Where are the other pews? They said, just wait. So the first people to come in sat down, and the chair, the the pews took off and came right down to the front, and another pew came up, and so on, and he said, this is wonderful, this is great. But they told him there's just one thing. It was the family Bible hour that was in question. At twelve o'clock, the pulpit disappears. So, so here we are. I'm delighted to be here. I hope that you're not too disappointed in the fact that Brother Strauss is not here with you, but, uh, I'm delighted to be here, and we trust that the message that the Lord has given for me to share with you will be a real impact in your life. And of course, it is always a pleasure to share the ministry with our brother Joe. Now let's look at, um, First Corinthians chapter three, first of all. First Corinthians chapter three. And looking at verse eleven, First Corinthians chapter three verse uh eleven: For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, and precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall test every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he had built upon the foundation, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet as by fire. Now over to second Corinthians, and it's the fifth chapter, I believe. And it's... verse nine. Whether we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Now back to the epistle to the Romans and the fourteenth chapter. And we'll read at verse seven. Romans fourteen verse uh seven: For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us. So then every one of us shall give account, shall give a public account of himself to God. Let us pray together. Father, there are many things in thy word that rejoice our heart, and we thank thee for them. And there are other things that touch us in the places where we're most vulnerable. And we have been reading about such an occasion when we will stand before thee, Lord Jesus. And the impact of this meeting with thee on this occasion has even entered our soul as we have read of the account in thy word. Lord, we ask thee now to calm and to quiet our hearts. We ask thee to prepare our heart, and grant that as the seed is sown, that it will fall on good ground and bring forth fruit for thy honor and glory. We ask these things in our Savior's name. Amen. Amen. I'm sure that by this time you have made up your mind what I'm going to speak to you about this morning, and probably tomorrow morning too. It is the subject of the judgment seat of Christ. We don't often hear about that today, do we? We don't like it. It just doesn't make us feel comfortable somehow. Of course, we who are gospel preachers, we love to stand on the platform and look down at our audience, and we, we, we hope that there's someone unsaved or ones unsaved in our midst, and we raise our index finger and we tell those people, you will stand before Christ at the great white throne. And we who are Christians, we sit smugly, and we say, well, that doesn't apply to us. But I'm going to change all that this morning, and I'm going to look right into your heart. And if I raise my index fig- finger, you'll forgive me. But it is only to emphasize the fact that while you and I will not appear before the Lord at the great white throne, that we will appear before him at his judgment seat. We're not going to get off. We gospel preachers, we're very prone, and rightly so, to remind the unsaved that sin pays wages. The wages of sin is death. Not only physical death, but, but spiritual death and eternal death, which is eternal separation from God. Those are the wages. Eternal separation from God. Now, beloved, don't let us be lulled into complacency with this, because I'm going to tell you this morning that you are going to be paid wages at the judgment seat of Christ. We're not just going to go through life and and shrug and slough everything off, no, we are going to be held in account of everything that we do. And I don't want to get too far ahead of my subject because we're going to go very slowly and very, get very intimate. And as we see how God, uh, in Christ, or should I make a statement like that and just say God, who is Christ, is going to judge us. And before I go on, may I remind you that we have often shuddered as we have considered Revelation twenty and have witnessed the great white throne as John brings it to our notice, and then he says, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the heavens and the earth fled away. That's awesome, isn't it? That's the same person, beloved, who will sit on his judgment seat. And that same person whose face was so awesome that creation could not look upon him, is the same person who will judge you and me on this great occasion. The judgment seat of Christ is an important, interesting, momentous, and crucial subject. And this topic is neglected, shunned by most of us. It's ignored, and we back away from it. But beloved, may I remind you that whether you neglect it or shun it or ignore it or back away from it, that every one of you will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. There's a day of reckoning coming. Generally speaking, in the world in which we live, that modern men and women, they reject the thought of future judgment. And, but we Christians, we basically believe in a future judgment, but few of us ever give it serious thought. Now I want to thank you. I want to preface my remarks now by taking you into a situation which may never occur for any of us, but which would lay the foundation for what I'm going to say later on. How many of you would re- how would you react if, if you had to appear before an earthly judge in near future? At this trial, your station of life and social position will be determined. Some rich but distant relative has died, and the value of their estate is considerable. But there is some doubt as to whether the estate is yours or not. Now, a situation like this would cause you great concern. It would cause me great concern too. And on account of the value of the award, you would carefully analyze your life and your heritage. You would make considerable research into family records to establish, uh, your enviable claims. Your thoughts, your actions, your life would be focused on the day when you would stand before the judge to make your claims. In presenting your claims, every word would be carefully evaluated. And prior to your appearance in court, the days would be filled with prayer. You would ask God to give you wisdom to present your claims, that in the end you would be rewarded. Now, such a possibility might be highly improbable to any of you in the audience this morning. But brethren, while on the human level it may be highly improbable, I want to remember, I want to remind you that without exception, without exception, you and I will stand before Christ at his judgment seat. Now, if we would prepare in such meticulous fashion for our appearance before an earthly judge, for an earthly and temporal reward, how much more should we make ready our lives and service to be judged by Christ for an eternal reward. Now you can see what a momentous occasion this is going to be. This is serious. You know, when we contemplate the glory, we say all, all tears are going to be wiped away. Everything is just going to be great, it's just going to be fine. And of course, that's true as far as it goes, but before we enter into the fullness of that glory, there is, there is a step, and there is an occasion in which we may feel very uncomfortable. Uncomfortable. Now, let me get a little more intimate now and not speak in generalities. God is ultra meticulous in record keeping. Brother Joe used a phrase last night, and it just hit me. He says that his record keeping is impeccable. That is a, a tremendously descriptive phrase, and it means this, beloved, that, that everything that we do, and I'll go into this a little deeper in a moment, that everything that we do is recorded in heaven. It just comes to mind that when I was, uh, a boy in Sunday school and became a young man and taught choruses to the Sunday school scholars, that there was a chor- a chorus that we used to sing. We don't sing it anymore. Um, I suppose that it gets too close to us, and it went something like this. I won't sing it to you, so don't be alarmed. Um, he sees all I do, he hears all I say, my God is writing all the time, time, time, time. He sees all I do. He hears all I say. My God is writing all the time. Now, when I used to sing that, I didn't understand like Brother Doug, but now I do. And beloved, there are occasions when it drives me to my knees, it it takes me on my face before God when I realize that he is scrutinizing everything that I do. We, we see how, how careful God is. We go back to Ezra chapter two and also in Nehemiah chapter three, I think it is. We have a whole list of names, and if you want to read them, read them in the quietness of your own room. Don't try and read them publicly because some of the names are unpronounceable. But isn't it wonderful that it has pleased God to put those names down in his book? And why are the names down there? Because these were the people that left Babylon. And some of them were entrenched in Babylon, and we talk about them being prisoners, but they were having a good life in Babylon. This was not Egypt now, and they were part of the community in Babylon, but they gave it all up, and they went to a place that just didn't exist. But they claimed the promise that, that God had made, that Jerusalem was the place where I will place my name, and they left everything that they had to go to the place where God had promised to place his name, and God wrote it down in his book. And generation after generation can read those names, knowing that God has recorded them. And if we believe that the word of God is eternally settled in heaven, those names are going to remain before us for eternity. You see how meticulous God is? Then we come over to Hebrews chapter eleven, and here we have God's picture gallery, or God's hall of fame, and he tells us about this, this prophet, this patriarch, this one, and God has recorded their names. How many of you have read Romans chapter sixteen? And Paul is winding up the letter, and he's sending greetings to this one and to that one. And there we have names of whom we know nothing about. There's no record of what they did. There's no record of who they were. All we know is that it pleased God from the obscurity of their own personality to record their names in the word of God. And I'm only telling you these things to show you that you may think, now I don't amount to very much. I'm not like Mr. Sned or Mr. Rees up before the public. I am just a sister. I've lived in obscurity. You see, so far as man is concerned, that may be true, but not so far as God is concerned. Remember, he sees you just where you are, and he is recording all the time. The Lord knows us intimately, and what that means is that he knows us through and through. You know, when I was thinking about what I would say here, that phrase, it seemed to strike a dagger into my heart. You know, my wife and I are very close, very, very close, and and I try to reveal all that's in my heart to her and she to me, and that's how, um, it should be. But maybe there are just some things that I just haven't shared with her and she with me. But you know, that's not so with God. He knows you through and through. He knows what you've told others, and he knows what you haven't told others. I like the phrase in the Gospels where it says that the very hairs of our head are numbered. But before we go to that, isn't it wonderful that our God knows when a sparrow falls to the ground and dies? A sparrow. A little pesky sparrow of of no value at all. And those of us who have traveled in the Far East, there's sparrows out there. We have sparrows in Europe, there's sparrows in the North America, there's sparrows everywhere. Millions, billions of them, I guess. And yet there's not one little worthless sparrow that falls to the ground. But what God knows about it. And then he says that the very hairs of our head are numbered. Now, God has a bigger problem with some of us than with others when he says that. Now, I've had preachers trying to get round. They say, well, it doesn't mean that at all. Don't believe that. I believe what the word of God says, that he knows us so intimately, he knows us through and through, that he knows the very hairs of our head. He knows the number of them, how many there are. He knows the smallest detail of our life, and he does not miss one microscopical item. You remember in John chapter two that it said of the Lord that he did not need any man to testify of man. Why? Because he knew what was in man. And just there where you sit this morning, he knows all about you. Everything that, that you have done, everything you're going to do. He knows why you're here. He knows everything about you. And of course, that's the, the thought that the psalmist puts over in Psalm one thirty nine. The psalmist said, and we're going to say it like the psalmist, the Lord knows me intimately. And what that means is he knows us through and through. The Lord searches me through and through. The Lord knows when I sit down and when I rise up. He understands my thought. You know that thought that you're thinking right now? The Lord knows about that. He scrutinizes my path, and he scrutinizes my lying down. He is intimately acquainted with all my ways. And listen to this, that before even a word is on my tongue, he knows it completely. You know, when I read that last week, I was stunned. I was stunned to think that before a word is on my tongue, that the Lord knows it completely. And the psalmist goes on to say, he hems me in behind and before, and he lays his hand on me. How many of you have he- felt the hand of the Lord being laid on you? Or be like when the hand of the Lord is laid on us in blessing. Now, just thinking about the preaching of yesterday, isn't it wonderful to think that we have the ordination of the nail-scarred hands of the Lord to preach the messages that was preached yesterday? That's wonderful. But how many of you have felt the Lord's hand upon you in judgment? Or, uh, should I say in chastening? And you've been laid aside for a while. The Lord knows all about that too. And when the Psalmist contemplated this, he said, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is so complex that I cannot understand it. And I think that that's just where we are this morning, isn't it? We just didn't realize maybe before the extent of the, the intimacy of the Lord in our lives, who sees us through and through. And might I remind you, even now as you sit there and take the thought with you as you go home to your various assemblies and, and, and churches, that the eye of the Lord is on you. You remember when Peter denied the Lord for the third time with, with oaths and curses, and the Lord was within earshot. He heard everything, I believe. And he turned and he looked at Peter, and it was an incredulous look, and yet it, it, it was a look, and I can't describe that look, but Peter looked and he saw the look of the Lord, and the look of the Lord broke Peter's heart. And it's those same eyes that are looking at you this morning, right now. Looking at you right now. In Revelation chapter one, we have that magnificent revelation of the glory and the beauty of the great judge of all the earth. And John tells us that his eyes were like, they were blazing eyes like a flame of fire. And when John saw the eyes and the rest of the glorified. He fell at his feet as one dead. And beloved, those blazing eyes are looking into your heart this morning, into mine, I feel it. I feel very humble. And you can look beyond the facade that many of us put up in life. And he looks down into our heart and into the innermost recesses of our heart. The place where those hidden secrets for many years are kept under bars and locks and keys. And you may be able to keep yourself out of your subconscious, but you cannot keep God out. With those eyes, he scrutinizes, and he knows you through and through. Now, when we think about the judgment seat of Christ, we immediately focus our attention on service, and of course that's true. Service plays a big part in the rewards that, the eternal rewards that we will receive from Christ at his judgment seat, but thinking of it in terms of service is, is not inclusive of everything. Now listen. In Matthew chapter five, don't turn it up, but just listen. If these verses forty three and forty four are taken in their context, they would suggest that a reward for those who, listen now, who love their enemies. Oh, Brother Dan, wait a minute. Yes, there will be a reward for those who love their enemies. Now, I remember when I was a prisoner with the Japanese, that my fellow prisoners, my, the, the British prisoners and the Australian prisoners, they were becoming so mean and so bestial that I could feel not only resentment coming up in my young heart, but hatred. And God took me to task about this, and he said, you are not obeying my word, you're not doing my will by, by resenting or hating these men, no matter how despicable they are. You have to love your neighbor. And I wrestled, I wrestled with God, and I'm not ashamed to tell you this. I wrestled with God. I was twenty four, twenty five years of age, and my young, inexperienced mind and life just couldn't see this kind of treatment going on, and I rebelled against it, and God tormented me, and God knows that we needed sleep and rest, and I tossed and tumbled on, on poor and on old Mother Earth with no pillow and no blanket, just on Mother Earth, and I tossed and tumbled and wrestled until eventually God broke through, and I got the victory, and I looked at these men through the eyes of Jesus, and I could love them just as myself. And it was like being converted all over again. And I thought that that was fine, that was good. And then God came back at me, at me, said, I'm not finished with you yet. In my word, it says you have to love your enemies. Oh, wait a minute, Lord. I could not love those little yellow men. I, I can't. Those that have been so cruel, those that have killed, those that have murdered my best friends, I can't love them. Oh, you can't? And God took me into another phase in my life, and he was all the time was forming my character. And I came to the conclusion, and the result of my spiritual exercise, which went on for a long, long time until I was almost exhausted physically and mentally and emotionally. And then God gave me the victory, and I could look at those men through the eyes of my Savior. And when he came into the world, he gave his life for those Japanese soldiers, as well as for us from the Western. And I can say today that despite all the atrocities, that I love the Japanese people. Why? Because my Savior loved them. Love your enemies. There's going to be a reward for that. There's going to be a reward for those that bless them that curse them. There's going to be a reward for those that do good to them that hate them. And there's going to be a reward for those who pray for them who despitefully use them. Will you get some of this type of reward? Don't ask me afterwards what kind of rewards is it. I don't know, but I know that there is a reward. And the, the thrilling thing about it is this, that while our rewards and awards on earth are temporal, they're only for a time. The rewards that we will receive from Christ at his judgment seat are eternal. They'll never, never end. And what you get then at the judgment seat will go with you for all eternity. And of course, when we talk about the rewards for this, let me just bring in something here, that there is a corresponding loss of reward for those who do not do these things. A loss of reward. There's credit and discredit. And, um, all these things God is going to weigh in the balance, then he will give us a reward or a loss of reward. Matthew chapter six. this time, there is a reward for those who live quietly in the secret of God's presence and do not parade themselves before men. You've seen it, haven't you? I've seen it too. I've seen it with preachers. I've seen it with singers, especially singers. I think, uh, singers and singing lends itself more to a parading of the flesh than most other talents. And we've watched people parading themselves, themselves. People who do that, of course, will suffer loss at the judgment seat of Christ. But those who hide themselves from men in their giving, in their giving, not letting their right hand know what their left hand do. In their praying, not being like the Pharisees and lifting up their voice and, and praying and saying things in a beautiful phraseology. And sometimes those phrases never go higher than the roof of the chapel or building in which they are uttered. And then there's the fasting aspect, and I'm not going to go into this, but you can fast, I believe. But when we do these things, not fasting as the Pharisees fasted, everybody knew that they were fasting. They paraded themselves, but oh, for the humble brother or sister, and I want to speak to the elderly sisters here this morning because I believe and I know in in our ministry, Mrs. Snadden's ministry and mine, that were it not for the elderly sisters who pray for us, we could never operate as we do. Those dear souls that are shut away, they're forgotten on many occasions, but thank God for their faithful prayers. I want to tell you younger people here too, about a fact that, that we are not instructed enough or alerted enough, that if you want to learn the will of God, you will have to do it in secret. In secret. In secret. You will have to get alone with God and allow him to work with you. It's not shaving in the mirror in the morning and running against time and saying, Lord, I want you to help me today. I'm my child. I want to glorify thee, oh, and and combing your hair and showering and praying. That's not the type. That's good. That's what I call instant prayer. And being a Scot, I don't like instant tea. Don't serve me instant tea. But I wonder how God feels when when we try to get through and get over the fact that we've got to pray by doing this type of thing. Beloved, you've got to get alone with God. You've got to shut the door. Get into your room, into your closet, and shut the door. If I had time this morning, but I would digress and tell you about Elijah the prophet, that he went in and he shut the door, and a little boy was raised to life. He shut the door, and and the crews of oil kept coming and coming and coming until they, every vessel that they had gathered was full to capacity, but he shut the door and was alone with God. And if ever you're going to be any use for God, you'll have to know what it is to be alone with God. You know, when I was a prisoner, I coined a phrase, and it went something like this, that a life lived with God or with Christ produces a life like Christ. And if you want to be Christ-like, you'll have to shut the door and live with him for long, protracted period. My time's almost gone, and I haven't got started yet. But you, you see now, I've been trying to tell you that our life is very important, whether we're old or whether we're young. Every, every deed, every action, every thought, and going back further still, every motive is being analyzed by God and recorded by God. And when we see him on that day, at his judgment seat, we will give an account, I believe it's a public account to him, of all the things that we have done. Doesn't that make you become serious? Don't you feel something just quivering inside to think that we will stand before him? Everything that we've done will be manifest. And perhaps as we leave here this morning, and as we leave the camp at the end of the week, that we will have a different concept of life, knowing that we have to give an account of everything we do to the Lord. And just this closing remark, remember, you can't hide anything from God. He knows you intimately. He knows you through and through. Perhaps there's something you want to tell the Lord now. Just remain as you are, upright, just bow your head, close your eyes and pray. The things in your life that you want to confess now. The things that ought not to be there. You've had bad thoughts. Perhaps your language is not what it should be. Your actions are not what they should be. Confess them now. Because if you don't judge yourself now for these things, you will be judged by Christ at his judgment seat.