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Two things come to mind as I write this word about the Judgment Seat of Christ. The first is a comment made by J. B. Chapman, “We will know a lot more about Heaven five minutes after we get there than all the speculation this side of Heaven”. How true. So too when it comes to the Judgment Seat of Christ – the translation of bema – the Greek word that referred to the ancient place in Corinth where rewards and punishments were given. You can visit ancient Bema Seat in Corinth today – platform about ten feet high. Athletes were given garlands; criminals were given their sentences.

The second comment came from Dr. R. T. Williams, the man I was named after. He gave this advice to young preachers: “Stay away from prophecy and eschatology, let the old men do that; they won’t be around to see their mistakes”.

Well, I am old. And yet I don’t want to say anything that is not true regarding the Final Judgment. Whatever else can be said, it will be a fearful event. Indeed, the scariest moment I can imagine. The Old Testament prophets talked about “the day of the Lord” which possibly refers to a series of happenings at the End. Jesus spoke of “that day” (Matt.7:22). The affect of the Bema Seat on Paul was “therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord” (2 Cor.5:11 – ESV). And yet John spoke of having “confidence” (boldness – KJV) in the day of Judgment (1 John 4:17).

So, knowing that the Final Judgment will be a fearful, awesome event, how is to possible to have confidence or boldness?

First, it seems to me that the Final Judgment will be in two parts: (1) the saved and lost being judged; and (2) the saved being judged – whether they will receive a reward of saved by fire.

So if part of the Judgment will be when all people – saved and lost – stand before God, with the saved going to Heaven and the lost going to Hell, surely we may have confidence. Reason: our hope is in the blood of Christ. Those people whose hope of going to Heaven is in the shed blood of Jesus shed on the cross two thousand years ago should have no fear. None. If your hope is your good works, your faithfulness or sanctification, I would not want to be in yours shoes for anything in the world! You should fear. I would be scared to death! But I am not afraid. You need not be nervous or afraid if your sole hope of going to Heaven is trusting Jesus’ death on the cross.

Second, if part of the Judgment however has to do with rewards and punishments for the saved, how can one be so confident? Can you and I as believers have confidence, or boldness, on the Day of Judgment when as Christians the truth about us comes out? After all, Paul said we must all appear before the Bema Seat to give an account of the thing done while in the body – whether good or bad. That is very, very scary. How can I have confidence on this Day of days? Would a person be trusting his or her good works in this case? After all, 1 Corinthians 3 is all about building a superstructure of gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, straw – and the Day will declare it. It will be revealed by fire. So only those with a surviving superstructure of gold, silver, precious gems will get a reward. How can you and I be confident NOW?

I answer: Paul spoke of an earnest, or deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. See Ephesians 1:13-14. That is (in my view) the immediate and direct witness of the Holy Spirit. It is what enables you to be confident and fearless in that Day without being self-righteous about it at the same time.

Read more in my book on this fascinating and important subject. On sale this month.

As I look at the influences on my life I think of my chief mentors and the key teachings that have shaped my life and thinking. My two greatest mentors were Dr. Billy Ball (now 86, very fragile) who entered my life in 1955, and Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), who entered my life in 1963. The key teachings spring from three verses: (1) John 5:44, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (KJV). From 1957 to the present day that has been my life verse. Then there is (2) John 1:32: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him”. I develop this verse in my book The Sensitivity of the Holy Spirit. This has been absolutely life changing – finding out what grieves the Holy Spirit and not doing that. Believe me, it is a major challenge. But if have to say that alongside these two verses (3) is 2 Corinthians 5:10: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad”. I can remember where I was when this began to grip me the most – waiting for an order of fish and chips in a shop near Shepherd’s Bush in London. I came to see in a flash that it is there – at the Judgment and not until then – that we receive the recognition that matters.

To receive Christ’s own personal commendation, when he looks into our eyes and says “Well done”, is what will ultimately matter most of all to us. Not whether we get recognition, vindication or success here below. What we receive here below is a mere shadow of what Christ’s commendation will mean. When I became gripped with this truth my whole perspective changed. Although I wanted to see Revival in Westminster Chapel – yes, I surely did, I saw how this would mean almost nothing when I stand before God. His verdict of my life will be the true, objective one; not how I may be regarded here below.

One big question: will everything in our entire lives be revealed before all – including sins repented of and forgiven? Yes, according to my friend Arthur Blessitt. He says adamantly that ALL will come out – including past sins, even sins confessed and repented of. His reasoning is this: why would the people of the Bible (e.g. Moses, David and Solomon) be written up in Scripture? All they did was laid bare. Why should we be any different? He makes a good argument, but I disagree with him. I believe confessed sin – sin truly repented of – will be buried in God’s sea of forgetfulness never revealed (Psa.103:12). We have nothing to fear at the Judgment Seat of Christ except unconfessed sin and lack of true repentance.

These things said, I want to live my life as if all that is knowable about me will come out. It seems to me that living like this will make me more guarded and careful with my thoughts, words and deeds.

Read more in my book on this fascinating and important subject. On sale this month.

When I first envisaged preaching on the Epistle of James in 1980 I panicked at the thought of having to explain James 2:14: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have no works? Can faith save him?”  I knew the way Evangelical scholars traditionally dealt with it, namely, that justifying faith is always validated by good works; they say that works prove that true faith has set in. That interpretation never satisfied me.  Nor did it enter any scholar’s mind (that I know of) that James might be speaking of “him” as someone else but only arguing that the person who claims to have faith must also have works or he could not be saved. It admittedly seems obvious – at first – that the “him” (“Can faith save him?”) of James 2:14 must mean that you needed works to be saved. Roman Catholics therefore never had a problem with this verse. And yet that verse has bedeviled Protestant biblical interpreters for centuries, beginning with Martin Luther who simply dismissed James as “an epistle of straw”. After all, on the surface it would appear that James and Paul could not be in sharper disagreement. Although I admire Luther I refused to believe James was second class. I decided in any case to start preaching on James. I felt a peace that I would know what James 2:14 meant once I had to deal with it months later. I began at James 1:1 and went right through to the end – verse by verse. That was the way I preached.

When I preached on James 2:13 I was no closer to understanding James 2:14. I wondered, “What am I going to do? Simply sweep the dirt under the carpet? Take the traditional view that James is merely stating the true faith also is always accompanied by good works?” After all, I do believe true faith is accompanied by good works; I simply did not believe this is what James was saying in 2:14.

But, lo and behold, as I began preparation on James 2:14 I had a surprising discovery. James is not speaking of the person’s personal salvation at all. He does not say, “Does the man ‘himself ‘ have faith who has no works?” There is no reflexive pronoun. This was important. The big breakthrough was “him” – in the accusative, masculine singular. I saw that James was not talking about the validity of a person’s own salvation.  And yet I knew I still had my work cut out for me. In those days I still had Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones at my side. I knew he must be convinced if I would get away with a major departure in the history of biblical interpretation.

I came to discover that the key to James 2 is verse 6 – that the Greek word for “poor” (KJV) is ptochon – “poor man”– accusative, masculine singular. When translations say “poor” it sounds plural. “You have despised the poor” sounds like poor people generally. But no. James lifts out an example of a “poor man” – and proceeds with this right through the rest of the chapter. I did not have the English Standard Version in those days which reads, “You have dishonored the poor man”. The NIV strangely translates it merely “poor”.

Most interpreters also assumed that James introduces a new discussion in 2:14. No. The poor man is James’ concern from James 2:6 onwards; indeed, “poor man” is what James is talking about right through the rest of James 2.

The “him” of James 2:14, then, refers to the poor man of James 2:6. It may seem odd to us but not to James himself who wrote it. In other words, it could have read, “Can faith save that poor man?”  That poor man out there needs to see our good works if he is going to be persuaded of our faith! Both James 2:6 and James 2:14 are accusative, masculine singular. Read it, beginning with James 2:6. Then keep reading right to the end. I’m really surprised Martin Luther missed this. Had Luther bothered to check James 2:6 carefully and connected it to James 2:14ff, he would never have had a problem with James. James 2:14 to the end, with “poor man” in mind, reads by itself. Although I was convinced I had got it right, you can be sure it was of no small consolation when Dr. Lloyd-Jones looked at me and said, “You have convinced me”. And when my exposition of Hebrews 2:14 came out in the Westminster Record a year or two later, Dr. Michael Eaton wrote and assured me I had indeed got it right – and gave me further grammatical reasons. He later told me this view of James 2:14 revolutionized his ministry in Johannesburg, leading him to open his church to black people.

James 2:14 is therefore not referring to whether we are saved. It refers to whether our testimony will be effective to others, especially to that poor person out there for whom nobody cares.

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James 1:2

A pivotal point in my life, funnily enough, turned on what at first might appear to you to be either comical or trivial.

In the summer of 1980 I began praying sermons on James, a series that commenced in the Fall. I had prayed hard for a good beginning, a clear way forward that would make the Epistle come alive. I was particularly conscious that right at the beginning were those words (using the KJV in those days): “Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations” (Jas.1:2).

In those days we always went to Florida for our vacations. The children begged to return to Disney World. I reluctantly agreed when I recalled that the previous year I got the best pizza I ever ate in Kissimmee, Florida where we had stayed. We checked into the hotel, headed immediately for the pizza parlor. I ordered a huge jumbo pizza with everything on it – mushrooms, pepperonis, sausage, green peppers, etc. But after a half hour our pizza was not ready. I went to the manager and inquired. They lost the order. He impatiently said, “What do you want?” I replied, “Am I to believe we have sat her for over a half hour and you don’t even have our order?” “Right, so what do you want?” I called the family up and we put our order in – one at a time, ending with my own huge jumbo order. Fifteen minutes later we were on our way back to the hotel but in a storm. The rain was so fierce you could hardly see the road. When we got to the motel the water was ten inches deep on my side. But I got out, opened the back door to get my pizza – while the family headed with theirs into the hotel room. But as I took my pizza out in a brown paper bag the rain beat down on it so hard that the next thing I noticed was my pizza floating on the water like a pyramid with the mushrooms, pepperonis, sausage, green peppers . . . I went inside to explain to Louise and the kids that I had to go back to the pizza parlor and face the manager and order another pizza.

On the way to the parlor – roughly a five minute drive – I recalled the words, “Count it all joy”. I said to myself, “Either this is true, or it isn’t. I believe it is true. I must dignify this trial.” I repented of my complaining and murmuring not only in the parlor with the manager but my habit of being a grumbler over the years. I felt so ashamed. I resolved from that moment to dignify every trial I would ever have. I began by apologizing to the manager of the pizza parlor. The next day at Disney World I was almost overwhelmed by an amazing peace. It lasted all day. And the next. And the next.

Really and truly, that incident ensured that I would never be the same again.

The word “count” – translated “consider” in the NIV – is the exact same word Paul uses in Romans 4 regarding his teaching of justification by faith alone. It means “impute” – put to the charge of. In other words, God imputes righteousness to us when we believe the promise, even though we are not righteous. James uses this word – that we impute “all joy”, “pure joy” (NIV) to a trial. This does not mean it is joyful to have a trial. It could be horrible. But we “impute” joy to it; we “consider”, “regard” or “count” it pure joy.

Doing this pleases God. He hates complaining, grumbling. But when we regard it as joy – dignifying the trial – we honor him. What is more, we will sooner or later thank God for the trial, seeing eventually that God has a purpose in every trial. Every single trial. Small ones (losing a pizza) or huge ones (tragedy). I don’t say it will be easy. But God’s word is true. Stop complaining. Regard everything in your life at this moment – the most negative thing – as something God allowed for your own spiritual growth. You will never be sorry.

But you will be sorry if you don’t break the grumbling habit.

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Elijah – Still Learning God’s Ways

One of the most moving things to me regarding the life of Elijah is that God continued to deal so tenderly with the prophet – even after he was (presumably) near the end of his life. In the world today we tend to dismiss people either because of their old age or if they don’t have the platform or position they once had. God is not like that. “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you; I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you” (Isa.46:4). That is so encouraging.

In Elijah ‘s case although his work on earth was almost finished, God was not finished with Elijah. Not that Elijah would “use” new things God was about to show him. What God was about to do was to show Elijah things he had never seen or thought of.

Elijah was not only a tired man by the broom tree but also a proud man. “I am no better than my ancestors” (1 Kings 19:4). I want to ask Elijah, “Whoever thought you were?” But he had high aspirations for himself! He wanted to be the ultimate servant of God. The ultimate prophet. The ultimate example. His running from Jezebel made him realize that he was “dust”. God knows our frame; he remembers we are “dust” (Psa.103:14).

But now God is about to show Elijah something of God’s ways which Elijah was not prepared for. He was ordered to stand on the mountain and see God’s manifest presence. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart. But the Lord “was not in the wind”. That is odd. You would have thought God certainly was in the wind. Then came an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then came a fire – certainly God had appeared in fire before; but the Lord was not in the fire. And then came what was perhaps the most understated and lackluster manifestation of all time: a “gentle whisper” (“still small voice” – KJV – 1 Kings 19:11-12).

Elijah recognized God in this unspectacular manifestation. He heard it, pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood in the mouth of the cave (v.13). Elijah learned that there was a lot about God and his ways that he had never thought of.

God has a way of doing that. Just when we think we are getting to know his ways we often discover – to our embarrassment – we knew so little about him. And yet –  I cannot help but ask – how will Elijah “use” this information about God? When I get a new insight I ask, When can I preach this? But sometimes one sees things he cannot share. Some insights are to be kept, hidden in one’s heart. Why? Just to know God and his ways is enough. We don’t need to “preach” every insight we get!

God was in the process of sorting out this tired and proud prophet. The time had come for God to say, “Elijah, you have said twice that you are the only one left. I have to tell you Elijah – you are wrong. I have seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal. Sorry Elijah, but you are not the only one” (1 Kings 19:18).

The beautiful thing is, not only was God teaching Elijah new things; he was teaching things to Elijah in his old age – his vocation nearly complete and his ministry almost over. But God loves to show us that he loves us just as we are. Our relationship with him is enough. His presence is enough. His ways are so fulfilling. And his compassion toward our shameful weakness and shocking pride means that God gets all the glory in the end. Not us. Not even Elijah.

RT

You can read much more about this in my New book: These are the days of Elijah available at a discount for this month.

Running Scared – Despite God’s Oath

One would have thought that after the astounding display of God’s power and glory on Mount Carmel, Elijah would be so set in his faith that he would never fear or doubt again.

Yes. One would have thought.

But after the victory over Baal and the restoration of rain to the land – as Elijah had boldly promised – we see another side to Elijah: a man scared to death and running for his life. And who scared him? Jezebel the wife of King Ahab.

In a previous blog I wrote about the oath of God. But people also swear oaths. When they do they swear by the “greater” (Heb.6:16). People will say “I swear by God” or “I swear by mother’s grave” – anything to convince another that they are telling the absolute truth.  The president takes the oath with his right hand uplifted and his left hand on the Bible. Why? So that all will be convinced he will fulfill his vow. God of course could not swear by the greater so he “swore by himself”(Heb.6:13).

It turns out that Jezebel swore an oath that she would get vengeance upon Elijah for what he did to the prophets of Baal. What was the “greater” to which Jezebel appealed in order to convince people she meant what she said: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do no make your life like that of one of them” – a word she sent by messenger to Elijah (1 Kings 19:2).

You would have thought that Elijah would laugh it off – as he sneered at the prophets of Baal. But not this time. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life (1 Kings 19:3). This goes to show two things: (1) Even though Elijah experienced the oath of God with regard to rain and the fire falling on Mount Carmel it did not spill over into his personal life and sense of safety; and (2) that Elijah was still the same human being we have seen in previous blogs. He was a man “just like us” (Jas.5:17).

He ran a long way. All the way to Beersheba in Judah – about as far away as you could get from Jezebel and still be in Israel. Elijah was taking no chances. He knew she meant what she said. He thought he was a goner. Wrong.

Jezebel’s vow was not kept. The Bible warns of making a vow  – which carries virtually the same weight as the oath – and not fulfilling it (Numb.30:2). But not keeping one’s oath would not worry a godless Jezebel. Sadly it did not seem to bother King Saul either – who swore to his son Jonathan that he would not harm David (a vow he broke soon afterwards – 1 Sam.19:6-10). Saw had become “yesterday’s man” and one of the evidences of being yesterday’s man or woman is that you have no integrity.

The eventual result of all this was Elijah being emotionally exhausted. Even apart from Jezebel’s threat he might have been exhausted anyway from the ordeal at Carmel. Dr. James Dobson has shown that many a minister thinks the devil is getting at them on Mondays when it is in all likelihood merely the loss of adrenalin! If so, imagine the depletion of adrenalin Elijah must have experienced after Carmel. And following that – Jezebel.

So he was a tired man. When we are extremely tired we say things we may mean, yes, but which are not always true. “I’ve had enough . . . Take my life” (1 Kings 19:4). I recently experienced the worst jet lag of my whole life. I have crossed the Atlantic nearly fifty times in the last ten years and have crossed the Pacific three times. But for some reason my recent trip to the Middle East and to India found me utterly depleted of energy and rational thinking!

The lovely thing is, God knows these things. “All at once an angel touched him”  (1 Kings 19:5). How kind God is. He does not desert us when we are afraid. Or tired.

RT

You can read much more about this in my New book: These are the days of Elijah available at a discount for this month.

Elijah – How Come Such Authority?

Whatever enabled Elijah to say to King Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). How often do you read about such boldness? However did Elijah know to speak like that? Would he not have lived in fear day and night that it might rain after he said that to Ahab, and then his word would have no credibility at all? I think I would have been a nervous wreck if I made a claim like that!

But there is more. How could Elijah have such calmness when he said to the prophets of Baal that the “god who answers by fire – he is God”. Not only that; while the false prophets feverishly pleaded, “O Baal, answer us!”, watch Elijah! He is having the time of his life! He pokes fun at them. “Shout louder . . . Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened” (1 Kings 18:22,27). How could Elijah be so relaxed? So sure

The answer is: God had sworn an oath to him.

God swore an oath to Abraham (Gen.22:16ff). Up until then it had been one promise after another to Abraham that his seed would be innumerable – like the “dust of the earth” (Gen.13:16) or the stars in the sky (Gen.15:5). Abraham believed these words but also felt a need to make these promises happen – as when he slept with Hagar (Gen.16:2). But once God swore an oath to Abraham he was “set” – utterly and totally convinced that his seed would be like the sand of the seashore.

What made the difference? Is not the promise true? Is it not valid? Why would one need the oath to be utterly and absolutely convinced? It is because the oath is stronger. It puts an end to all argument (Heb.616). When the oath is sworn no room for doubting is left. These two unchangeable things – promise and oath (Heb.6:18) – are equally true but not equally convincing to us. God sometimes accommodates us by swearing an oath to us, and when he does we know that we know. It is an assurance that comes by the immediate and direct witness of the Holy Spirit. It was what was promised to the Hebrew Christians (Heb.6:9ff). I shall deal with this in detail this summer at The Cove (Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, NC). I also deal with this in detail in my latest book  These Are the Days of Elijah.

My point is this.  No man or woman on earth could speak as Elijah did had he not heard from God at what I would call the oath level. You have two unchangeable things: promise and oath. Both are true but the promise tends to be conditional: this is true upon the condition “if”. But there is no condition attached to the oath. When God swears an oath it is going to happen, like it or not. When God swears this to a person he or she KNOWS what will happen.

That is what Elijah had. That is how he could, almost casually, say to Ahab: no rain unless I say so. That is why he could be so calm on Mount Carmel and even tease the prophets of Baal. He knew his word was infallibly true.

Have you ever had God to swear an oath to you? It may come with regard to an answer to prayer (1 John 5:15; Mark 11:22-24), to full assurance of salvation (Heb.11:22) or infallible understanding of what is true (Col.2:2).

Ask God to give you this. He did with Elijah – an ordinary man (Jas.5:17). Why not you?

RT

You can read much more about this in my New book: These are the days of Elijah available at a discount for this month.

Elijah – SO Human

When I began my first series of sermons at Westminster Chapel for some reason I chose Jonah as the book I wanted to work through. When asked, Why Jonah?, I always replied: Because I am Jonah. I identified with Jonah from start to finish – from his being swallowed by a great fish to his self-righteous sulking at the end.

As it happens my last series of sermons at the Chapel was on Elijah. And guess what – surprise, surprise – I identify with Elijah too, only more so. I refer not to his anointing or his extraordinary confrontation with the prophets of Baal and the miraculous fire falling from heaven. I can’t think of any person who can match that. I refer to Elijah’s humanness. He was – oh, SO human. James says he was “just like us” (James.5:17 – “a man of like passions as we are’ – KJV). James wants to show that God uses not only obedient men and women but also ordinary people.

Keep in mind that Elijah epitomized the prophetic dimension of the Old Testament. When Jesus was transfigured before his disciples, who appeared with him? Moses – representing the Law, or the Word; and Elijah – representing the prophets, or the Spirit. Whereas one can go through the life of Moses and see how human he too was, with the great Elijah there is an undoubted and obvious frailty in him with which all of us can surely identify.

There are a number of things that (to me) stand out regarding the person Elijah. First, he took himself too seriously. He claimed to be the “only one of the Lord’s prophets left”. (1 Kings 18:22). Elijah was utterly wrong to say it or think it. He surely knew better. He had just been with Obadiah a day or two before! What about those hundred prophets Obadiah had hidden in caves (1 Kings 18:4)? But Elijah was so full of himself and so insensitive that he did not recognize anyone else as being valid. He had just been with Obadiah who had risked his own life to hide one hundred true prophets in caves. It was almost as though Elijah were showing contempt for anyone but himself! What selfishness! What self-centeredness! Worst of all, Elijah really thought it! He repeated it later when in his depression and tiredness by the broom tree he said, “I am the only one left” (1 Kings 19:10). Wrong again.

This encourages me. I will come clean with you. I think one of my greatest problems throughout my ministry of nearly sixty years has been to take myself too seriously.

What does it mean to take oneself too seriously? First, you magnify your importance. Second, you want to make sure you get the credit for what you do.

Third, you are too insensitive and oblivious to other people God may be using who may or may not have the platform and recognition you have. I have said for years that at the Judgment Seat of Christ the  greatest rewards will be given out primarily to those who had little or no profile on earth but were equally faithful to God’s dear cause.

On Mount Carmel – right in the middle of Elijah confronting the false prophets when saying “I alone am left”, God might have said, “STOP! I now call off the whole proceeding, Elijah. You are certainly NOT the only prophet left. How dare you say that. I cannot use you now. Sorry”. But God did not call off the proceedings. He let Elijah carry on. It would be some time later when God would sort out Elijah.

I don’t like to think how I have taken myself so seriously over the years. It must have made the angels blush. But God continued to use me. In my old age he has patiently whispered to me that I am not so important after all.

RT

You can read much more about this in my New book: These are the days of Elijah available at a discount for this month.