Gloryland's New Christian Series Bible course may be copied freely, but must not be sold except to recover the cost of copying or printing. We only ask that proper credit be given and that you notify us if you are copying or distributing the course or making links to it on the Internet. Please let us know if you translate the course into another language, or if you wish to have it translated into another language. © Copyright 1994 Linton M. Smith Jr.

This is a study about The Christian’s Inheritance, Lesson #5 in the New Christian Series. In this study we will learn about the different parts of the believer’s divine legacy. Our Father is the King of kings, and our heavenly inheritance is no small thing consider. It is vast and large beyond any earthly comprehension.

In this verse Paul is making reference to Isaiah 64:4. In the context of his letter to the Corinthian church, he is speaking of spiritual truths, and the mysteries of God’s wisdom that are hidden in the scriptures. But, we find that there is an even greater application to be made as we consider our own heavenly inheritance. And what must it be, if our greatest imaginations fall so far short of it?

Part of our future inheritance will be made up of rewards earned by the faithful accomplishment of works done in obedience to the Lord’s guidance since we were saved. They are called rewards because they are given by our heavenly Father as the due compensation of our labor for Him.

Romans 4:4 teaches us that we must work for rewards, and that they are awarded, not of grace, but as a debt to be paid to the laborer. This is a very simple but important truth for us to grasp.

• However, it is of utmost importance that we never confuse the earned rewards of our heavenly inheritance with the free gift of eternal life.

In the first lesson of this Bible course, we learned that salvation is the free gift of God, to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, by faith. One of the clearest passages in the Bible concerning this is found in Ephesians 2.

Another excellent passage of scripture referring to the free gift of salvation is found in I John chapter 5.

By the wonderful grace of God, salvation is a free gift: it cannot be earned. We may freely receive this gift from our loving Saviour, because His work alone has already completely paid for it. Scripture is very clear that our works, with their attending rewards, have nothing at all to do with the salvation of our souls.

As necessary preparation for this study, we must establish the difference between the kingdom of Heaven and the kingdom of God, as found in the Bible. This is imperative because there are some who teach that the two are the same, leading to a host of doctrinal errors. (We will do an in-depth study of this subject in a future lesson, but now we only need to establish from the Bible that these two kingdoms are not the same, but are definitely different.)

So, it is seems clear that this is a spiritual kingdom; and the book of Matthew tells us that it is connected with God’s righteousness.

Christ imputes His righteousness to every believer as they enter into this spiritual kingdom by a spiritual rebirth.

At the moment of our spiritual rebirth, the Holy Spirit also placed us into the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13) and seated us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). All these things have to do with the spiritual kingdom of God we have become part of. Though we are in it now, we cannot see it now. We can only enter this kingdom in the spiritual sense at the present time (John 3:5). But when Christ returns to reign upon the earth, the kingdom of God will become a literal, visible, physical kingdom that we can see. Having merged with the kingdom of

Heaven, it will then be made manifest.

While we know it has not appeared yet, we are just as sure that it will one day. Now look at the parallel passage in John 3 and notice the difference in the wording:

John 3:3 says "see the kingdom of God," but John 3:5 says "enter the kingdom of God" — these are two different things. Spiritually speaking, we enter it when we are born again, but later on (when Christ returns) both kingdoms will be manifest upon the earth as a physical kingdom we can actually see. Verse 5 has to do with the inheritance in the kingdom of God we have not received yet, and that is what we are going to study in this lesson. So while we do have eternal life right now, as a present possession (John 3:18,36; John 5:24; I John 5:12,13), we cannot receive our divine inheritance until we get our new glorified body.

For now, we are trapped in bodies of flesh and blood that cannot inherit the kingdom of God, but when His literal earthly kingdom is established, we will have a new glorified body like our Saviour; flesh, but no blood. Compare I Corinthians 15:50 with Luke 24:39.

I Corinthians 15:50 shows clearly that "flesh and blood" CANNOT inherit this spiritual, heavenly kingdom. But Luke 24:39 shows that Jesus did have "flesh and bones" AFTER the resurrection. We see then that flesh and bone CAN enter this kingdom, while flesh and blood CANNOT. Flesh can, bone can, but blood cannot. So it is clear that we cannot receive our inheritance until we get our new glorified bodies.

What makes up this inheritance? There are two parts of the believer’s inheritance. One part is fixed and has already been secured for us; the other is variable and must be earned by us.

   I. Part of it is Already Fixed

        The part that is already fixed, is secure and is already waiting for us in Heaven. Praise God, we cannot lose it!

Because this part of our inheritance is already reserved for us in Heaven, there are two things we are going to get for sure:

   II. The Variable Part of Our Inheritance

          This second part of our inheritance must be earned. Therefore we do not know for certain all that we will receive — we will have to wait until that glorious day to see just what has been accounted to this variable part of our inheritance.

God promised Abraham that he and his seed (descendants) would inherit the world (Romans 4:13). As believers, we are promised a share in that inheritance because the Bible says we too are Abraham’s seed (Galatians 3:29). We are not Abraham’s physical seed of course, but we are his spiritual seed. We became spiritual Jews (Romans 2:28,29) when we were adopted as the sons of God. Therefore, part of our inheritance will consist of a literal reign with Jesus Christ upon this earth. It will last for 1,000 years after He establishes His visible kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

Throughout the Old Testament, God promised the children of Israel that they would one day possess a land upon the earth, but they never did get it. However, we know that they will get it when Christ sets up His Millennial (1,000 year) kingdom on earth.

• The Old Testament saints had to earn this inheritance.
• The tribulation saints will have to earn this inheritance.
• We (the church age saints), also have to earn whatever part of this inheritance we expect to receive.

While we cannot lose our salvation (eternal life), we can lose the right to reign with the Lord Jesus Christ during the Millennium. We do not want to lose our inheritance, because it will be an inconceivably wonderful reward, accompanied by power and honor. Many Christians know nothing about this precious Bible doctrine or about how to earn their inheritance; therefore, they live their whole Christian

life adding nothing to their divine legacy. When they stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, where rewards are given out, they will find they have lost the right to reign with Christ. During that 1,000 year reign, the earth will again be like the Garden of Eden, and the bride will enjoy a 1,000 year honeymoon with the Lord Jesus Christ. In this lesson, we will learn from the Bible how to earn this part of our inheritance. Let’s be sure we get our part of this wonderful reward by working for Jesus all the days of our lives. The Bible tells us how we can earn this part of our inheritance.

We can add to our reward by faithfully serving Christ. Paul wrote, "ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance:" The reward he is speaking of is not salvation, because salvation is not a reward or an inheritance — it is a free gift. We must distinguish between the free gift and the reward. One can be lost, but the other cannot.

Verse 23 says "do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." Any work done for recognition or the praise of men, is done in vain and will earn us nothing. We are to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do, and never ourselves. I Corinthians 3 indicates that believers will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ to be rewarded for the things done in their bodies. There we will learn what rewards we have laid up in Heaven and what has been lost.

Paul does not say "the fire shall try every man’s work…" to see how much work he had done. Rather, the trial is to determine "of what sort" the work is. God is looking for quality, not quantity. So when we do things for the Lord, we must do them "heartily, as unto the Lord." Notice that the fire burns up vain works, not the believer himself (vs. 15). Our faithful service to the Lord will lay up gold, silver, and precious stones for us, while the wood, hay, and stubble represent our dead works (things done according to our fleshly desires). When the purging fire

comes across the precious fruit of our labor, all the wood, hay and stubble of our lives will be burnt up. Only the gold, silver and precious stones will be left to become part of our earned reward.

• It is important to remember that Colossians 3:24 is not talking about salvation, because that is not a reward and nor is it a part of an inheritance—it is a gift.

I Corinthians 15:50 says that: "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." So we know we will not get our inheritance while we live on this earth in our natural bodies. Our inheritance is something we are still waiting to receive.

God gave us the Holy Scriptures to teach us about Himself and how we should live for Him. If we will read them, we will learn how we should serve Him, and what He wants us to do for Him.

• For example, Colossians 3 is a chapter that tells us all kinds of things the Lord wants us to do.

• Another example is I Thessalonians 5.

It is a good idea to mark each verse the Lord especially brings to our attention and try to do what it says. If we do not study the word of God, we will not learn how to serve Christ, and we will miss a wonderful part of our future inheritance. It grieves the Holy Spirit that many Christians have attended Sunday School classes for 30, 40, or even 50 years (ever since they were children), but still know little or nothing about their great inheritance or the other precious Bible doctrines. Many know only the basic Bible stories about Jonah and the whale, or Joseph, or Jacob and Esau, but never learned how to serve Christ. To their great sorrow and loss, they will wind up at

the Judgment Seat of Christ with little or nothing to show for their lives on earth. It will be no one’s fault but their own, because they had the word of God and they had the Holy Spirit to give them understanding. Don’t be just a statistic, a believer whose life produces nothing for themselves or for God. Take heed to what James says, and "be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1:22).

   B. The Second Element In Earning Our Inheritance Is Suffering For         Christ.

Romans 8:17 says the children are "heirs." Imagine a millionaire who has written his last will and testament. If he wanted to, he could exclude his son from his will, and deny him part of the inheritance. That would not make the boy any less a son, because nothing could change the fact that he was his son, by birth. It is the same with believers. Born into God’s family, we are God’s sons. If we turn away from Him to a life of sin, God will deny us our inheritance, but nothing can change the fact that we are His sons.

Romans 8:19-22 has to do with the curse being taken off the animal kingdom when Christ reigns upon the earth in His millennial kingdom (cf. Isaiah 11). We know too, that the redemption of the believer’s body takes place at the rapture of the church (Romans 8:23). So we see from the context of this passage of scripture, that Paul is speaking of the time of the Millennium. In this context, suffering is mentioned in connection with our divine inheritance.

What was Paul thinking about when he used this word "suffer?" Well, suffering can be emotional or physical. One definition of the word suffer in Webster’s dictionary is "to bear what is inconvenient" or "to endure things." If we serve Christ, and do our best to live a godly life, we are going to suffer some persecution—the world will make sure of that (II Timothy 3:12). Paul the apostle suffered this sort of persecution because of the life he lived as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have this promise from God, that if we try to live godly in Christ Jesus we will suffer some persecution. It is by this suffering that we earn this part of our future inheritance. Our persecution could also be physical, as in the early days of Christianity when Rome tortured and killed so many Christians.

In this instance, the apostles were beaten and told not to speak in the name of Jesus anymore. Afterwards, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ, and they continued teaching and preaching about Him. In this, they earned an inheritance. We don’t see this sort of thing taking place in America today, but it could happen in the future. We very well may find that before we die, we will have an opportunity to suffer physical persecution for the Lord Jesus Christ.

A study of the apostle Paul’s life shows clearly that he suffered for the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible says that he is an example of the way a believer should suffer. The Lord Jesus Christ also suffered, and I Peter 2 tells us that He is our example regarding suffering also.

In the future we may well expect more physical suffering to fall upon the servants of Christ, as in past centuries. It will certainly be that way during the Great Tribulation (although the body of Christ, the New Testament Church, won’t be there). In fact, the real persecution of believers may begin before the rapture of the church. Things could get tough in a hurry for real Christians.

Having discussed physical persecution and its reward, let’s think for a moment; are there any other ways we may be made to suffer persecution and still earn this inheritance? Yes, for one thing, we can win this part of our inheritance by enduring hardship (one of the definitions of the word suffer). When we are mistreated, undergoing trials of mental distress, or enduring emotional abuse because of our testimony for Christ, our flesh is afflicted, because it does not want to be subjected to those things. We will encounter these afflictions if we go out on the streets and distribute gospel tracts, go door to door and witness for Christ, rebuke sin in the people that we work with, or get out on the street and preach (cf. Matthew 10:38; 16:24; Luke 9:23; 14:27; Galatians 6:14). If we deny our flesh and obey the Holy Spirit we will suffer some persecution—Satan will see to that.

   C. The Third Element In Earning Our Inheritance Is Steadfastness In         The Faith—Not Denying Christ.

It should be quite clear from the scriptures that there are some who get saved, but later return to the world and deny Christ. If they were truly born again, these people are just as much the sons of God as we. They will be in Heaven, but having denied Christ they will lose part of their inheritance. They were ashamed of Christ and unwilling to endure the fiery trials that this life holds for believers (Romans 10:11; Luke 9:26; I John 2:28; I Peter 4:16). Although the Lord Jesus Christ will also be ashamed of them, they will not lose their salvation.

Some believe that "if we deny him, he also will deny us:" means some believers may get up to Heaven and knock on the pearly gates asking, "Lord, Lord, let me in," only to hear Him say, "Depart from me… I never knew you." (Matthew 7:23) But, that is not what these verses in Matthew and II Timothy teach at all. In order to try to teach this, one must take these verses completely out of their context. Furthermore, to teach the heresy that a Church-Age saint can lose his salvation; to say that he could still go to Hell because of the way he lived after he became a Christian, is to call Jesus Christ a liar. When a man gets saved during this present age of grace, the Lord does know him. At the moment we are born again and become part of "his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." (Ephesians 5:30). Moreover, we are promised by the Lord that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). If the Lord were to say, "I never knew you," that would be an outright lie. What Paul is talking about in II Timothy 2:12 is not that the Lord is going to deny someone to go to Heaven, nor that they will lose their salvation. He means that the believer who denies Christ will be denied part of their inheritance (the right to reign with Him in the Millennium). It is right there in the context of the verse: "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us." He will deny them the right to reign with Him. Shamefully, there are many born again Christians who

deny Christ the right to rule their life. When their faith is tried they return to the world. They have denied Christ, and He will deny them part of their inheritance.

That’s an example of a believer denying Christ and going back into the world. Paul goes on to warn Timothy that others would depart from the faith as well, especially "in the latter days."

That is addressed to believers. It does not say "some shall lose their salvation"; it says "some shall depart from the faith." Many people deny Christ and depart from the faith, but they do not lose their salvation—they lose their inheritance. Look back at II Timothy 2, and continue reading at verse 13. Paul makes a remarkable statement about those who had denied Christ.

That’s one of the strongest verses in the Bible on eternal security. It teaches us that even if we decide we are no longer willing to endure the hardship or take the persecution that comes with being a Christian—even if we go back into the world, like Demas—even if we decide that we just do not believe Christ anymore—even if we are not faithful to our Saviour—Christ is faithful, because "he cannot deny himself." What a wonderful Saviour He is, who will not deny even the unfaithful once they are His!

Those who have received the gift of eternal life shall never perish: we are in His hand. We are not only in Christ’s hand, but we are also part of His hand (Ephesians 5:30-32). You see, our salvation doesn’t depend upon our faithfulness to Christ; it depends upon His faithfulness to us. He will abide faithful forever, and if we have been born again, we need not fear, because He is in us and we are in Him—we are safe forever. Since He cannot deny himself, we are just as secure in our eternal salvation as He is in His eternal power.

If we want to reign with Christ, we will have to suffer for Him. We will have to endure the hardships, trials, persecution, and abuse—without denying Him. We must not quit, like Demas—we must not cease to attend church, read our Bible, pray, or distribute gospel tracts—we must not deny Him the service we should render unto Him. We must continue to do the best we can; living by faith and doing His blessed will.

Then when we get to the Judgment Seat of Christ we will have our reward—the right to reign with the King of kings and Lord of lords during the Millennium.

We entered the kingdom of God by means of the new birth, but in order to earn our inheritance for the millennial kingdom we must separate ourselves from the world, live clean, holy lives. We must deny the desires of the flesh. The word "Covetousness" (verse 3) means a strong desire to possess something we don’t have.

So, we see from Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians 3:5 that covetousness is idolatry. The definition of idolatry is: the worship of anything made by man, or anything that is not God; an excessive attachment for anything other than God. If we have that problem, it could cause us to lose our inheritance (not our salvation, but our inheritance, our reign with the Lord Jesus Christ). It is not wrong to have some earthly possessions, but it is wrong to covet them. When we do, we have put those things before the Lord Jesus Christ. Our worldly possessions should mean absolutely nothing to us in comparison with our love for Christ and our service to Him. But if we allow our fleshly desires to control the way we live and the way we spend our time and money, then those desires have kept us from following the desire of the Holy Spirit. His desire is that we allow Him to control our lives, and that we follow after the will of God.

If we reckon our old man (the flesh) to be dead, then there will be no conflict. Conflict comes when we begin to give heed to the desires of the flesh once again and yield ourselves to serve it.

Now, let’s look now at another passage of Scripture on clean living from Galatians chapter five. It is important that we understand these well known passages of Scripture from Romans 6 and Galatians 5, because they are the ones most often used to deceive the child of God into believing that he can lose his salvation. But these verses do not teach that at all. As sincere students of the word of God, we must learn the difference between the salvation of our soul and our earned inheritance. Thereby we will have the assurance of God and thereby we will be able to instruct others who are confused by false teachers.

It does not say they which do such things shall… lose their salvation and go to hell. Aimed at believers, it says "they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." So we see that it is an inheritance that is in jeopardy in verses 19-21. Remember, Colossians 3:23 defined the inheritance as being a reward. We know that is not a reference to salvation because salvation is not a reward —salvation is a free gift. Furthermore "the kingdom of God" is a literal, visible, physical kingdom. (We will cover this more thoroughly in another lesson.)

We just read that "the works of the flesh are manifest." The word manifest means evident, obvious or easily perceived. These can be plainly seen by the child of God in the lives of others, but we must also be willing to admit when they are manifest in our own lives as well. Cover them up or denying their presence will not help. We must be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to point them and bring us under conviction of sin. Thereby we may confess them as sin and allow Him to purge them from our lives. out so is important at this point that we understand the meaning of each.

These days the world considers adultery and fornication to be normal and acceptable, but God still considers it unacceptable—they are sins against His holiness. Christians who participate in extramarital sexual activity will reap in the flesh what they have sown in the flesh (Galatians 6:8). They will also lose their testimony, their chastity, their innocence, and part of their inheritance.

Dirty thoughts, dirty language, and indecent dress all come under the heading of uncleanness. A woman can cause a man to commit adultery in his heart because of the way she dresses (cf. II Peter 2:14; Job 31:1; and Matthew 5:27-28). Matthew says that "whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Both are guilty, because he committed adultery together with her. Many Christian ladies will be surprised as they stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and find they have lost a great part of their inheritance because of this sin. Let’s face it; today, young and old alike dress in clothes that accentuate their feminine forms to make themselves more sexually appealing. In doing so they deliberately entice men to sin and commit adultery with them, because they caused them to lust after their bodies.

We never hear this word used anymore, but it means wild, loose living. It is the stirring up and carrying out the sexual desires of the flesh.

Well now, that covers a lot of territory, doesn’t it? As we have already learned from Scripture that "covetousness" is idolatry. It is simply putting any thing before God. The following definitions will help us to understand more clearly the real meaning of idolatry.

• Coveteousness—a strong desire for wealth or possessions
• Worship—to feel an adoring reverence or regard for (any person or thing).
• Idol—Old English Definition 1, from Jewish and Christian use— An image or similitude of a deity or divinity, used as an object of worship. Any thing or person that is the object of excessive or supreme devotion, or that usurps the place of God in human affection.
• Idolater—(a) A worshipper of idols or images; (b) An adorer, idolizer, devoted admirer of some person or thing.

This includes the Ouija board, Dungeons and Dragons, astrology, fortune-telling, seances, and all things of this nature. Furthermore, we read in I Samuel 15:23 that "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft."

We may hate man’s evil deeds, but it is not right for us to hate the sinner himself (cf. Romans 12:18-21; I Thessalonians 5:15; Galatians 6:10). We are supposed to hate the things they do, and the things they stand for, and the sins they commit; but we are not to hate the person, for their soul is precious to the Lord, who died for all. We should have compassion upon them and manifest the love of God toward them (cf. Matthew 18:31; Luke 10:30-37; Jude 15-25). We are not to take vengeance on them ("vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." (cf. Romans 12:19). We are to pray for them, try to get along with them, try to win them to Christ, and try to treat them like the Lord Jesus Christ would treat them if He were here on earth.

If we are right about an issue, according to the word of God, and the other fellow will not agree with us, we should just drop the matter and let the Holy Spirit handle it. We don’t have to compromise our convictions— just let the issue pass and wait for a better

opportunity to discuss it. It is wrong to get into a heated argument over it, because we are not going to be able to convince them anyway (the Holy Spirit will have to do that). Too often Christians are at variance with one another over doctrine in the word of God, but it only causes bitterness between the believers, and leaves a bad testimony before the unsaved.

We are guilty of this if we think ourselves to be more spiritual than other Christians. We should never brag or be proud of any spirituality we attain in life—that does not please God (cf. I Peter 5:5-6; Philippians 2:3; Romans 12:10; Galatians 5:26; Matthew 23:12). God does not want us to have the glory for it, for He alone is worthy of the glory (Colossians 3:23).

When we lose our tempers we hurt our testimony before the world, the angels, and other believers. Now the Bible says that we can be angry, and not sin (Ephesians 4:26), but that has nothing to do with fits of rage. We might note here the anger of the Lord Jesus Christ when he drove the moneychangers from the temple at Jerusalem (John 2:12-17). In like manner, there are times when it would be sin for us not to be angry at sin, but this is a controlled righteous indignation not a "flying off the handle."

This is all too common today, but God hates strife and contention in the church. (What could we say about this that the Bible has not already said more powerfully in the following passages of scripture Proverbs 13:10; 15:18; 20:3; Luke 22:24; Romans 13:13; I Corinthians 3:3; I Timothy 6:4; James 3:16.)

Those who cause disorder, and organize little clique groups in churches (just general trouble makers). All of these are guilty of sedition. II Corinthians 1:10 says there should be no divisions in the body of Christ. True believers don’t want to be a part of little cliques that exclude other believers.

Although they may be truly saved, Christians teaching false doctrine will lose some of their inheritance. There is no excuse for believing false doctrine if we have a King James Bible, believe what it says, and follow scriptural rules for study. Heretics feel at liberty to take verses out of context, and freely take away from or add to the words of Scripture. Denying the authority of the word of God, they set themselves up as authorities above God’s word. Though they may go to Heaven, believers guilty of this sin will lose part of their inheritance for leading God’s children astray. If you aspire to be a teacher, beware; God’s holy word is too

precious to trifle with (James 3:1; II Peter 2:1; II Timothy 4:3).

We should be satisfied with the things God has provided including our place in the body of Christ.

People who reject the biblical doctrine of eternal security always like to say things such as: "Do you mean to tell me that you believe a Christian could murder somebody and still go to heaven?" Well, first of all I must say that I never knew a real born again believer who seriously wanted to murder anyone, but the answer to the question is "If he was in Christ, yes, he would go to Heaven." That really surprises a lot of people who do not understand the grace of God, the two natures of the believer, and the spiritual circumcision of the soul (cf. lesson 2). Murder is sin, but if we are in Christ, brother, we are in Christ. Even if a believer died without forgiveness he would not lose his salvation, although he would lose part of his inheritance. If a man is not under the blood of Jesus Christ, even lying would send him to Hell— the Bible says that both murderers and liars will go to Hell. Thank God, all the believers’ sins are under the blood of Jesus Christ. All the sins we commit after we are saved are works of the flesh and they have no effect

at all upon our past birth into the family of God.

Show me one Christian who has never told a lie since he got saved. (A lie is anything that deviates from the truth; any little deviation from the truth, even those so-called white lies.) Revelation 21:8 says that liars will be in the Lake of Fire with murderers and idolators.

And what about hatred? Who hasn’t hated someone at some time? The Bible says that if we hate a man in our hearts we are guilty of murder (I John 3:15). Do you realize that Moses killed a man? Even King David killed a man, and that was a sin for which there was not even a sacrifice. Do you suppose they are in Heaven? What they did was wrong and they paid for it, but it did not change the fact that they believed God, and trusted Him for their salvation.

Proverbs 20:1 says that wine is a mocker and can deceive us. Many a believer being deceived thereby, has lost part of his inheritance.

When we come together, it should be to have good, clean fun and bring honor to the Lord Jesus Christ, not embarrassment and shame. If we are doing these things now, or if we have done them since we got saved, we need to confess it to the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to take care of this business, and put our sins under the blood. We must forget about them and go on—that is all we can do. I John 1:7-10 is still the instruction we should follow in handling these things.

We can do no more than just confess our sins. Put them behind us, forget about them, and go on for God. We might still earn that inheritance.

Every believer must admit that at one time or another he has told a lie. I mean everyone has deviated from the truth in recounting some experience about themselves or others. It is undeniable: all of us have told lies and have sinned in doing it. Revelation 21:8 says that "all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire," so we must find the explanation for this verse in relation to the believer’s eternal security.

To answer this problem, a clear understanding of the doctrine of the two natures and the doctrine of the spiritual circumcision of the soul is necessary (cf. lesson 2). It is obvious from the scriptures that a Christian can tell a lie, without being classified as a liar (otherwise, there are not going to be many people in Heaven). The list of things we just read in Galatians 5 is called "the works of the flesh" (Adultery is a work of the flesh; murder is a work of the flesh; lasciviousness; drunkenness). Furthermore, Galatians 5:21 says that "they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." That is speaking of believers and heirs who will lose their inheritance if they do such things. In I Corinthians 6 we see another group of people who are not going to inherit the kingdom of God either. However, in the context of I Corinthians 5 we see that these are lost people. They are not going to inherit the kingdom of God because they are not heirs, they are unsaved, Hell-bound sinners.

The phrase "And such were some of you" (verse 11) shows us that the "unrighteous" people he is talking about (verse 10) are lost people. But we know that in God’s sight, the saved are made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ, and we have received His righteousness and are no longer considered to be unrighteous.

• The unsaved in I Corinthians 6 are called "fornicators" because Paul is addressing them personally. But, in Galatians 5, he is speaking of works of the flesh. So the term used there is not "fornicator" but "fornication."

• I Corinthians 6:9 says "idolators," but Galatians 5 says "idolatry" because he is talking about a work of the flesh.

• I Corinthians 6 says "adulterers," but Galatians 5 says "adultery." Do you see what I mean? A Christian can commit the act of adultery, yet God does not consider him an adulterer— he is a Christian who committed adultery.

A believer may be guilty of worshipping idols, but God does not call him an idolater. Rather, he is a believer, who worships idols. You see, the believer’s soul is saved, justified, and adopted as a son of God—he is a Christian. A Christian can tell a lie, but in God’s sight he is not classified as a liar. Because he is a child of God he is classified as a son of God who lies. That does not take away from the wickedness of his sin. He will reap what he sows, but is not classified with the unsaved, in spite of his sins. You must

understand that! We see in Galatians 5, that all the things listed are works of the flesh. What we must remember is that our souls are saved and not our bodies (our flesh). The unsaved who are guilty of those things are considered to be those things because their souls and bodies are joined together. Christians who are guilty of those things are not considered to be those things because they are separated from the bodies by the spiritual circumcision. They are justified and have the righteousness of Christ by His blood. Those who do those works of the flesh will lose part of their inheritance in the kingdom of God. Can there be any better type for this than the life of Abraham’s nephew, Lot?

   E. The Fifth Element In Earning This Part Of Our
        Inheritance Is Loving Jesus.

So, our love for Jesus will be proven by the demonstration of the four things we just discussed. It is easy for a man to say he loves Jesus, but James 1:22 says we are to be "doers of the word and not hearers only." Otherwise we are just deceiving ourselves.

We are not saved by our works; the Lord saved us by His work. However, we are saved to work, and He expects us to do just that. Now, look at Ephesians 2:8-9 again, but this time add verse 10.

Salvation is in verse 8, and Christian living is in verse 10. Christ wants us to work, but the work has nothing to do with our salvation.

Some use verse 12 to teach that we have to work to stay saved, but notice it does not say "work at your salvation," or "work for your salvation" (which is not of works, Ephesians 2:8,9). It says "work out your own salvation." That is, we are to put our salvation into practice in our daily lives. This is explained in verse 13, which talks about our works after salvation. It is a matter of us crucifying the flesh and letting God work in us.

The Lord will return soon, and we should be thinking more about eternal things. The next prophetic event we are expecting is the rapture of the church, and following that is the Judgment Seat of Christ.

As Christ’s servants, we should prepare for that day of the judgment when we will receive rewards according to our works. It is true, we are under liberty in Christ Jesus and all our sins are covered by the blood of the Saviour. They will never be imputed to us (Galatians 5:1,13; Romans 4:4-8), but we will not get away with our sin. We will reap what we sow to the flesh, and we will lose heavenly rewards (Galatians 6:7-8). It may seem a small thing now, to lose something we cannot see, but in that day those things will mean everything to us.

It does not say earn, it says reap. Now, we already have everlasting life, but if we sow to the Spirit or to the flesh, we will reap accordingly. At harvest time we will be rewarded with the fruit of our labor. The Lord calls us to bear our cross now in order to receive a crown later. No cross, no crown— that is just the way it works. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns, the kingdom of God will be established and made manifest. Our inheritance during that millennial kingdom will be to reign with Jesus Christ with power and authority upon this earth for one thousand years.

Let’s look again at Luke 19. This time we will read verses 11 through 27, which teach us about the kingdom of God.

We will not go into an in-depth study of this parable now, but we do want to notice a few things in the passage.

• In verse 12, the "nobleman" is a type of Christ, and the "far country" is a type of Heaven. The mention of the nobleman’s return is a reference to the Second Advent.

• In verse 13, we must note that "10" is the number for the Gentiles in scripture, and of course "pounds" is a denomination of the British currency. Christ is telling them to occupy during the church age (known as the times of the Gentiles, Luke 21:24) until He comes and takes them out.

• In verse 14, the "citizens" are like the Christ-rejecting sinners during the Millennium who go to Hell because they will not submit to Christ and do not want Him to reign over them.

• In verse 15, the "servants" are like the believers who will reign with Christ in the Millennium. We will be given authority over literal cities on this earth at that time. In our glorified bodies, we will judge and rule with Him.

• In verse 18, we see a picture of a believer who never amounts to anything for the Lord. He was saved, but never separated himself from the world, never served the Lord, and never grew in the Lord. This man does not lose his salvation, but he does lose his inheritance. He will be on earth during the Millennium, but he will not reign with Christ.

Our reign with Christ depends upon how we serve Him in this life, according to His desire. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, many Christians will seek repentance with tears when they realize that they wasted their whole lives seeking their own desires; but it will be too late then to do anything about it. The Lord has given us a warning about this in Hebrews 12:16, 17 in the life of Esau.

The Bible teaches that all the tears are not wiped away until eternity starts. We still see tears in Revelation 7:17, right after the Judgment Seat of Christ (preceding Christ’s Second Advent). Later in Revelation 21:4, after the Great White Throne Judgment, and just before the beginning of eternity. So there will be weeping at the Judgment Seat of Christ when we see what we could have done for Christ. And there will be weeping at the White Throne Judgment as we stand and watch those

we could have won to Christ drop into the Lake of Fire. It is in the light of such realization, that Paul refers to the Judgment Seat of Christ as a terror.

Tragically, many believers will be ashamed when Christ returns!

It will be a sad day for many of God’s people, when they find that they will not receive their full reward.

The reward he is talking about is the believer’s inheritance. Now, one might say, "I don’t care anything about reigning over cities and having authority in the millennium." But, dear friend, we will think differently about things then. When we get our glorified, perfect, sinless bodies with all their magnificent glory and power, we will also be given a mind like Christ. Reigning with Christ may seem unimportant to us now, because of the inability of our earthly, human minds to comprehend such a mystery, but it will mean a great deal in that day. Paul tells us just a little about the glory that shall be revealed in us in that day in the verses below.

Even though we have but a tiny glimpse of it, we must confess that it has to be marvelous beyond any comparison. How could the beloved of the Lord say to the bridegroom that she has no interest in all of the things He has labored to prepare for her in glory? Oh no! When our Prince shall come, we shall desire these things with all our hearts and imagination. I beg you, do not let that day be a terror to you, but a time of joyous delight when our blessed Saviour will take great pleasure to bestow upon His faithful ones the reward of a joint reign with Him in the kingdom of Heaven!

Here is a little chain reference chart to paste in the back of your Bible, which compares our salvation in the kingdom of God with our inheritance in the kingdom of Heaven. We will take Romans 8:17 as our first verse, then we can turn to that passage of Scripture and write the next verse, II Timothy 2:10-12, in the margin beside verse 17. Continue to do each verse like this until the end. Then we can simply turn to the first reference, and we will be able to continue through the Bible to teach others about this blessed Bible doctrine.

Consider the statements below, paying special attention to the word or words in bold. If the statement is true, write the word "true" in the blank. If the statement is false, cross out the incorrect bold word(s) and write the correct word(s) on the blank.

____ Ephesians 5:1-5          ____ Romans 8: 16-18


____ Colossians 3:23-25       ____ II Timothy 2:10


____ Philippians 1:28-30      ____ Romans 6:6,11-13


____ I Corinthians 3:11-15    ____ James 2:5

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