Sound of Faith

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Greetings friends and new listeners and welcome to this program of the Archie Hardy Ministries. I'm Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today, because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

The message we bring you today is timely and trustworthy: "Jeopardy: Losing Your Rewards." I hope you will hear with your heart and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you how you should respond to this inspired word. "Jeopardy: Losing Your Rewards."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Verse 33 of Exodus 40, the last chapter: "And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar and set up the hangings of the court gate." And let us read this next sentence together: "So Moses finished the work."

"Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."

So just as God caused that place to be made just perfectly, and when it was finished according to the pattern, and care was given to every minute detail, the glory of God came down and filled that place to such a degree that Moses could not walk in the door. He could not penetrate the glory cloud that filled that earthly tabernacle.

Guest (Male): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And so there was that holy place where God came down. And just like that in my life, because now, what, know you not that your body is the temple of the Lord? And the word in the Greek means the holy place, the naos, the holy place.

In the Hebrew, it is the Kodesh HaKodashim, the holiest of holies, because we are now the Kodesh HaKodashim, we are the holy priest. Just as that glory filled that place, God has allowed every detail of my life, every experience that I've experienced, everything that's ever come into my life, God is making it a detail so that he can work on me.

Sometimes I feel that hammer beating away, just beating away. He says, "You're not flat enough. You got to get down a little flatter."

Guest (Male): Amen. Come on.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. Got to get down a little lower. And sometimes I feel the pressure of God's hands, and I feel that big old needle going in and out of there. How many say amen?

Guest (Male): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Oh, but just as God is did that for that, He put so much attention to a temporary tabernacle, how much more is He going to work on me? How much more is He going to work on you when He said, "I will dwell in you, I will be in you. My anointing will abide in you. Don't you know you have an unction and anointing of the Holy Ghost? He dwells in you."

Guest (Male): Glory!

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Yes, He's going to tighten the screws. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Guest (Male): Hallelujah!

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Yes, He is. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, He's going to work on us. Because just like the glory of God filled that place after they had been obedient to follow the pattern and it was finished. So, I mean, you know, so Moses finished the work. I mean, you have to read all those boring details to understand the significance that Moses finished the work.

Guest (Male): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And just when it was finished and complete and God was pleased, because God's glory will not come where there's uncleanness and disobedience, where there's flesh. All of that had to, it had to be sanctified and anointed, and His glory came down.

And God gave Moses the pattern. And you know what? God has a pattern for you and for me. Let's turn to Ephesians the second chapter. Ephesians 2 and 10. And you all, I'm sure know this verse well.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." So we are God's workmanship. And God has ordained. He actually, He ordained it, it says, "before ordained," even before the foundation of the world, God already knew what He was going to do in the church.

He already knew what He was going to do in you and me. And the word workmanship, it talks about something that is made, it's precisely something that's like a work of art. And God knew that just like He gave Moses the pattern for that tabernacle to to follow it to the explicit detail.

And just as His glory came in there, God has given the pattern for you and for me. Because the Bible says in Romans 8:29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his dear son." Jesus is the pattern. He is the image. Just like that tabernacle in the wilderness was made just like the one in heaven.

You and I are being made just like the son of God. Hallelujah! He's the pattern. His righteousness, His holiness, His purity, His sanctification, His wisdom, His knowledge, His good works.

Guest (Male): Thank you.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: He's the pattern that the Holy Ghost is using for you and me. And this word image means to be identical inward and outward. Now let's drop down to verse 20.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "And we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit."

So we find out that the foundation and the pattern is Jesus Christ. Before anyone can build anything, they've got to go to an architect and get plans and a blueprint to see how it will be made. And then once those plans and blueprints are approved, then the carpenters and the masonry people and the bricklayers and the electricians and the plumbers and on and on and on has got to follow that pattern.

Guest (Male): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And Jesus Christ is both the foundation and the pattern. And the thing that's being built is a holy habitation unto God. And here it's in the present tense, which means the building is still going on. It was going on when Paul wrote it 2,000 years ago, and it's still going on now.

The building project is still continuing. The process of being of building this holy habitation goes from one generation to the next generation, to the next generation. God is building himself a holy temple, a holy habitation. And I'm part of that. And you're part of that.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Lord.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Because Peter said, "We are living stones." Says lively stones, but it's better living stones, "built unto a holy habitation unto the Lord by the Spirit of God."

Guest (Male): Amen.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: And what I want you to see is God is working on us and he's taken pains with us, because everything God does, he does for excellence. And he does for an eternal purpose. Alright, let's turn to 1 Corinthians, the third chapter. And verse 9.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: "For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, and ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me," Paul being the speaker and the writer, "as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

Now, let's stop before we go on to the next part, which is where I really want to get to. First of all, just like God gave Moses a pattern, Paul said God has given him a pattern and the apostles. Moses' pattern was for a temporary physical tabernacle. The pattern that God gave to Paul and the apostles is for a spiritual eternal tabernacle.

The tabernacle that Paul began to build is eternal because the eternal spirit of God is going to dwell in it, and the foundation is Jesus Christ, laid once and for all. No other foundation can be laid. I'm sorry. Not Buddha. No, I'm not sorry. Not Buddha, not Mohammed, not Allah, not Hari Krishna, not anyone else. There's only one foundation that is laid.

That is laid is in the Aorist tense in the Greek. It means it was laid once and for all, and that's it. The foundation is laid, it's final, it's permanent. But the building is in the present tense, meaning that which is being built upon the foundation is an ongoing building project. How many understand?

The foundation is laid once and for all, but the building on the foundation will continue until the day of Jesus Christ. And then Paul goes on to say, "I'm a master builder." Because Paul was in the office of an apostle, and he was one who was who established many churches, and he was the one to whom was given the revelations and the doctrines to the church.

He says, "I'm a master builder." In other words, I'm like an architect. But the design and the function and the safety and the beautifying of the building are what the apostles were concerned with once the foundation was laid. Now, how many know, it takes knowledge to be able to build a sound and beautiful structure?

A person could build a beautiful building, but it might not be safe. Or it may not be functional. It may be beautiful, but you can't really use it for any significant purpose. It's nice to look at, but what do you use it for? Or if it's beautiful, but it's not safe. How many remember a couple years ago, not too long ago, this huge, beautiful mall, somewhere out in the Midwest, and it was those kind that had the several tiers like our Marley and such like that. And it was fairly new.

And the whole second tier just collapsed on the bottom. And yet it was beautiful with fountains and skylights and palm trees and all that, but it wasn't safe. And many people were killed and hurt because it collapsed. And so it is necessary to stick to the pattern. And if you stick to the pattern that the Holy Ghost has given, it's going to be safe, it's going to be functional, it's going to be profitable, and it's going to be beautiful.

Because everything God does is beautiful. He beautifies the meek with salvation. And when He made the creation of the world, everything was beautiful and perfect that He said it's good, it's good, it's good. But the good in the Hebrew is richer than the good in the English. It just means it's wonderful, it's beautiful.

And so God is going to allow those who He's placed in ministry to bring forth the pattern so that we can continually make sure that we're staying on the blueprint. If you allow yourself to get off just a little, you know, a bit in one corner, by the time you get to that corner, you're going to be off a whole lot.

And if you keep going that way, after a while everything is going to be off. And that begins to affect the whole structure and integrity of the building project. So the building is not only going to be beautiful, it's going to be safe and it's going to be functional. And Paul said, "I've laid the foundation. The foundation is Jesus Christ."

But he said, "Let every man." Who's that? If that fits you, raise your hand. Individual responsibility. "Let every man take heed how he builds thereon." It is my responsibility, and it's a strong warning. Anytime you see "take heed" in the New Testament, it's an extremely strong warning.

I've got to take heed. That's why Paul said, "Take the more earnest heed to the things which you have heard, lest at any time you should let them slip." But the Greek really says, "Lest at any time you should slip." Because if the word slips, you slip. So he says, "Take heed how you build thereon." Again, the present tense, meaning we must continually take heed.

We must continue to watch how we build thereon. "For no other foundation can be laid than that which is laid." And of course, we've already said, only Jesus. Everything else will crumble. Everything else in time, when pressure comes, it will crumble. But if you're building on Jesus Christ, just like Jesus gave His own parable, the man who built on the rock, he had the same troubles, the storms, the winds, the rains came to him, but because he had built on the rock, on the solid foundation, his structure stood when the other man's fell.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: So we're on the foundation, but we've got to take heed how we build thereon. And this is the important reason why. Verse 13, 12. "Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and 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 try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a what? A reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire."

Now, let's look at this. These are the rules for building on the foundation to reap rewards. Let me say right off the bat, we're not talking about salvation. This is not whether or not you're going to be saved or lost. This is not a message to sinners. This is not a message to backsliders. This is a message to the saints who are building on the foundation of Christ.

Now, this means that we're going to be in that judgment seat before the Lord of the righteous saints. And we're going to give an account for the deeds that we've done in our body. And depending on how we have built on the foundation, it will determine whether or not we receive rewards. Some people are going to stand before the Lord, and when the books are open for the deeds done in their body, it's going to be consumed because when you add fire to wood, stubble, and hay, it's consumed.

The Bible says that they will be saved. Not that they're not going to go to hell, we're not talking about going to hell. They will be saved, but they'll have no rewards. But those whose works are able to withstand the fire will be like silver and gold and precious stones. And that is what we want to focus on.

Because a lot of times, our flesh and our self, they rise up very strongly. And a lot of times we give in. A lot of times we we give in. We don't backslide and we tell ourselves, "Well, you know, I'm not backslidden. I'm not in the world. I'm not committing sin. I'm going to heaven." But yet because we give in to our self and we give in to our flesh so many times we are causing our own selves to be cheated of the rewards that would be ours when we get to heaven.

Now, maybe that's not important to everybody. There's some people that say, "I just want a cabin and glory." Well, fine. If that's all you want, you'll be very happy. But you won't even have a cabin, because when the fire gets on a cabin, it's going to go. I want mine to be made out of silver, gold, and granite, and marble, and whatever else God's got up there.

Guest (Male): Glory!

Sharon Hardy Knotts: How many say amen? So a lot of times when we give in to our flesh, we give in to bad attitudes, we give in to negative things, all we're doing is cheating ourselves of our eternal reward. Amen. Because the Bible says that there's coming a day. He says, "The day shall declare it." Because it has a definite article on there, it's talking about a particular day.

A very particular day, it is going to be the day of the judgment of the Lord when the saints of God will stand before him. When that will happen, well, no no doubt, it'll be somewhere between the rapture of the church and the second coming of the Lord. Somewhere in that period. How many know that during that time, there's going to be great tribulation on the earth?

But we're going to be going to a marriage dinner. We're going to be sitting down at the supper table of the Lamb of God. And part of the activities that we're going to be doing is going to be celebrating this the marriage of the Lamb. And part of the activities that we're going to be doing is standing before the judgment seat of Christ. Amen. That's one of the things that we're going to be doing when we're there.

He says, "Every man's work." Again, individual responsibility, "shall be tried." It will be a particular day, and on that particular day, our works are going to be put be put to the fire. And when it says tried here, it's talking about being approved after testing. It means, you know, we use the word try to attempt to do something, it's not that meaning.

It rather is, I've tried this, and it works. Try it. It works. It's like the Good Housekeeping stamp of approval, or the Underwriter's Lab when every little electrical appliance that you buy, it has that stamp on there, we tried it, it's safe, it works, it's functional. And that's kind of the idea, that when our works are tried, then they're going to be approved.

Whether or not, he said, "If any man's work abide the fire." If any man's work remain, or passes through the fire without disintegrating, then he is going to receive a reward for that. And those rewards are going to be eternal. Again, if his works do not abide the fire, do not come through the fire, then he will be saved, but his works will be lost.

He will be saved, but his rewards will be forfeited. He will be saved, but all of the labor and the sacrifice on earth will vanish like that. Now, I don't know how that makes you feel, but that makes me feel like checking up on myself. And that makes me feel like examining my heart and proving my heart to make sure that I am preparing myself for that judgment day.

Because if I make it to heaven, and I'm going to make it to heaven.

Guest (Male): Glory.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. Say it if you mean it, "I'm going to make it to heaven."

Guest (Male): I'm going to make it to heaven.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Do you mean that? Turn around and look somebody in the eyeball and tell them that.

Guest (Male): I'm going to make it to heaven.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: But after that we're going to have to stand. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone," now again, he went from all pluralistic to everyone individual responsibility, "may receive of the things done in his body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

Now, in a way that almost sounds like an oxymoron. Okay, if we're saved and we're going to heaven and we're in heaven, how can anything be bad? We had to be good or we wouldn't have got there. Wrong. We're there because our faith is in the righteousness of Christ and in His blood. And because as much as we allowed Him, we walked in His good works.

But there are going to be a lot of works that people have done and will do that when they stand before God, they're not going to be approved as good. They're going to be as wood, stubble, and hay. And that is the part of the message that I won't get on tonight, that I'll say for the next uh, time.

There are seven things that I found in scripture. Seven things that were going to be uh, tried on to see whether or not we get rewards. Seven different things, and I won't talk about them tonight. But because we are going to stand before the Lord and because every one of us, we're going to give an account whether it's good or whether it's bad.

Isn't that what it says? Is that what Paul said? Because anything that is not for the right reason is not good. It may appear unto men to be good. It may appear outwardly to be good. But on that day, that particular day, when it's put in the fire, it will be manifest that day whether indeed it is good or whether it is bad.

And so Jesus gave us the parable of the talents, and I won't read that whole parable. You know it's in chapter 25 of Matthew. And he said how that he gave one one talent, another two, and another five. And he told them, "Now, this is your this is your assignment. I'm giving you your assignment on earth to take care of." And when he came back to get an account for what they had done with their assignment, and he provided them what they needed to carry the assignment out successfully.

We know one had increased his, the other had increased his, but the one had not only not increased his, he didn't even utilize it at all. And Jesus said, "Why haven't you used what I gave you to use?" He turned to the ones that had been faithful, and what did he say? He said, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. Now, I will make you over ruler over many things, enter into the joy of the Lord."

Now, we're already in heaven. Do you understand that? This is not a whether we're going to heaven or not. We're in, we're in heaven. We're on the other side of the pearly gates. But are we going to enter into the joy of the Lord? Now, I'm not talking about sadness like here on earth, He's going to wipe our tears away.

I'm talking about the joy of getting those rewards. You think those people that stand up on those stands at the Olympic games with those golds and they medals, and they got joy, and they're crying, and they're laughing, and they're saying. That's that's nothing compared to the joy that we're going to receive when we hear the Lord say, "Well done!"

And He's not going to stand up there with a sea of millions of people and say, "Oh, you guys out there, well done!" No. Brother Johnny's going to come up and he's going to say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." And sister Susie's going to come up and he's going to say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." And I don't know how long it's going to take Him, but you know, I don't really care because I won't have anything better to do.

How many say amen? And He's going to say to each one of us, "Well done, well done. Enter into the joy. Enter into the joy."

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. What an eye-opening, heart-transforming word of the Lord. "Jeopardy: Losing Your Rewards." Saints, I must tell you truthfully, when God revealed to my spirit how much everything I do, and how I do it, and why I do it for His kingdom will determine what eternal rewards I will receive or forfeit, it revolutionized my Christian walk.

My whole life, all my life, has been serving God, but I didn't always do it with the best attitudes. I had tendencies to pride and self-righteousness and even pouting that I did not see as problems. We're not talking about one's salvation or going to heaven. We're talking about our works being tried once we're in heaven.

Paul said that every man's work shall be made manifest and revealed by fire to see what sort, not what size, what quality, not what quantity, it is. Paul said that we all individually will stand before the Bema, the judgment seat of Christ, to give an account for the deeds done in our bodies, whether good or bad.

He referred to Christians, not sinners. And he said that if our works survive the fire, we shall receive a reward. They will come forth as gold, silver, and precious stones. But if they do not survive the fire, they will be burned as wood, stubble, and hay, and he shall suffer the loss of his rewards.

For me, this is a sobering reality. I don't only want to go to heaven, I want all the rewards I'm eligible to receive, and I believe you do too. Find out seven things the scripture say that will be tried, from our words, to our works, our giving, how we act and endure in trials, our motivations.

You know, there's even a reward for those who love and look for the Lord's coming in the rapture. I call it the Maranatha reward. Today's message, "Jeopardy: Losing Your Rewards," is available as a two-CD set for your love gift of $15 or more for the radio ministry. Request SK104. Mail to Archie Hardy Ministries, PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203, or go online to ArchieHardy.org. That's ArchieHardy.org, where you may also order on MP3.

But to order "Jeopardy: Losing Your Rewards" by mail, offer SK104. Send your minimum love gift of $15 to PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203. Till next time, this is Sharon Knotts saying, "Maranatha!"