THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 2, NUMBER 47, DECEMBER 22 2002

“THERE IS LAID UP FOR ME THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS”  

            Have you ever been really disappointed?  Have you ever been looking forward to something with great anticipation, only to have it fail to come to pass?  Maybe it was a job that you thought you were going to get, or perhaps you were trying to purchase your dream home only to have the deal fall through.  We have all dealt with great disappointment at some time in our lives.  

            In 2 Timothy 4:6 – 8, the Apostle Paul wrote thrilling words of faith and confidence.  He wrote, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”  

            Paul looked forward to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ with great anticipation.  It was his belief that awaiting him on that day was eternal life with the Lord.  In personal self-examination Paul could say that he had faithfully lived his life as a Christian from the time of his conversion in Damascus until his approaching death in the city of Rome .   He had taken all of the necessary steps to be certain that he would not be disappointed on that day.  I am reminded of a statement he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:24 – 27.  Paul wrote, “Do you not know that those who run in a race run all, but only one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may win.  And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.  They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”   

            What a horrendous thought!  To arrive at the Day of Judgment confident of a home with the Lord in eternity only to be indescribably disappointed, to hear “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).   

            This is not an impossibility.  The bible gives us examples of individuals who are living with a false confidence, thinking that there is a crown of righteousness laid up for them but that is not the case.  Consider Matthew 7:21 – 23.  Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cat out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?  And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”  It is apparent that this is a group of people, religious people, who believed that the reward of eternal life would be theirs, but it would not be.  

            Think about the letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2.  While there was much that they had in their favor, the Lord said in verse 5, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place – unless you repent.”  Down in verse 7, the Lord made it clear that judgment would be individual, “to him that overcomes”.    Think of what the Lord said to the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:17, “Because you say, I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,”.    Again, in verse 21, the Lord made in clear that judgment would be individual with the words, “He who overcomes”.   

            The point is that there will be people who come to the great day of judgment confident of the “crown of righteousness” and they will be unbelievably disappointed – a disappointment that will be eternal.    Could that be any of us?  

            I absolutely believe that the bible teaches us that we can know, that we can be confident of our salvation.  At the same time, I also know that the bible teaches the only way we can know is by examining ourselves against the Word of God.  Those of us who are members of the Body of Christ know if we are living faithfully or not.  We know if the Lord takes first place in our hearts and lives.  We know if we love and serve Him from conviction or if we do as little as we can and still feel like we are O.K.  We know if we have our bodies in subjection or if we are slaves to the physical desires of our flesh.  These are all things we can know if we are honest enough to truly compare what we are to what we should be and what we do to what we could do.  

            Can there possibly be any sweeter words to hear than, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”?

                                                                        Greg Litmer

 The bible class teacher asked her class of little boys and girls who Matthew, Mark, and Luke were.  She received a correct answer to that question.  So she asked them who Peter was and one little body piped right up with, “He was a rabbit!”