Intro
This is Dreamwalker1960. As a reminder you can read the transcripts of all my podcasts at dreamwalker1960.com. You can use most podcast platforms if you wish to listen. All you need do is do a search for Dreamwalker1960.
Discussion
I recently encountered someone that insisted that God will reward them here in this temporal existence. Now for those that have listened to or read my podcasts you know that the Scriptures themselves shows us that this is the furthest thing from the Truth.
Let us look at this in the way that Christ Himself started to teach when those of Israel refused to acknowledge Him as who He is: the Messiah, the Son of God.
An owner of much land had two servants. One servant insisted that he be rewarded daily for his work. The other servant said to the landowner reward me when you see fit. Just please provide me with my daily rations and clothes to cover my nakedness.
The first servant became wealthy from his rewards given unto him by the landowner. One day he came to the landowner demanding more rewards to the point of wanting land from the landowner. And he said to the landowner that he himself would govern his own affairs and become his own landowner with the land given to him by his master.
The landowner gave the first servant a small part of his land and within a few seasons it was a waste and useless. Nothing would grow upon it and the first servant used all his wealth in an effort to fix the land once again and soon after died of starvation.
The second servant continued to work for the landowner. The landowner saw how the second servant honored who truly owned the land and how he treated all within it with respect as to who it belonged to. He saw how this servant nurtured all that was needed to cultivate the land and each year there was a greater harvest.
One day the landowner came to this servant and said to him. I have watched how you care for what belongs to me. So, I have decided to reward you by making you my son. All that is mine shall be yours for as long as you live. All will call you my beloved child and will obey your commands as if they were given by me: your father.
Just so those listening or reading understand. Those that seek for their rewards now. Here in this temporal realm are the first servant. The second servant keeps their eyes upon their eternal rewards that are promised us when Christ Himself returns.
You see Christ makes it clear that all will be rewarded when He returns.
Matthew 16:24-27 NKJV – Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
“For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself.”
Let’s break down what it means to “deny himself.”
Deny – G533 – aparneomai – I deny, disown, repudiate (either another person or myself), disregard, to deny utterly, abstain
- repudiate – to refuse to accept something or someone as true, good, or reasonable
When denying oneself when taking what was just defined into mind. We come to one conclusion. We ask nothing for ourselves and seek only to glorify Jesus Christ.
This means not asking for money, for a fancy home, for fancy clothes. We see this in the Lord’s prayer as well.
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
This is all we are to ever ask for. For that is all that we need.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 NKJV – Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
When people pray for earthly rewards, they are ignoring what is the true great gain. All we should seek after is our daily bread and to cloth our nakedness. That is made clear in these verses. Those that ignore this do not deny themselves. They seek to glorify themselves.
When they say that that they pray to God, and He rewards them with earthly rewards. They are acting counter to the Words of Christ Jesus Himself.
Matthew 6:19-24 NLT – “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
Yet who is giving them these rewards which go counter to the teachings within the Bible itself?
1 John 2:15-16 NLT – Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
Since these things are evidence of the world and do not belong to our Father: God. Who do they belong to?
2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT – Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
Luke 4:6 NKJV – And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
Satan is their god, and it is he who is rewarding them. The father of lies pretending to be the Son of God. Giving them rewards which can be destroyed or stolen.
John 8:44 NKJV – You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Who they are worshipping is not the Savior Christ Jesus, but he who seeks to kill all and have them share in his ultimate misery.
Revelation 20:10 NKJV – The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
For those that truly seek to follow Christ they must do what is ordered by Christ Himself:
Luke 14:26-27 NKJV – “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Luke 14:33 NKJV – So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
However, none that seek after worldly rewards wish to hear this. They reject that they must give up everything. Yet Christ made this very clear.
Mark 10:17-31 NKJV – Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,’ ‘DO NOT MURDER,’ ‘DO NOT STEAL,’ ‘DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER.'” And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.” So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
“One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
Time and again Christ Himself says to get rid of the self and what the self desires and lust after. They insist that they can be wealthy here in this life and still be a servant to God through Jesus Christ.
Christ has a name for those that think this way. They are called the “lukewarm.”
Revelation 3:15-21 NKJV – “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”
Do you truly wish to be vomited out of the Body of Christ? Do you truly wish to be cast into the Pit of fire for billions upon billions of years? Just because you wish to have a few comforts here in this life that last at maximum just over one hundred years.
This is the reality of this. This is how you show you believe there is truly a God that created everything, or it is just a fable, and you can do as you wish and please. But in a nice way because you say with your lips that you are a follower of Christ, but your heart lusts after what will please your fleshy need now.
There is no longer any time to play these stupid games with where you will spend eternity. Christ is very soon to return and if you don’t change right this very moment and repent you will suffer horribly and by chance for billions upon billions upon billions of years. All because you want what you want now. It is you that have chosen your fate and so you will be rewarded by Christ Himself accordingly.
God Bless
dreamwalker1960 