The W. A. Criswell Sermon Library

FIVE CROWNS OF REWARD

Dr. W. A. Criswell

2 Corinthians 5:10

02-19-56

This morning I hope that all of you will take your Bible in your hand and follow me as I go through this morning’s message. Now I will tell you the verse and the chapter that I want you to look up. If I refer to a Scripture do not turn to it unless I ask you to—unless you are quick to do it and can do it even as I speak. The subject this morning is THE FIVE CROWNS OF REWARD. It is the crown of reward that the Christian shall receive at the coming of the Lord.

In the ~~first~~ [second] chapter of the Book of Hebrews—he, quoting from the Old Testament—the author says of man, of the, of us, "Thou crownedst him with glory and honor" [Hebrews 2:7]. In the fifth chapter of the Second Corinthian letter in the tenth verse, Paul says, "For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" [2 Corinthians 5:1]. He is writing to a church. He is writing to Christian people. And he says, “we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” And in the passage that I read, that we read together just now, the third chapter of the First Corinthian letter it says there that the foundation upon which all of us build is the Lord Jesus Christ [1 Corinthians 3:11]. There is not any other foundation upon which a man can build his life except the Lord Jesus Christ. Not for us. Anything else, the Bible says is on sand. The only foundation, the only rock upon which a man can build his life is Christ Jesus.

Now, on that foundation we can build out of fine materials, gold, silver, precious stones. As you remember, I told you it is not a good translation because precious stones to us are rubies and diamonds and gems. What he’s talking about is fine building stones like marble or porphyry or granite, beautifully cut and sized. Now, on the foundation of Jesus Christ, on our conversion we can build a superstructure, a life of service and we can put in that building fine material, noble deeds, gold and silver and finely cut stones. Or, we can place in that superstructure wood, hay and stubble—core material, sorry material. Then, at that final day of the Lord, at the judgment day of Christ for the Christian, God’s going to try our works. He is goes to judge us and it will be by fire says the Lord Jesus. Now, when the fire is applied to that building you have built, if it is made out of wood and out of hay and out of stubble, it will burn up. There will be nothing left. There will no reward at all. If a man’s superstructure is built out of gold and silver and beautiful precious stones, it will withstand the fire. Then shall the man receive a reward for the goods that he did. But if his house burns up, he does not have any reward at all, though he himself is saved like a man running out of a burning building with nothing at all, running out naked [1 Corinthians 3:12-15].

Now, the reward for the Christian has nothing to do with his salvation. When you are judged according to whether you are saved or lost, that is when a man sits back there in his pew and decides for or against Christ. You are not going to be judged concerning your salvation. You are judged now. You are either saved or lost now. You are either condemned or not, now. You are either in the Lamb’s Book of Life or you are lost now. That judgment is now. But there is a coming judgment for us who are Christians. At the coming of the Lord when we are taken up to be with the Lord and that’s the end time for us. That is the taking out of the world all of God’s people, his bride, the church of the Lord Jesus; and there, before the Lord at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, we are going to be judged according to our works. And each man is going to receive a reward according to what he has done.

Now, that thing of the judgment seat of Christ, the Greek word for it, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, the word there is bema, B-E-M-A-, bema. Well, bema is the judgment seat of a Gallio, when Paul appeared before the proconsul of Achaia which is at Corinth, why he appeared before the bema. But that word bema also was used to refer to another judgment seat. In the great Greek games, which sort of held together the whole Greek civilized and cultural world, there was an umpire who set up on an elevated seat. And after the contests—all of the contestants that were running in the race or the discus or the javelin, all of those Greek games—the contestants were gathered there before that elevated seat. And the rewards were given to the victors. Now, that was called a bema, a judgment seat. But, you see, the judgment seat upon which the umpire sat, the judgment seat was not whether a man was guilty or innocent. It was not a trial whether he was good or bad, but it was a seat of reward. It was like out here at the fair. When we have a state fair here in Dallas and the judges gather together, they give those rewards for meritorious achievement. Now, that is what the Apostle refers to here when he says that all of us are going to appear before the bema of Christ, the judgment seat of Christ. All of us are going to gather there before the Lord and He’s going to give us our rewards. If we did well, we shall have a great reward. If we did sorry, we shall have a poor reward. If we have done nothing at all, we shall have no reward at all. But we ourselves will be saved yet so as by fire.

Now, in your Sunday school lesson, I thought it was this Sunday, but I asked Dr. Fowler here and he said, "It is next Sunday’s lesson." Next Sunday’s lesson, you are going to study about that in the parable of the pounds. And I wish your teacher was wise enough in the Scriptures to teach you that lesson wonderfully. The people were given a pound. All of them were given a pound. All of us are given opportunities. Now, some of our opportunities may be great and some small, but all of us are given an opportunity. And when the king comes back, why he gathers before the servants to whom he has given his pound. Now, one of those men did wonderfully. And the Lord said, "Why you have gained ten pounds here with your one pound. You are going to be over ten cities." And another man and the Lord looked at him and he had gained five pounds for his one pound and the Lord said to him, "I’m going to put you over five cities". Of course, that fellow that hid it in a napkin, he did not get anything at all [Luke 19:17-27]. Now, up there in glory, in this world that is to come, God is going to have a city and a country--the Bible says so and it is going to have an administration. There is going to be a Prime Minister who sits at the right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is reserved for somebody—maybe we will be surprised who it is. But there will be somebody seated at His right hand, the Prime Minister of glory. There will be somebody at his left hand and there will be gradations all through the administration of that vast world that is to come, and some of us are going to be rulers over large provinces and some of us administrators over smaller provinces and some of us are not going to be administrators of anything. We are just going to be there and that is all; just make it without a thing in the world. We will have no reward.

Now, there are five crowns of reward that you will find in the New Testament. When we come to that great and final Day of the Lord and His people are there. Now, bear in mind, this has nothing to do with whether you are saved or lost. I think we understand that now. When the Christian is tried, when he is judged, it is for meritorious achievement. We do not have anything to face no more. The wrath of God and the judgment of God and the damnation of God and the condemnation of God and the hell and all of the fire and the burning when a man accepts Christ,, that is over. That is all past. He is in the Lord now. The judgment day is passed for him now as to whether he is going to be lost or damned. That is all gone. Right now, the judgment that faces us is just this one of what we have done, how have we done, the day of the reward. Now, I say in the Bible there are five crowns of reward that are offered to the Christian when we gather there before that wonderful day of Jesus. So let’s turn to the first one.

Your first one will be found in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. That is your first crown; that is your first crown. And it is the victor’s crown. 1 Corinthian 9:24-27. There are only five of these now, just five of them in the New Testament. Now, this is the first one—1 Corinthians 9:24-27:

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth a prize? So run that you may obtain.

And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest by any means when I preach to others, I myself should be a castaway [1 Corinthians 9:24-27].

Now, do you see that first crown? "Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. But we an incorruptible" [1 Corinthians 9:25]. That is the victor’s crown. And he uses the illustration there of those Greek games. Whenever a man strives at any kind of an athletic contest, he prepares for it. He goes through rigorous training. That is true of these football teams that are practicing now for next fall. That is true of these basketball teams that are in their contests right now. They have diets and exercises and they have gymnastic trainings of all kinds. They are getting ready for the contest. They are trying to win the crown. Now, Paul says that ought to be the way the Christian is. He ought to be trying and working and training and disciplining himself in order to win the victor’s crown.

Now, as I look at our people, most of them, let me give you an illustration. Mr. Souther, I do not know whether you intended to be—for me—to read that part of it or not. You may have had something else outlined; but he put on my desk the paper of a certain church. I think maybe you wanted me to see the Sunday school attendance or something or something else. I do not know what it was. But anyway, in that paper—in that paper, the pastor was writing his column. He did not call it "The Pastor’s Pen," but he called it something else. And in that column he started off with great adulation and great commendation for his people. The Sunday before it had rained, and he was congratulating his people and commending his people that such and such number of them had braved the rain. [They] actually had braved the rain and had come out to Sunday school and to church. Brother, that is a great moral for you, isn’t it? Brother, what great heights of sacrifice have we finally come to in our day and in our generation! Yes sir, for the cause of Christ and for the name of the Lord, we will even get out and brave the rain, some of us. Boy, what stuff we are made of. Wouldn’t that win a crown for you? Wouldn’t that win a contest for you? Noble stuff. Noble stuff.

Most of our Christian people are so weak and pusillanimous and sorry that if they were placed against Coach Morgan’s freshman team out there, his freshman team would walk all over us—much less the varsity. Now, he is talking about here the stuff that victors are made out of. That means you are not discouraged. That means the harder the opposition, the more we try. That means we pour into this contest our best because nothing else than that will ever win. And he says here they do it to win—it seems to me this thing is high or something, is it, or am I just talking loud?—they do it to win a laurel crown. He calls it a corruptible crown. But the thing we are trying to win is a crown that does not ever fade away. Now, if I could exhort just a moment we could go on.

If I could exhort just a moment it would be this. Blessed people, let us enter this thing to win. That is what Paul pleading for here. Let us do it to win. If bringing a Bible to church—some of you do not have your Bible—lf bringing a Bible will help us, bring your Bible. If getting out of bed and coming here at eight-thirty will help us, get out of bed and come at eight-thirty. If taking part in the program of the church will help us win, take a part in it. If knocking at the door and visiting will help, do that. If having a devotional every day will help us win, do that. If saying grace at the table will help us win, do that. If talking to some body about his soul will help us to win, do that. Whatever it is, Paul says, “so run, that you may obtain.” So do that you can win. I think any body that had any spark of life or quickening in him at all would want to be that way. When we get in the race, let us run a good race. Let us do a good job. That is the victor’s crown. That is the first one.

All right, let us hasten. The second crown is a martyr's crown. Turn to Revelation two, the second chapter of the Revelation—second chapter of the Revelation. The second crown is the martyr’s crown, second Revelation; Revelation 2:10. Look at that. "Fear none of those things which thou shall suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried; and you shall have tribulation ten days: but be thou faithful unto death, and I will give the a crown of life” [Revelation 2:10]. The incorruptible crown was the victor’s crown. This is the martyr’s crown, the crown of life. Now, may I expatiate here just a minute? Do you have your Bible open to that verse? Now, let us look at it. Revelation 2:10: "be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Now, let me show you how an Ar—an Arminian will execute that. May I show you how he is wrong? That is the man who thinks that he is saved by hanging on to God; the man who believes in falling from grace; the man who believes he can be saved and lost and saved and lost. Now, you look at him as he will read that. He will say it says in the Bible, "be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." And here is the way he translates it: "be thou faithful unto death. Cling onto God all through your life until you die. Cling onto Him. Hang onto Him. And if you will hang onto God until you die, you will be saved. You will be given the crown of life.” And he interprets the crown of life to mean the salvation, life itself. So he makes his salvation depend upon his hanging onto Christ. If I can just hang on to Jesus and not fall away, if I can just hang on until I die, I will be saved. I will be given the crown of life, which he says is salvation, life itself. Now, that is what he says—the man who believes in falling from grace—that you can be saved and then fall away, you know, unlatch. You can turn loose and be lost and be damned.

All right, let us look at what the Bible says. That is what we want to know, isn’t it? Not what an Arminian says; that is, an Arminian theologian. What we want to know is what does God’s Book say? What does the Bible say? All right, now look at it. Now, look at it. “be thou faithful until death”[Revelation 2:10]. Is that what it says? Turn to it. Turn to it—Revelation 2:10. It is in the back of your Bible; not the front. Revelation 2:10: "be thou faithful”—not until you die but—“be thou faithful unto death." There is a lot of the difference between “until” and “unto”—"be thou faithful unto death." That is, if it costs you your life. Be faithful to Christ if they cut off your head, "be thou faithful unto death." If they put you in prison, you are still faithful. If they beat you, you are still faithful. If they take away all of your property and confiscate it, you are still faithful. "Be thou faithful unto death" if it costs your life, “and I will give thee”—not life itself; you got that when you were saved—"be thou faithful unto death and I will give you the reward, the crown—“I will give you the crown of life.” That is what the Bible says. You stay with the Bible. There is no such thing in the Bible as being saved and lost and saved and lost and saved and lost. And there is no such thing in the Bible as a man’s salvation depending upon his hanging on to Christ. [We] do not have a hold of Christ, Christ has a hold of us. We are not kept by clinging to God, we are kept by God’s clinging to us. The thing is turned around in the Book. And this is it: "be thou faithful unto death”—if it costs you your life—“and I will give the martyr’s crown.” I will give thee the crown of life." That is the second reward. Most of us here in this congregation will never have that reward. We will never have it. But a lot of people do, and a lot of people are receiving it today, especially beyond those Iron and Bamboo Curtains.

All right, now the third reward. Let us take the third one. Now, I am going to talk about me. I am going to talk about me. Turn to First Peter five. First Peter, the fifth chapter. The third crown is the elder’s crown, or the pastor’s crown. The fifth chapter of First Peter. Look at it. First Peter five; this is the first one:

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

you elders, you pastors,

feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint but willingly; not for a filthy lucre, but of a ready mind:

Neither is being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fade not away [1 Peter 5:1-4].

The third crown mentioned in the New Testament is the pastor’s crown. It is the elder’s crown. If a pastor will take his congregation, “not by constraint, but willingly”—love to do it, love to do it—“not for a filthy lucre”—not for what he gets out of it—but because his mind is dedicated to the call of God; nor for the prestige of it in order to walk like a peacock among the people, nor to get over God’s heritage, but leading the flock, walking in front of them examples for the flock. "When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, he shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." That is the pastor’s crown. God has a special reward for a true and a faithful minister. May the Lord grant that I might be like that, working not for what I get out of it; but, I love God and love the flock, seeking to lead them in a marvelous way of achievement for the Lord. That is the third one.

Now, the fourth crown. Turn in your Bible to Second Timothy, the fourth chapter—the last chapter of Second Timothy, the last thing that Paul ever wrote. This is the crown for those who love the Lord’s appearing—Second Timothy, the fourth chapter, now the seventh and the eighth verses. Let us start at the sixth. Second Timothy four, start at the sixth [verse]:

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing [2 Timothy 4:6-8].

Look at that. 2 Timothy 4:8: “the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day”—when He comes again—“and not to me only, but to all them also that love his appearing.” That is the fourth crown, for those who love His appearing. Well, Pastor wouldn’t everybody love the appearing of the Lord? Oh, my soul. Hardly any body does, hardly any one. You tarry with me just for this moment. You listen to me—the appearing of the Lord.

Suppose I were to be able to announce this morning, "Tomorrow at noonday, at twelve o’clock, Jesus is coming again." Suppose I could make that announcement. Oh, what consternation in this world. There would be a Board of Directors meeting of the bank down there, and they would say, "What are we going to do with all of these stocks and all these bonds? Jesus is coming at noon on Monday." Think of all much the terror that it would strike into the hearts of this world. There is the gambler. What is he going to do about his gambling? And there is the bootlegger and the dope peddler. What is he going to do about his bootlegging and his dope peddling? And there is all of that nightclub life. What are they going to do about their strip teasing and about their drunkenness and their dancing and their debauchery? What about that? And there are all of those who have given themselves to no other thing than to put their arms around the world and get the world into their souls and grasp. What about them? Do you think this announcement would bring joy to their hearts? [It would] bring nothing but terror and horror. It is the giving up of everything that they have known in their lives. They do not love the appearing of the Lord. "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing" [2 Timothy 4:8].

Who loves the appearing of the Lord? I will tell you who loves the appearing of the Lord; some of these blessed, sweet devout Christians, some of them are members of our church; and they pore through this Bible and its pages. Some of them get early in the morning to read it. Some of them look upon its pages the last thing before they go to bed at night, and they read in there these wonderful promises of the Lord. They bow their heads and they pray, "Even so come, Lord Jesus." They love His appearing Why, we have people who think you are a crackpot and a fanatic even to talk about the coming of the Lord. They do not love His appearing. To them it is an offense. To them it is a scandal. They do not love His appearing. Who loves His appearing? I know some Christians that are so torn and deformed by disease and racked with pain. If I could come in and say, "Tomorrow at noon you will be well again. Oh, what it will mean to them!" They love His appearing. We have got two members of this church that are blind. If I could go to them and say, "Tomorrow at noon you will be able to see again," they would love His appearing. Some of our people are old and invalid. If I could say, "Tomorrow at noon you will be young again, and whole again," they would love His appearing. They would love His appearing. Most of you who are out here in this audience in morning when you pray, "Thy kingdom come, the king come," you love His appearing. And there is a crown for you, "The crown of righteousness which… .”