No Cross… No Crown

Notice the condition on which this promise is made.

The Lord said, if we are faithful unto death, He would give us a CROWN OF LIFE.

He did NOT say, “If you are faithful a few short weeks, months or years I will give thee a Crown of Life”.

The promise is made to those who are faithful unto him until death.

The Bible speaks of different kinds of crowns that God will give the faithful.

A lot of folks do not read there Bible and attend a good Bible-teaching Sunday class do not know about the FIVE CROWNS that one day will be awarded to the saints of God.

The book of Malachi states in verse 3:16 “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened to them and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on his name.”

Illus: My wife keeps a diary every night. She write down what we did each day. She must think I have a wonderful memory because sometime she will say, “Do you know what we were doing ten years ago at 2:30 in the after noon.” I have no idea what we were doing ten years ago.

Illus: Let me address the young men in this congregation. Do not marry a young lady that keeps a diary. Because you might make her a promise and ten years from now when you have forgotten it she will pull that diary out and give you the date and place you made it.

God has a diary and it is call the BOOK OF REMEMBERANCE. Many people are going to be surprise what God has in this book that they have long forgotten some of the things they have done and said.

In fact, the Bible tells us we are going to give account of every idle word that we have spoken.

Christ will judge according to the book of remembrance, we all will stand in front of God on the judgment day.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Christ will be sitting on the seat of Judgement, and he will honor the people with crowns who have done good.

There are five Crowns in the Bible which will be given to the people who will do the work of God faithfully.

The five crowns are…

(1)The Incorruptible crown

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The first crown is Incorruptible crown in the Bible. It will be given to those who will have victory over the world and the flesh and Satan.

(1 Corinthians 9:25) “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all the things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.”

(2)Crown of Rejoicing

The Second crown is the Crown of rejoicing, and it will be given to those who will win souls for Christ.

(1 Thessalonians 2:19) “You are our hope, our joy and the crown of rejoicing. We will be proud of when our Lord Jesus Christ comes.”

(3)Crown of life

Is the third crown and will be given to those who will endure pain and be faithful in God in short for the martyrs.

(Revelation 2:10) “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to put some of you into prison, that he will do this to test you, and you will suffer for ten days. But be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

(4)Crown of Glory

The fourth crown is the crown of glory, and it will be given to the shepherds. (Pastors)

(1 Peter 5:4) “And when the chief Shepherd appears that you will receive the Crown of Glory that does not fade away.”

(5)Crown of righteousness

The fifth crown is the crown of righteousness, and it will be given to those who have the Hope for the second coming of Christ.

Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:8 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.

There are times the devil tells us that as Christians, we are wasting our lives serving the Lord.

But I can assure you, based on the Word of God, that we are doing the smartest thing a person can do with our lives, when we faithfully serve Him each day.

God has promised to bless those of us who serve Him each day, with the CROWN OF LIFE, when we stand before Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ!