2 John 1:7-11 - Do Not Lose Your Reward

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but thatwe may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.” You cannot lose your salvation but you can lose your reward that you have worked for. We know from other scripture that our salvation is by grace and faith alone. You cannot work for your salvation! (Ephesians 2:8&9) Paul also makes this very clear from this passage in Titus 3:4-7, “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” We do not work for our salvation but we must work for our reward. I will never forget a very good Bible teacher make the statement, that our present performance will determine our future position in the Kingdom. We cannot save ourselves by works but we are told to “work out our salvation in fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). For sure there will be a day when every believer will stand before the “Judgment Seat of Christ”. “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:9-10) It is at this time we will either receive a full reward or we will be ashamed. Paul speaks of this in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. If we do not want to lose our full reward, then we must not be led astray or deceived by those false teachers or those antichrist, who would deny the “doctrine of Christ.” We must continue to “abide”, to dwell in the “doctrine of Christ.” In other words, we must never give up our belief and faith in Who Jesus is, in what Jesus has done by His death, resurrection and ascension, and in what Jesus is going to do for us when He comes again! We are assured that if we continue to hold to our faith in Jesus and who He is, we have both the Father and the Son! This means that we will have the full assurance of our salvation and we will never lose our future reward for serving and living for Him. Practically this also means that we do not fellowship or encourage those false teachers by allowing them to come into our homes or churches or even by wishing them well!  We stay away from them! It is my prayer today, that the Lord will give you the wisdom to discern who these deceivers are, and avoid them! God bless!