1. In I Corinthians 9:27, the apostle Paul says, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
2. The word “castaway” means one who is disqualified or disapproved.
3. The Christian life is likened to a very important race (9:24).
4. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
5. The apostle Paul was concerned that through carelessness he might slip up, and yield to the sins of the flesh. And then he would be a “castaway,” i.e., disqualified and disapproved.

I. THIS DOES NOT MEAN BEING CAST OFF INTO HELL.

1. The Bible does have much to say about sinners being cast off into hell, but that is not what Paul was afraid of.  In II Timothy 1:12, Paul said, “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
2. Paul was not afraid of being cast off into hell, but he was afraid of being disapproved by God.
3. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10), and a wise man does not want to be disapproved by God.
4. Paul knew the Christian life was a life of discipline (I Cor. 9:24-27).
5. Paul knew the Christian life was not always easy.  Right after Paul was converted, the Lord said this about Paul to Ananias, “For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (Acts 9:16).
6. In II Corinthians 6:4 and 5, Paul said, “But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings” (cf. II Cor. 11:23-28).
7. Paul understood there are great temptations in the Christian life.   Most of our temptations come by way of the flesh; that’s why Paul says, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection…” (9:27).
8. That’s why our Lord said, “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:29).
9. Our Lord was warning about the danger of the eye. Consider this severe warning when you look at certain magazines or watch certain things on television or the computer.
10. “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:29).
11. First John 2:16 says, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
12. Our Lord said, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
13. The Christian life is a life of temperance and discipline.
14. “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things” (9:25). The Greek word translated “striveth” is agoniz-omai.  It is where we get our English word “agonize.”
15. Athletes push themselves; they exert themselves; they run and work out for many hours a day.   They endure vigorous training. 
16. Athletes deny themselves in order to win their prizes.  They abstain from certain foods.  They will not drink soda or sugary beverages.  They exercise and work out continually.  They keep at it.
17. And they do all that for some worldly trophy or worldly crown that will some day fall apart (9:25).
18. Harry Ironside said, “Let us take a lesson from the athlete and be willing to give up present pleasures for future glory.”
19. Those who would excel for God must not give in to the lusts of the flesh.  Yielding to sin means losing your testimony and losing your reward.
20. Second John 8 says, “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.”
21. First John 2:28 says, “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”
22. Why will some believers be ashamed when the Lord returns?  Because they will be “castaways” – i.e., disapproved and disqualified.  They will lose their reward (I Cor. 9:27).
23. These Scriptures deal with rewards in heaven, not eternal salvation.   Salvation is a free gift, but rewards are earned (I Cor. 9:24, 25; cf. 3:12-15).  Some Christians have been saved for quite some time, but have not earned much of anything!
24. First Corinthians 9:27 is not speaking of hell, but there are many other Scriptures which warn us that sinners will be cast off into hell.

• “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17).
• “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
• “And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42).
• “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). 

II. WE MUST ALL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST (II COR. 5:10; ROMANS 14:10).

1. The wicked will stand before the Great White Throne and be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).
2. If you are saved by the blood of Christ you will not be cast off into the lake of fire.
3. However, you will have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”
4. He wrote in Romans 14:10, “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”
5. I have heard a few good messages on the Judgment Seat of Christ, but I think the best I ever heard was by evangelist Ron Comfort.
6. Bro. Comfort told a story about a boy who stole some fruit from a fruit stand, which was owned by a man who highly respected him as an honest little boy.  When the boy’s father came home from work, somehow he found out his son had stolen the fruit.  He came to his son and said, “Son, I understand that you are a thief.  I have heard that you stole the fruit from the fruit stand. I am going to do two things. First of all, you are getting a spanking.  Then secondly, you and I are going to the fruit stand and you are going to tell him you are a thief.”
7. The son begged his dad, “Please, Dad, whip me all you want but please do not make me confess to the man that I stole from him.”  But the father made him confess.  Years later, that boy grew up to be a pastor and he would tell people he never felt the spanking, but the hardest thing he had ever done in his entire life was to confess to the man that he had stolen from him.
8. That is a vivid picture of the judgment seat of Christ.  There will be no whipping at the judgment seat of Christ because the Lord Jesus Christ took our whipping for us. 
9. First Peter 2:24 says, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
10. Peter is quoting Isaiah 53:5, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
11. There will be no whipping at the judgment seat of Christ, but for some Christians it will be much worse than a whipping!  It will be difficult and painful standing before the Lord and giving an account.
12. I think of how Simon Peter denied our Lord.  The Bible says, “And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.  And Peter went out, and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:61, 62).
13. Twice in the book of Revelation we read this statement: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev. 7:17; 21:4).  Tears in heaven!?
14. We know the Bible says that sinners will be weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth in hell.  But Revelation 7:17 and 21:4 is speaking of Christians crying in heaven, and God wiping their tears from their eyes.
15. Christians will cry over their lost opportunities, lost rewards, souls they could have won for Christ, things they could have done for God but were too caught up with the things of this world.
16. The judgment seat of Christ is a doctrine taught all throughout the New Testament. At the very end of the Bible, in the very last chapter, in Revelation 22:12, we read, “And, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”
17. The Lord said He is coming back, and He is bringing His rewards.  According to Scripture, the judgment seat of Christ will immediately follow the rapture.
18. Let us consider some of the crowns given at the judgment seat of Christ:

• I Cor. 9:24-27speaks of an incorruptible crown.
• I Thess. 2:19, 20 speaks of a crown of rejoicing.
• James 1:12 and Rev. 2:10 mention the crown of life.
• II Tim. 4:8 talks of the crown of righteousness.
• I Peter 5:4 refers to the crown of glory.

19. Revelation 4:10 says, “The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne.”
20. Most Bible expositors teach that the four and twenty elders represent all New Testament believers.  If this interpretation is correct (and I believe it is), than many Christians will not be able to cast their crowns at Jesus’ feet because they will be disqualified.

III. WHAT KEPT PAUL GOING

1. The apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13 and 14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
2. Paul wanted to continue serving God right up to the very end and he did.  These are his last recorded words, “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 at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (II Tim. 4:6-8).
3. Paul was looking forward to receiving his “crown of righteousness” (II Tim. 4:8).  Albert Barnes said, “Oh, how holy would be the ministry, if all should endeavor every day to live and act for Christ and for souls with as much steadiness and fidelity as did the apostle Paul!”
4. Paul did not want to wind up like Demas (cf. II Tim. 4:10).
5. Demas was a castaway.  The Bible is full of men and women who had great promise but they would up as castaways.
6. And I have known men who started out well – soulwinners, deacons, Sunday School teachers, preachers, missionaries, pastors, and evangelists – and now they are castaways!

CONCLUSION:

1. I mentioned how Peter became close to being a castaway but he got back on track for the Lord.
2. FB Meyer, wrote these words, “The prime cause of all failure in private life as well as in public ministry is the assertion of self.  As long as men and women think it is all right with them, nothing can be done for them.  It is only when there is excited within them a fear that after all, things may not be quite so well as they seem, a dread that after all they may have made a mistake and be self-deceived, it is only then that in the secret of their own chambers… that the heart is laid open, and they may be brought to understand how a man may be almost a castaway and yet be taken back to the bosom of Christ as Peter was; for within six weeks the man who was nearly cast away became the Apostle of Pentecost” (The Christ Life For Your Life).