# The crown of righteousness

Category: Grace
Key Passage: 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your Bible to 2 Timothy chapter number four. Second Timothy chapter number four in God’s word this morning. We have been preaching. This would be the third Sunday on crowns.

Crowns. And that’s what happens, fellas, when you thought she said stand up and she really said, “Shut up,” she crowns you, all right? And we’re preaching on that. Help me out. Help me out. Those of you that remember the first crown two weeks, oh, maybe three weeks ago now, was the, what?

Good, good. Somebody’s on the ball. Brother Anthony is on the incorruptible crown. That’s great. Then last Sunday we preached on the crown of rejoicing, and today we’ll preach on the crown of righteousness. We’re in Second Timothy. Once you find that, would you look up at this ugly fella for a little bit, all right? And good deal. Let me just talk to you a few minutes about it.

Two different things. One thing I want to—this crown of righteousness—you can win this crown. Every person here, if you’re saved, it starts there, you can win this crown. Some will say, “Well, some are just wired this angle here.” Maybe some are easier than others, but every person here, you can win this crown. And I mean that.

I don’t think that you’re limited to just one crown you’ll receive at this day. There’s five different crowns the Bible mentions. But this one, you can win it, and I want you to win it. Then I want you to note before we read this book of the Bible, 2nd Timothy, is the last words that Paul, God used him to write it, to pen him. And Paul, he was…

He was nearing the end. He knew he was about to die. Nero was the ruler, the emperor. And Nero was just a crazy man. How many ever heard about Nero fiddling while Rome burned? Anybody ever hear that? Yeah, I tend to really think that he’s the one that set it on fire. And he blamed the Christians, who had an excuse to slaughter the Christians. The guy was probably demon-possessed. I really think he was. He would light his garden of his palace. Sometimes he would light his gardens with burning Christians. That’s how crazy this guy was. They say at some roads, it’s sometimes the roads leading to Rome, kind of like we have mile markers, you know. The markers for them, some of those were marked by the heads of Christians on little poles or stakes. The guy was just wacko.

And Paul knew that he was about to die. It was not the Bible, but the historians pretty much everybody agrees, under Nero. Now, Paul was a Roman citizen. Remember that? Peter was, and Paul was. So Paul legally could not be crucified. And so we think there’s a little debate, but most agree that we think Paul had his head cut off because he couldn’t be crucified.

Paul knew he was nearing the time where he’s going to be martyred, going to be killed, executed because as a Christian, very vocal preaching the gospel about Jesus Christ, that’s where Paul’s at. And Paul’s telling us here, he said, “I know I’m about to die.” But it’s interesting, Paul’s not necessarily talking about death itself. He’s looking into the future. And for a Christian as you get closer, man, I’ve seen it so many times with good godly people. Brother Fontaine comes to mind. I don’t know how many times he told him before he passed, “I’m ready to go. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to go.” He was looking forward to the future. That’s where Paul is.

Okay, so let’s read this. And I want that to kind of be in your mind, your heart, 2 Timothy 4 and verse number 6 there. Would you please stand as we read God’s word together just to show some respect if you’re able to. 2 Timothy 4 and verse number 6 of God’s word. If you’re there, would you say amen? Amen. Good deal. Here we go.

“For I am now ready to be offered. And the time of my departure is at hand.” He knew he was about to leave out. He’s about to go. “I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith.” Here’s our text verse: “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.”

Now, would you pray with me that God would make this crown of righteousness real to you and that God help you in your pursuit to win? I want you to win. You can win. Every person here, these young people down front, man, I hope one day Ethan can stand before the Lord, and God will be able to give Ethan a crown of righteousness. I hope you say, “I’m going to win one of those one day.” God wants you to win. He’ll give it to you.

Would you pray that as I pray this saying, Lord, make it real to us? Father, have mercy on us. We’re stuck in this world. Lord, you let us have eyes of faith. I’m saying in the future, one day when you’re giving out crowns, Lord, you’ll put in the hearts of these people to earn, to win this crown of righteousness, so they might be able to give it back to you. Bless our time together, Father, please, do it only you can. And Father, I ask for these things in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

We have showed this, I think, every Sunday we’ve been on. I want to show it again. Fellas, if you can pull up that…

Just like this fellow here, he’s won a crown, a medal, if you will. You get saved, not by anything you do, but what Jesus did. Then you’ve got to work for this thing. He’s not just going to give these crowns out. You’re going to have to earn them. Now, we’ve talked about the incorruptible crown. We’ve talked about the crown of rejoicing; now the crown of righteousness. Thank you so much. We’ll turn that thing off and you get going.

I want you to hold your Bible open there to verse number 8, 2nd Timothy 4 verse number 8. I’m going to try to show you very briefly here five truths from verse number 8, all right? So just keep it there and we’ll go back to this verse throughout the message, all right? Isn’t it unusual we’re preaching from the Bible in church? Isn’t that phenomenal? Wow, you know. And it’s sad nowadays that doesn’t happen all the time. Praise the Lord, we use the old Bible, amen, God’s word.

Look at this saying here, verse number eight. Five truths from verse number eight. Help me out. What’s the first word? That’s an important word. We sometimes just read over and we forget about it. It’s kind of like verse number seven. Then because of verse number seven, “Henceforth,” because I’ve done this verse number seven, I’m going to get this crown of righteousness. Now, that makes me think, all right, because of verse number seven, I need to find out what’s in verse number seven. You all right?

So let’s jump up to verse number seven. He says three things. First of all, he says, “I have fought a good fight.”

Now what does he mean by that? It couldn’t be about him fighting with his wife. I would think maybe that, but Paul wasn’t married, so it wasn’t that. What are we going to do? You know, it’s fighting for the Lord. It’s a good fight. It’s a Christian that said, “Hey, there’s a battle going on between God and the devil, and I’m willing to get involved in the fight.”

He’s not—this crown is not for someone that sits over on the sideline and lets everybody else do the fighting. Someone that’s willing to get in there and roll up their sleeves and fight and work for the Lord. Let me say this. Let me say this. It’s the good fight. You ever meet a Christian seems like they’re always fighting with someone? That’s not the good fight. It is someone that’s wise enough and someone that’s in control enough to fight the good fight. By the way, our adversary is the devil, but they’re not setting on the sideline; they’re in the fight. “I fought a good fight.”

What’s the next thing? It says in verse number seven. Help me here. He said, “I fought a good fight. I have, what? Finished my course.” They’re all different. God does not expect Schuyler, good to have her back from college, to run Ms. Brenda’s course. And God doesn’t expect Ms. Brenda to run Miss Deanne’s course. He doesn’t expect Matthew back there, Razor, to run my course, for me to run. They’re all different. “I have finished.” And by the way, Satan always tries to get you to compare. That’s the trap: either pride or pity. But I have finished my course. I’ve done what God made me to do.

And by the way, notice that last part. That last part, what’s the third thing he says here in verse number seven? “I fought a good fight. I’ve finished my course. I have what? I have kept the faith.” You ever meet someone that’s lived for the Lord all their life, and towards the end, they just kind of bow out of the fight? Sad. I heard of a preacher not too long ago, a couple years ago. I know his relatives; I don’t know him personally. And he had lived for the Lord for years and years and pastored for years and years. And toward the end, he’s an older man, and he went. I thought, “Wow, how sad. He missed out on the Crown of righteousness. He didn’t finish his course. He didn’t keep the faith. He lost out.” This is for someone that finishes strong.

Boy, it’s sad. Now help me. I know you’ve met these people all over this Bible Belt. You meet them all over. Can I invite you to church? “Sure, I used to go to such and such. I’m saved, but I don’t go to church anyway now.” And they at one point had gotten saved, at one point got fired up for the Lord, and they were living for God, but they have dropped out of the fight. And they’ll lose this crown. They won’t get it. This is for someone that has finished the course, they’ve kept the faith.

Everybody gets tempted by different things, but sometimes it’s just easy. You get a little bit older and say, “Well, I’ll let the younger crowd do it, and I’m just going to sit out and sit on the sidelines.” Listen, friend, you’d be battling for the Lord till he takes you home.

My preacher for years, Brother Howes, I love this story. He used to tell about his mom as she was nearing the end. She was at the doctor’s office, and she was up in the room, I think, waiting for the doctor or whatnot. And she just wanted to go out strong, and she was trying to win. It’s a little darker in the office there, you know. She was actually trying to win. She couldn’t see very good, all right? She was trying to win the filing cabinet to the Lord. I mean, you know, those tall filing cabinets that just look like a person, and she’s going to go out fighting, amen. I love it. She finished her course. She kept the faith. Good chance he’s going to have a crown of righteousness one day.

He says because of these things, “Henceforth.”

In 1968, we had the Olympics where in Mexico City, and they had a marathon. I cannot remember how far. It was a very, very long marathon. And there was supposed to be certain miles. Maybe it was one of those, I’m not sure. But it was one of these long ones. Seventy-five people entered that race. Only 57 went across the finish line. It was just an endurance race.

There was one man, if I remember right, he was from Tanzania, I believe I remember right. And Tanzania was about 5,000 miles away from Mexico City. And yet during the race, he got some cramps. Because you get cramps, you know, you just stop for a second. And there was a crowd of runners right there he was at, and somebody hit him and pushed him. And he went down and messed his knee up, dislocated his knee. I mean, just messed his knee up. And then his shoulder, man, his shoulder hit the pavement, whatever it was, and it messed up his shoulder. And he could not—he’s not going to win the race. But he would not quit.

I’ll be honest with him. He finished over an hour after the winner crossed the finish line. By the time he finished the race, he crossed over the finish line, it was dark. They were at the—most of the news people on that was over at an awards ceremony that was happening in the dark. But one of the people there, part of the press, heard this guy over an hour later is finishing the race. And so they took off. Plenty of people there watching and filming whatever the awards. So they ran over and they watched this guy. They filmed this guy coming through over an hour later, battered and bruised. And when he crossed the finish line over an hour later, there’s just a handful of people left. But those people cheered so loudly for this guy because he finished.

And the newscaster went to this man and he said, “Sir, tell me, there’s no chance of you winning.” Everybody knew that. “Why? Why did you finish the race?” This is what he said: “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race. My country sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.” And your God sent you and he made you and sent you in this world for you to finish your race, and it says, “I have a crown for those.” Whether you’re not battling with anybody else, but you might not finish first, but you’re going to finish that race, and God says, “I have a crown of righteousness for those people.” I hope you have something inside. He said, “I’m going to finish strong. I’m going to cross that line serving God, involved in the fight. I’m in a nursing home somewhere, I’m still going to be trying to tell people about Jesus Christ and pray and live for the Lord there.”

Crown of righteousness. Now let’s get the second truth of this verse because we’ve got four more. My goodness. How many ate breakfast this morning? Good, good. My Sunday school class is mad at me today. And they have a right to be mad at me. Here’s the show confessing myself. I’ll come to the altar, all right?

Our people are so good at our Sunday school class to have refreshments every time, and they’re just faithful at it. They haven’t missed it, I don’t know how long. And the last two times we have missed our refreshments in our Sunday school class, I go to this list on the wall over the bulletin board, and I look to see whose turn it is, and the Chisgars was on that list. Shame on us. So we got to get out of Hurley because they didn’t get any breakfast in Sunday’s going. What about that?

I’ll tell you what. Let’s get the second thing you hear. Here it is, verse number eight. You’re there in verse number eight. “Henceforth, there is…” Help me, what’s in the next couple of words? “There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” Now here, here’s the truth here. It’s not like God says, “Well, they won that race. I’m going to have to give me a crown one day.” No, no, no, no, no. When you win that crown, God says, “I got one for you. I’m laying it up for you.”

Men’s retreat we just had, and Brother Marlon does a great job at the field day. Brother Marlon goes out and he gets these medallions, and hey, got seven or eight of them, you know, and it says something like, “First Place, Men’s Retreat, '22.” But it doesn’t give a name on it. We don’t know who’s going to win the cornhole until that day. We don’t know who’s going to win the ping pong until that day, and so on and so on. That’s not this. When you win this crown of righteousness, God said, “Now wait a second, I’m going to make a crown that fits Brother Dumpur’s head.” It’s pretty—got to be pretty big, I’ll tell you what now, you know. I’m teasing with him, you know. But, but yes, he has a crown that’s just your size. It’s made specifically for you to fit your head. It’s designed for you. It’s your size. It’s got your name on it. It’s got Ryan on there. And God takes your crown that you win, and he lays it up. It’s laid up. Paul said, “Henceforth, there is laid up for me.” It’s not like, “Well, maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t. I’ll see if I got enough left over for you.” No, no. It’s waiting for you. It’s got your name on it. It’s a sure thing. I mean, sure as you’re standing here or sitting here, you’ve got a crown if you’re winning this thing. It’s laid up for you.

You know, it’s amazing people will spend their life just to get rich. And yet so often when they get rich, it’s not what they thought it would be. Fact: among the very wealthy, there’s a high rate of suicide. I’m like, “Wow, how could that be?” You check it out. My thought process: because they finally got what they wanted and worked for for all those years, it is so empty. We’re like, “What’s the use?” And this crown that’s waiting for you, it will not be maybe a chance. It will not be empty. It is so empty. It is specifically the one that made you is making this crown. He knows what you like better than any—better than you know what you like. And he’s the one that’s designing this crown for you. It’ll be the most beautiful thing you’ve ever saw. It’s made for you. It’s laid up for you.

Let’s get the next thing here. We’re in verse 8. You’re still there, verse 8. Amen? You’re there? Good. Verse 8. He says, “Henceforth, because I fought a good fight, finished my course, kept my faith.” Henceforth, there’s laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord…

Would you say the next three words, please? Remember what we said in the first part? Who’s the guy? Help me out. Who’s the guy that kind of says the word for Paul to get his head cut off? Who’s the guy? Nero. Remember, he was a crazy guy, probably demonic, just a weirdo, fiddling while Rome was burning. He’s burning Christians, and that’s—he would just take their bodies and just put torn everything so it burned, and he would light them up. That’s how he lit his gardens. Crazy man. I mean, Hitler, you know, was horrible. Nero was maybe worse than Hitler, I mean, if you’re just a crazy man. And he was his judge.

Paul knew that eventually he’s going to be judged by this crazy man. And the crazy man said, “Cut his head off.” And so Paul says, “Hey friend, let me tell you something. I’m looking beyond this earthly judge. One day I’m going to stand before a righteous judge.” He’s not a crazy cuckoo psycho guy. This is God Almighty, Jesus Christ, and he is a righteous judge. And one day I’ll stand before his throne. He’ll be the one that’s giving the wreaths out. He’s the one that’s going to say who wins his crown. He knows everything. He’s always right. He’s a perfect judge. He sees through everything, all these excuses. And that’s the one I’ll stand before one day.

Here’s the thought a little bit. Your friends may say you’re crazy for going to church all the time. “You’re an old-fashioned nut. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, you’re always in church and going on Saturday part-time. I bet you put money in the offering plate. You’re the weirdest person in the world.” And you can say, “I really don’t care a whole lot what you think because I’ll stand before God one day, and he’s a righteous judge.” You won’t be judged by your friends in school. They can call you names and act like, “Well, what do you do? Reading your Bible? I bet you pray or whatever. You never curse, you never do that.” And they can make fun of you for doing right. They can talk about you all that want to, but, friend, one day you will stand before Jesus Christ. Who cares what all of them say? They’re not going to be the one that gives you all rewards or not. Jesus. He’s a righteous judge.

And Paul said, “Man alive, he’s the one I’ll give an account to.” And by the way, as long as you stand before him, I think we’ll be like John the Revelator in the book of Revelation chapter 1, where he sees the Lord and just falls at his feet. As long as that righteous judge—what happened over there, Revelation? He put his hand down and he touched him. And as long as Jesus stands there and won’t fall at his feet, and as long as he reaches his hand out and he touches us, he says, “Man, you did a good job. I’m proud of you. I got something I’ve been holding for you. Here’s your crown.” Friend, they can say whatever they want. It’s going to be all right if he does that. It’ll all be worth it. He’ll be the judge you stand before one day.

The righteous, the righteous judge. Let’s hurry along. Let’s get a couple more things in here. Just two more. We’re done. Hoo-hoo, those are my sons who are cool. You’re going to eat, friend. It’s not—you’re going to eat pretty soon here.

Verse number eight. You’re still there, verse 8. “Henceforth, because of verse number seven, henceforth there’s laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.”

What’s the next three words? That Paul, God used him many times to write about that day.

That day. Let me read a couple of them. There’s many more with you to fall asleep if I read them all, amen. 1 Thessalonians 5:4: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3: “Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first.” 2 Timothy 1:12: “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.” You see how he makes a big deal about that day? That day is coming. That day.

Anybody out there, you get paid every Friday? Anybody like that? You get paid on Friday? Anybody like that? Wow. I don’t know now your checks just get deposited. We had a couple get Friday. Anybody else paid on Friday? Yeah, yeah, more of you. Good, good, good, good. And nowadays you don’t necessarily get—they deposit it typically, but, you know, isn’t it like, you know, about halfway through the work week, you’re like, “Man, I’m sick of work.” I know you’re never like that, but I get like that. But you’re like, “Friday’s coming.” That’s a little bit of the thought: that day. That day.

We’re going to be—by the way, these awards were typically given out in very much in public in these arenas. I think it will be in the clouds, we’ll be with the Lord there, and we’re going to be there. I believe that’s part of what he was giving out that day, that day. Hey, devil, yes, yes, we’ve got some hard things down here, but that’s all right. That day is coming.

The world, you know, the world is—their philosophy is, “Well, life is tough, and it’s over.” No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That day’s coming. That day. What are you living for that down here? No, that day. By the way, that day will be, in many ways, what eternity will look like for me. That day, that day, that day.

Why do you want to win souls? Why do you want to try to live for the Lord? Why do you want to do all that? That day’s coming. You get old and Uncle Arthur starts coming. Anybody know what I’m talking about right there? Your knees and your back and everything else. You’re hurt in a place you didn’t know what you had, you know. And you want to give up and you get tired quicker and all the rest of the day. “Man, I’m just tired of this thing.” But I want to keep going because that day’s coming. That day, that day.

I look over here and see the Kents, great people. I have been serving the Lord, I don’t know how many years. Brother Kent just turned 86, 89. I had been in church serving God, pastored before, principal in Christian school, everything, all these years. And it would be so easy for them to give up. But you know what? They’re here. And I promise you part of that because they know that day’s coming. That day, that day, that day. Boy, one day that crown is laid up, and that day, Jesus is going to be giving them out. That day.

One last thought, we’re done. Back to verse number eight, if you would, please. Verse number eight. We’re in Second Timothy four, verse number eight. “Henceforth, because of verse number seven, henceforth there’s 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.”

Help me out. Finish the verse, would you please? Here we go: “But unto all them also that love his appearing.”

Now he’s saying, not to me only, but there’s a whole lot of people going to win it. Paul’s saying it’s not about Paul getting this thing, not me only, but Brother Eddie can win it, Brother Gregory, the Dumpers, Anna, Jared. I mean, he said, “Not to me only, but all those people that…” Now wait a second, “love his appearing.” Now wait a second. If you’ve not finished the course and kept the faith, I don’t think you’re going to be so excited about his coming.

Can I say it this way? He’s appearing, and he’s talking here, not necessarily just his rapture. He’s talking about the judgment seat when he appears as a judge. It’s part of that at the rapture, yes, because right after the rapture is the judgment seat. But the context here is him giving out rewards. Are you going to love it when you see him and you fall at his feet and he says, “Here’s crowns. I got a crown of righteousness because you’ve fought the good fight, you’ve finished the course, you’ve kept the faith.” Yeah, I got a crown laid up for you. It is—part of it is, praise the Lord, we’re going to get out of this mess. There’s more than just that. By the way, it’s a crown of righteousness for those that have fought a good fight, kept the faith, finished the course. Not just for Paul, it’s not just by Paul, but for every person here, whatever your course is, you stay faithful. You did what God made you to do. You say, “I’m looking forward to that day when the judge, the judgment of Christ, the emperor is appearing.” I love that: looking forward to that day. I love his appearing.

March of 2020, just here recently, in Fort Myers, Florida, there’s a young man. His name is Tony Wilson Jr. He was 31 years old. And he had built—he was a very, very smart young man, he was very smart—but he had built a drug ring in that part of Florida that was one of the most successful. They gave out cocaine or didn’t sell—they sold it—cocaine and many other things. His alias was Big Homie or Cane because he sold so much cane. His network—18 other people were arrested with him—but his network, they would bring in about over $10,000 a day from selling their drugs. He was a cool cat, if you will. They say he wore a gold chain, not the chain pendant on it, just the chain pendant, they say was worth $80,000. Man, we can use that thing, go to the pawn shop and get our school bill, haven’t you know?

And they had been—they had been many undercover cops had gotten many drugs from his employees, if you will, and they had him hook, line, and sinker. He had already been at court. In fact, he pleaded guilty because they had so much evidence against him. And so it was all pretty much sad and done. And sentencing day was there.

And he said, sentencing day—now let me tell you what happened. On sentencing day, by the way, they took his gold chain and pinned it, and money and things too. And then they gave him life in prison. I don’t know exactly how this works. They gave him life in prison with an additional five years. I don’t know if they’re going to keep his body in prison after he’s dead for five years. What? I don’t know. That was an additional charge for carrying firearms. Well, that was—that’s what he was. And he knew something like that was coming, and he’s there in the courtroom. Everybody knew he was guilty; he had pleaded guilty, and that’s what was coming down the pike. And he’s sitting there.

Can you imagine this guy? Help me out. Do you think he was looking forward to the judge walking out? If I’m just sitting on the sideline, never served the Lord, not doing what he made me to do, am I going to be loving his appearing? These are for those that said, “You know what? God’s made me to do this, that other. And I might not finish first, but I’m going to finish. And I’m going to stand the fight. I’m going to finish my course. I’ll keep the faith. I’m ready to see the judge one day. Can’t wait to see him one day. They love his appearing.”

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? You hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, I want to finish my course. I might not be able to run as fast as I did when I was younger, but I’m going to be running some way. I’m going to be involved. I’m going to finish strong, however that might look like. I’m going to finish strong.” God spoke to my heart about that. I want to win that crown of righteousness. I want to finish my course. I want to finish strong for the Lord. Oh, me too. I’m with you. I’m with you.

Can I just say it’s not guaranteed, but you can. You can by His grace. You can finish doing the will of God for your life. Thank you so very much. You can put your hands down.

Maybe you hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, I need to get involved in the fight. I’m on the sidelines in some area of my life. I need to get involved in the fight.” Maybe it’s the matter—I’m not involved in the good fight. I need to get involved in this good fight. Lord, God spoke to my heart. I need to get involved in the fight. I might not want to hold out, but I want to be in there swinging and doing all I can in the good fight for the Lord. God spoke to my heart. I want to be involved in this good fight. God spoke to my heart about that. That’s you this morning. You lift the end of preach. “I need to get involved in a good fight, a good fight.” God bless you. God bless you. Me too, me too. Satan always loves to get us caught up in the wrong fight. Stay in the good fight, the good fight, the good fight.

Maybe you hear this morning, you don’t know that you’re saved. One day when Jesus comes back, you won’t be raptured out unless you’re saved. You will not be at this judgment where he’s giving rewards. You’ll be at a judgment where he’s sentencing you to death, hell forever. “Preacher, I need to get saved. I need to call on Jesus Christ to be my personal Savior. I know he died for me, but I need to receive that. I need to call on Jesus to be my Savior.”

If that’s you, right there where you said, I’m going to ask you right there where you said—if that’s you, you believe Jesus died and rose again, you know your sin, you’re going to call him right there where you said. Would you call on him right there? Right now: “Jesus, oh, I’m a sinner. I understand there’s a penalty. I believe he died for me. Right now, Jesus, would you forgive me of all my sins? Would you come in my heart? Would you save me, Jesus? I want to go be with you. Jesus, I’m trusting you and only you to save me. Thank you, Jesus.”

Our heads are bowed, eyes are closed. “Preacher, I just asked Jesus to save me. I just settled this thing. I just trusted Jesus to save me to take me to heaven one day.” Just call on Jesus. If that’s you with their heads bowed and eyes closed, would you lift your hand? “Preacher, I just called on Jesus to save me.” If that’s you, just lift your hand up. “I just lifted in Jesus alone to take me to heaven. Just ask him to save me.” Anybody like that, just slip it up.

Hey friends, we’ll stand before him at the judgment seat of Christ. He’ll give out crowns. I hope you’ll win this crown of righteousness. Would you please stand? Would you please stand? We’ll have a word of prayer. You come spend some time to the Lord. “Lord, I want to win this crown of righteousness.” He wants you to. You can. You can. Thank you, Lord, for your word tells us clearly what’s before us. Help us, Lord. Lord, help us to live for that day. Be with our people. Help us to do business with you. Speak to us personally what each individual needs to do to win this crown of righteousness for you. And we’ll thank you, Lord, for what you do in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Would you come as we sing? Don’t wait for anybody else. Would you come? “I want to win that crown of righteousness.” You let him know that by your grace.

The first Sunday we started covering crowns, we covered where we cast the crowns back at his feet. “I don’t deserve it, Lord. It belongs to you.” Will you have anything to lay at his feet? Will you have anything to give Jesus? Later on, Jesus comes back at the Battle of Armageddon. He’s on a white horse. We come back with him. I’ve been planning on covering it; we haven’t had time. We haven’t covered it yet. Maybe we will. But let me just say this: He comes back wearing crowns, plural. Jesus comes back wearing crowns. Preacher, what do you think those crowns are? The crowns you gave him.

You give that crown, you cast that crown—he doesn’t toss the sides of whether it—don’t really matter to me. He says, “I’m going to wear that. They gave it to me. My servant, my son, my daughter, they won that, and they gave that to me. I’m going to wear it.” Will you have a crown to wear that you’ve given to him? Will you have anything to give it to him? We’ll say one more verse. You’ll be obedient to the Lord. If nobody comes, us to be in prayer in your heart, “Lord, help me to win a crown for you.”

Original File: The crown of righteousness - Pastor Paul Chisgar 51522