Alright, we're going to stay
right there in Romans 14 where Brother David just finished reading.
What we're going to do this morning as I bring this message, we're
going to do what I call gospel accounting. Gospel accounting. Now, what got me onto this subject
is I was reading an article written by a man who claims to be a Christian,
and I don't have any reason to doubt that, and he was making
some points about the issue of sin. And he was talking about
God's absolutes. And the point of his article
was this, that what was sin yesterday in God's word is still sin today. It hasn't changed, and I agree
with that. And that's a good way to think. We don't believe
in situational or ethics like that, that things today that
were sin years ago are not sin anymore. No, if it's sin then,
it's sin now. God's absolutes are just as binding
in 2022, he said, as it was in the beginning of time. But he
concluded his article with a line that got me to thinking. Now,
I think I know what this gentleman means when he says this. Here's
what he said. He said, God's absolutes are
just as binding in 2022 as it was in the beginning of time.
And he, that is God, will judge and punish us for the things
we do in this life. Count on it. God will judge and
punish us for the things we do in this life count on. I think
this individual meant punishment here on earth. But I got to thinking
about that and I wondered how many people who claim to be Christian
really believe that when we appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that we're going to be judged and punished for the things we've
done wrong. And I thought about, if that's
what the man was saying, I don't know that he was, and I'm not
trying to put him down or anything. But here's the thing. Let me
put it to you this way. If God is going to judge and
punish us for the things we do in this life, count on it, if
that's truth, then there's no hope for me. And if you know the truth about
yourself, there's no hope for you either. And it brought me
on to this passage in Romans 14. This passage teaches us in verse
12, it says, so then every one of us shall give account of himself
to God. And that's true. But what does
it mean? What does it involve? Now it's
obvious here that the apostle is admonishing believers in Rome
for judging each other's state and standing before God based
on a wrong ground, a wrong standard. And what was the wrong ground
and the wrong standard? What you eat and what you don't
eat. What you drink and what you don't drink. whether or not
you keep a day or not keep a day. That's obvious what he's doing.
Look at verse one. He says, him that is weak in
the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. In
other words, somebody who's weak in the faith. Now, I want to
make it very clear at the outset here, he's not talking about
people who are weak in the doctrines of the gospel. That's not his
subject. There are essential truths that
every believer, true believer, must adhere to as we are taught
of God in the Word of God. I was talking to some people
last Wednesday night about this, how the gospel is an objective
truth laid down in the Word of God. It's not subjective. It's not what you think it to
be or what I think it to be. And so the gospel is a specific
truth concerning the justice of God, the sinfulness of man,
the person and work of Christ, the revelation of how God is
just to justify the ungodly through the blood, the sufficient, efficient,
successful blood of Christ, His righteousness imputed. That's
what the gospel is, the revelation of the righteousness of God.
And so there's only one true gospel. People will sometimes
bring an accusation, say, well, you all believe you have a perfect
gospel. Yes, I do believe we have a perfect gospel. Do you
believe this is the perfect word of God? I do. I believe the gospel
is not of man, it's of God, and it's of God, it's perfect as
God is perfect. And what is an imperfect gospel?
You know what an imperfect gospel is? It's a false gospel. Now, the Apostle Paul, who was
inspired by the Spirit to write these words, he told us what
the gospel is in the first three chapters of the book of Romans,
very plainly. You think about it, if I could
learn what the perfect gospel is just by reading three chapters
of the Bible, that's something, isn't it? You have it defined
there. And it's not the false gospels
that go around today. You know, God loves everybody,
Christ died for everybody, now you make the difference. That's
a false gospel. It is. That's not in the Bible.
You say, well, there's certain words in the Bible that would
lead me to believe that. Yeah, if left to yourself, your own
natural thoughts. That's why it's a revelation.
God must reveal it to us or we won't know it. We can read the
first three chapters of the book of Romans till we're blue in
the face and we won't know it unless God reveals it. Isn't
that right? But it is there. But the same
man wrote this. He said in Galatians 1, if they
come preaching any other gospel than that which we have preached,
let them be anathema. So there are false gospels. So
here's the true, the perfect gospel. Here's the false gospel.
And most people spend their lives trying to find somewhere in between.
But everything in between, anything less than this perfect gospel
is a false gospel. Now, I know people say, well,
you're just being too narrow and too hard. Well, I mean, it's
there in the word of God. Twelve inches equals a foot,
doesn't it? Eleven and a half inches is not
a foot. It's an objective truth revealed
in God's Word. So now Paul, when he's talking
about receiving weak brethren, he's not talking about weak in
the faith, weak in the gospel. And he says, receive them without
doubtful disputations. And I believe that the summation
of that would be arguing about whether or not they're saved.
Well, you know, I eat these foods, you say that's not right for
me to eat these foods, so we're gonna judge each other whether
or not we're saved or lost based on that. Well, that's silly.
That's self-righteous, that's wrong judgment. And that's what
he says. He says in verse two, for one,
believe it, that he made all things, that is all things. I
heard a Seventh-day Adventist talking about this, and, you
know, under the old covenant, there were certain foods that
were forbidden. You couldn't eat pork. Couldn't
eat shellfish and all that. But that distinction is gone
now. But I heard a Seventh-day Adventist talking about that
who wanted to keep that law in force, and he said all things,
well, does that mean we can eat maggots? Yeah, we can eat rocks. And I said, that's silly. Paul's
talking about all things that are edible. He's not talking
about just go out there and start grazing in the parking lot or
anything like that. Use some sense when you read
the scriptures. But he says, one says we can
eat all things. Remember the Lord himself taught Peter that
in Acts chapter what, it was the 10 when he was sending him
to Cornelius. And remember he saw the blanket coming down and
had all kinds of food that were forbidden under the old covenant.
And Peter said, oh no, I haven't eaten anything that's unclean.
And God said, don't you call unclean what I've cleansed. You need to get your mind right,
Peter. And you remember when Paul had to confront Peter to
the face in Galatia over that issue. He didn't want to be seen
eating Gentile food. So when the people came down
from Jerusalem, he got up and left. And Paul said, Peter, you're
doing wrong. Publicly, you've caused assimilation
here. So, verse two says, one believeth
that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Now,
you vegetarians, you may be believers, but you're weak. I'm just teasing
on that. One just eats herbs. What it
is, he's talking about religion here. He's not talking about
health and all that. You may be a vegetarian and you
may think that's gonna cause you to live longer, the more
power to you. I've heard the statistics on
that, that vegetarians do not statistically live longer than
meat eaters, it just seems longer. But whatever you want to, I mean,
we ought to eat healthy diets, we ought to eat in moderation,
whatever we eat. So whatever, you know, but what
he's talking about is if somebody says, well, we're not going to,
we're not supposed to eat that, a Christian wouldn't eat such
things or something like that. And Paul says, no, no, don't
do that. Or a Christian, or somebody who's
hindered by that and won't eat certain things, somebody who
eats all things looking at that person and saying, well, you're
a legalist, you know, or something like that. Keeping a day, verse
five, one man esteemeth one day above another, another man every
day alike. Now, you know, we can talk about
Sabbath keeping and all that. Christ is our Sabbath. The Bible's
clear on that. Sunday is not a Christian Sabbath.
Sunday's the Lord's day. It's a day, I believe, providentially
that God set aside for us to meet together the first day of
the week, to worship collectively. But it's not a Sabbath. Christ
is our Sabbath. Read Hebrews 4 and read Galatians
and Colossians. I mean, those things are settled.
But if somebody is bound in their conscience to these things, not
to the point of legalism, that is thinking that it makes them
righteous, then that may be a weak believer and we're not to judge
them lost on these issues. And he says these things are
a matter of conscience. That's what he says in verse
one, he says, in verse six rather, he says, he that regardeth the
day, regardeth it unto the Lord. He's not doing it legalistically.
He's doing it, or not doing it, because that's what he thinks
God commands him to do or not to do, or her. And so he says,
verse seven, now look at verse seven. For none of us liveth
to himself, and no man dieth to himself. We're not here for
our own individual We're here for the glory of God in Christ
and the good of God's people. That's what we're here for. And
he says in verse eight, for whether we live, we live unto the Lord.
Whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore
or die, we are the Lord's. We belong to God. This is the
Lord's community of grace. Do you believe salvation by grace? Whether you eat pork or not.
Do you believe salvation by grace that reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord? Because if you don't
believe that, I don't care what you eat or don't eat, you're
lost, all right? And this thing of judgment, it's
important now. We as believers, we're commanded
to judge rightly by the Word of God. 2 John 9, he that cometh
unto you, if he goes too far and abides not in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath not God. Don't receive him into your house.
That is the fellowship of your church. An unbeliever who doesn't
believe the gospel. But he says, we who believe the
gospel, we who are sinners saved by grace, we belong to the Lord.
And he says in verse nine, for to this end Christ both died
and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead
and the living. Christ is Lord of all. Now some
people say that's talking about believers who are dead and believers
who are living, and it may be. Others say he's talking about
what he says in Philippians chapter two because He says this, that
every knee's gonna bow and every tongue's gonna confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. Everybody's gonna bow in the
end, you know that. Believers, we bow in this life
when God brings us to a saving knowledge of Christ. But look
at verse 10. He says, but why dost thou judge thy brother?
Now that's key. Talking about a brother or a
sister in Christ. One who proclaims and claims
to believe the gospel but who may be weak in certain areas
of what we eat and don't eat and particular days and all of
that. Not legalistically now. Not in
such a way that denies Christ. Because you know what, Galatians
2.21, if righteousness come by the law, by keeping a day or
not keeping it, by eating certain meats or not, if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. In other words, if you believe
that what you do or don't do in these areas enhances or makes
you more righteous or whatever, you're denying Christ and you
need to be told that now. We pray the Lord will dynamite
you out of that with the gospel, the power of God unto salvation.
That's the truth of it. What I do and don't do does not
settle or determine my right standing before God. And a lot
of people cringe when they hear me say that. Oh, you're just
giving everybody a free rein to sin. No, I'm not. One old brother out in Louisiana,
his wife, who's an unbeliever, looked at him and said, well,
you all just believe you can do anything you want to do. And
I told him, I said, well, ask her this question. What do you
want to do? I want to be like Christ. Paul
said that in Romans 7. I fail miserably. Do I have unholy
desires, ungodly desires? Yes, I've got the flesh. Flesh
and the spirit. There's a war. But I'm going
to tell you something. If you believe the grace of God,
That grace is not only on your lips, it's in your heart. And
it's a dynamic power that inspires us to seek to live unto the Lord
and to fight that battle, realizing that Christ is our only victory
and he's all our righteousness. So he said, verse 10, why dost
thou set it not thy brother? Count him as nothing. For we
shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Now that's so.
We're all gonna stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Verse 11, as it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every
knee will bow to me, every tongue shall confess to God, so then
every one of us shall give account of himself to God. There it is. We're all gonna give an account. At the final judgment, that's
what he's talking about here now, the judgment seat of Christ.
What does that tell us? Well, first of all, I want you
to think in terms of this. I'll use a big word. The judgment
seat of Christ is not determinative. In other words, it's not going
to determine anything. Nobody's gonna appear before
the judgment seat of Christ to find out what God's gonna do
with us. That's already been determined
before you get there. According to the Bible. Here's the word you need to understand
about the judgment seat of Christ. It is declarative. At the judgment
seat of Christ, The standing and the state before God of every
individual that has ever lived will be declared, revealed before
the whole universe. That's right. It'll be declared. The standard of all judgment
will be this. Now listen to this very carefully. Here's the standard. How do I
stand before God in relation to Christ? That's the issue. It's not going to be what I ate
and what I didn't eat. How do I stand, how do you stand
before God in relation to Christ? Let me put it to you this way.
How do I measure up before God as I compare to Christ? That's the judgment. Another verse I quote all the
time. Acts 17, 31. You can look it up. I tell you,
it's there. It's where Paul's speaking on Mars Hill to people
who've never heard anything of the gospel. And he's telling
them how God commands people to repent. In verse 31, he says,
repent because God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness. By that man whom he hath ordained,
in that he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead." Christ is the standard. Christ is the
measure. You know, Christ is called the
chief cornerstone of the church, that term. He's the foundation,
he's the chief cornerstone. That cornerstone back during
those days of builders, that's the stone by which they would
measure all things. Christ is the measure of all
things in the church. The issue today, what think ye
of Christ? Who is he? What did he do? What
did he accomplish when he died? So again, now the standard of
all, how do I stand before God in relation to Christ? How do
I measure up as I compare with Christ? And so he says, we must
all give an account. Now let's do some gospel accounting.
Over, if you look at Revelation 20. In verse 11. Now, I'm not an accountant, but
I did take a class in college in accounting. And here's what
I know. A debit is what you owe. If you put on the ledger sheet
the debits, I think would go on the left, and that's what
you owed. A credit is what is paid for. That's what you have. So the idea was you'd rather
have more credits than debits. Not vice versa. Now let's do
some gospel. Okay, now look here in verse
11 of Revelation 20. John writes, I saw a great white
throne, and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and
the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.
This is the Lord God, this is Christ, the judge of all, and
you can't get away from it. We must all give an account.
Verse 12, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God,
and the books. Now notice the word books there
is plural. You see that? Books. The books were open. And then
another book, singular, was open. You see that? And that book singular,
it says, which is of life, the book of life. What does that
mean? That means that book contains
the names of those who have life. And the dead, that's the lost,
those who die in unbelief, who stand before God without Christ,
who stand before God not washed in the blood of the Lamb, not
clothed in His righteousness, the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in what? The books. Plural. according to their works." You see that? What that tells
you is this, if you stand at the judgment without Christ, without being washed in His blood
and clothed in His righteousness, you will, here's your account,
you will be judged out of the books according to your works.
Now what's going to happen? You'll be found guilty. Remember
Matthew 7? Lord, Lord, haven't we preached
in your name, done many wonderful works, cast out demons? He said,
depart from me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you. And then verse 14 says, and death
and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
And verse 15 says, and whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now, what do we
know about that Book of Life? You know, it's elsewhere, it's
called the Lamb's Book of Life. Revelation 13, Revelation 17,
Revelation 21, oh, it's called the Lamb's Book of Life. And
who is that lamb? It's the lamb that was slain.
Worthy is the lamb, Revelation 5 says. Worthy is the lamb. Here's my point, every believer,
every true child of God, for whom God chose before the foundation
of the world, the Bible says their names were written in the
Lamb's book of life before the world began, given to the Lamb,
that's Christ, all their salvation conditioned on the Lamb, the
Lamb came, God-man obeyed the law perfectly and went to the
cross having our sins charged to him and he died for those
sins. He was judged for those sins. He suffered the wrath of his
father for those sins and he drank damnation dry. Satisfied justice took away all
the debits and gave us all the credit, His righteousness imputed
to us, to where who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea rather
He's risen again, seated at the right hand of the Father, ever
living to make intercession for us. That's what He says. Do you know what our account
is if we're in Christ? We must all give an account.
What is my account? Paid in full. Think about it. That's my account. If you're in Christ, that's your
account. Do you know this? If one sin
If I stand before God at judgment, if one sin is laid to my charge,
credited to me, then I'm gone, I'm done, I'm
damned forever. Psalm 130 and verse 3 says, Lord,
if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who will stand? Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works. In Christ, based upon
what he accomplished on Calvary's cross, my account reads before
God, paid in full, righteous in him. No credits, I mean no
debits, all credits. And I didn't have a thing to
do with paying one iota to it. It's all of grace. Now turn to
2 Corinthians 5. I'll deal with a scripture that
is commonly raised to bring an objection to what I'm telling. You know, a lot of people, they
believe, well, believers won't be damned for their sins, but
they will be judged by their works and they'll receive rewards,
plural, for their works. Well, the Bible doesn't teach
that. In fact, the Bible never even mentions rewards, plural,
in the matter of believers and judgment. The only time you see
the word rewards, plural, it's in an evil way. But now the Bible
does say we'll receive a reward singular. But if you look at
the context of those passages, it's always the reward that's
freely given to us that Christ earned for us, not what we've
earned. In fact, the Bible tells us that
God never puts him in a position where he owes us anything based
upon our works. But look here in verse 10 of
2 Corinthians 5, for we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in
his body according to, not based on, now notice this, not based
on, but according to that which he hath done, whether it be good
or bad. What does that mean? Simply means
this, this is a declaration. that all who stand in Christ
by the grace of God have done good, and that goodness is the
work of God in them that evidences their state before God. All who
stand before God, without Christ, it will be declared before the
whole universe that everything they did was bad. Depart from
me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you. What he's talking about
here is goodness and badness as it evidences either a state
of grace, goodness in Christ, or a state of damnation, badness
without Christ. That's all he's saying. And he
says in verse 11, he says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord,
we persuade men. Now what do we persuade men to
do? Oh, y'all better turn around,
straighten up, and get right with God, do better. No. We persuade men to run to Christ. Believe in Him. Rest in Him.
Repent of your dead works. Turn loose of those things which
you think are good and earn you God's favor. And submit to the
righteousness of Christ alone. What is the terror of the Lord?
I'll tell you exactly what it is. Think about it. Think about
standing before a holy and just God. on your own without Christ. That's the terror of the Lord.
Here's what he's saying, I know right now that for you and me,
we don't have any hope but that which is in God through Christ,
through his blood and righteousness. And outside of Christ, our God
is a consuming fire. That's right. There's no other
way. And that's my account before
God, paid in full, righteous in Him. My only plea, the risen
Christ died for me. He worked out a perfect righteousness. So that I can tell you without
fail, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. That's gospel accounting.