Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter
5. I left off last time, I mentioned
this particular verse I'd like to deal with today, verse 10.
And just to bring us very quickly right back up to where we are,
the Apostle Paul had had set forth and dealt with the surety
of our building of God, our eternal dwelling in the heavens. And
he confessing that this earthly tabernacle which we are living
now, we groan, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which
is from heaven. We are not looking just to die,
just for dying sake, We long to be with the Lord. We long
to be in that mansion that He's promised He'd gone to prepare,
that He said in His Father's house there were many mansions,
and in that particular mansion, we don't know exactly what it
is, and it's just a promise. We know, Paul said, that this
mansion that we're going to be found in, living in, is going
to be such that we will not be found naked. Well, we're longing. that mortality might be swallowed
up in life, knowing that it is God that has fashioned and prepared
us concerning these things and has given us the earnest of these
things, the Holy Spirit of God. So we're always confident. We're
full of courage knowing that while we're home in this particular
body, we're absent from the Lord personally. We're walking by
faith and not by perfect and complete sight. And we're confident,
confident and pleased rather to be away from this temporary
home. This is what we really desire
and be with the Lord in our eternal home in heaven, in the heavens. But whether we're here or whether
we're at home with Him according to His goodwill and pleasure,
our hope of glory is to be found accepted. in the Beloved, accepted
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then we're now starting this
10th verse, and here's the reason. Four, because we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether
he be good or bad. Now, turn with me to Romans 14. Hold your place in 2 Corinthians,
but turn to Romans chapter 14. And let's look at a scripture
here that sets forth that the judgment of God is going to absolutely
be universal. Romans chapter 14, the scripture starting in verse 7. says, for none of us liveth to
himself. No man dieth to himself. What
do you mean, Paul? He said, well, whether we live
or we live unto the Lord, whether we die, we die unto the Lord.
Whether we live, therefore, or die, we're the Lord's. He said,
no man dies as an island. We belong to God. For to this
end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be
Lord both of the dead and the living. What does that mean? That means God owns everybody.
All souls are mine. The soul of the Father, the soul
of the Son. The soul of the sinner is going to die. All souls are
the Lord's. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at naught
thy brother? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ as it is written, as I live, saith
the Lord, every knee shall bow to me. Every tongue shall confess
to God. So then every one of us shall
give account of himself to God. So it's not a pick and choose. The judgment seat of Christ is
universal. Everybody, every soul that has
ever come into this world, every one of them, is going to stand
before God in the judgment. And now, for the specifics of
this judgment, see, turn to Revelation chapter 20. This is what the
scripture sets forth. It will absolutely be the specifics
of that judgment. Revelation 20, Starting in verse
11 through verse 15, the apostle John said, 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. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another
book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books according
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them. They were judged every man according
to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire, this is the second death, and whosoever
was not found written in the book of life. was cast into the
lake of fire. Now, John said, I saw, now this
is a vision. John's on the Isle of Patmos.
The Spirit of God is teaching him of the revelation of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And what he's revealing right
here is this is what's going to happen in the Day of Judgment.
There's going to be a great white throne. And it's great because
it is the throne of the omnipotent, all-powerful God. It's a great
throne, it's a white throne because of the purity and holiness and
righteousness of Him that sits upon the throne. And it's said
to be a throne, a great white throne because He is the King
of kings who sits in judgment before whom all men must give
account. We're all going to give account.
And upon that throne, John said, sits the judge of the earth,
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That's according to Matthew 25
31. And before his face, that is before his countenance, before
his presence, the earth and the heaven vanishes away. What? Insignificance. No significance
whatsoever. We're standing before the judge.
It said in that day, back in Revelation 20, in that day of
His judgment, there was found no place for them. That means that there shall be
no location or concealment for anyone before Him. He whose eyes
are as fire. And all the actions, all the
thoughts, all the intents of men shall be brought to light. Turn to Hebrews 4. Hebrews chapter
4, verse 12 and 13. Hebrews 4, 12 and 13. Now here's what, now this is
the day of judgment. Scripture declares, Hebrews chapter
4, verse 12 says, for the word of God, written word, the word
himself, personally. It's quick, powerful, sharper. in any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, the joints
and marrow, a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the
heart." You know, we don't even know that. We think something
and then we intend something because of a thought. It says
the Word of God knows the difference. Neither is there found any creature
that is not manifest in his sight. But all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." So John
said, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. Here is every man who left this
world spiritually dead. I saw the dead, the spiritual
dead, small, little in rank, and great, great in number, great
in rebellion. And they stand in the very presence
of God. They stand in front of the Christ
that they rejected and denied and despised. And that the Word
Himself, omniscience Himself, all-knowingness
Himself, all the books of everyone that left this world who was
not found in the book of life himself. They're going to stand
before God. Turn to Matthew 10. They're going
to stand before God. Matthew 10, 14. They're going
to stand before God. Here's the bottom line. He's going to know. You say,
he's going to know what? He's going to know everything.
He's going to know. He knows the thoughts and the
intents of the heart. He knows the dividing between
the joint and the marrow. Look at Matthew 10 and verse
14. Listen to this. Here's the one that knows the
difference. And this is going to come up.
This right I'm about to read is going to come up. Matthew
10, 14, 15. Whosoever shall not receive you,
Now you think about this, every person that's in this world,
that died in this world, that's in this world and leaves this
world without Christ. Oh, every person that has heard
the gospel and rejected it. This is talking about them. He
says, and whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words,
when you depart out of that house or city, Shake off the dust of
your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgment than for that city. Do you think that God Almighty
is going to know who's rejected Him, who did not bow to Him? He said every knee's going to
bow. You're going to bow. You're going to bow now in mercy
and grace, or you're going to bow in judgment. One of the two,
but you're going to bow. And here we are at the judgment
seat of Christ. And all men are standing before
God, and God is going to bring out all the books of those without
Christ. And every thought, every deed,
every intent, everything. They're going to answer. They're
going to give account for it. All without an advocate shall
be judged according to every infraction of God's holy law. And everything is going to be
brought to light for those who are found without the Lord Jesus
Christ as their substitute. Oh, and there'll be many, He'll
say to me in that day, many, many, many, many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, this, this, this, this, this. He'll
say, I never knew you. I never knew you. Not in mercy,
not in grace. Oh, but there's another book.
Revelation 20 verse 12, there's another book open. It's the book
of life. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
this book that was written before the foundation of the world.
That's what Revelation 20 verse 12 says. This is the book of
God's grace in Christ. God the Father set forth as the
choosing, electing God. He chose a person. before the
foundation of the world, before eternally, eternally. Every name
that Almighty God ever purposed to save written in the book of
life before, before. I don't even know how to go back
that far. They've always been there. It was not found in the
book written from before the foundation of the world. Almighty
God said, I'm going to have mercy and compassion on whomsoever
I will. God who has never thought a new thought. Those names are
written. Yes, everyone without Him is
going to be judged according to his works, but those who attempt
to justify themselves is going to be to no avail. But those
who died in Christ, God Almighty, according to His eternal purpose
to show mercy, are going to absolutely have Christ to answer for them. And they will make no claim,
no claim whatsoever to their own works. Mercy, mercy, mercy
will be their only claim to life eternal. What right You may be asked, do you have?
What right do you have to enter in? I don't have any right to
enter in. But I'm not entering in on my right. I'm entering
in on the right and the righteousness and the justice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God Almighty has had mercy. So
we know that all are going to appear before the judgment seat
of Christ. The books in the book will be
opened that everyone may receive the things done in his body,
whether it be good or bad. Now, we must all consider again,
to whom are we standing? Before whom are we standing?
2 Timothy 4.8 says, the righteous judge. Acts 17.31 declares that
God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom He hath ordained. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the appointed judge of all the earth and He shall in absolute
righteousness and holiness render the rewards of eternity, whatever
they be. Life, death. He's going to render
the reward and it's going to be seen in that last day that
the rewards of heaven are not going to be given. They're not
going to be conferred in an arbitrary manner or just a whim. But they're
going to be bestowed because they are the right reward. Believe me, whatever is done
in that day is going to be absolutely according to God's standard. Nobody is going to be admitted
into heaven who shouldn't be there and likewise, nobody is
going to be excluded who ought to have been there, been saved.
God is not a respecter of persons. Here's the bottom line, it's
going to be a fair trial. It's going to be right. All the evidence
is going to be brought out and whatever is right, That's what
it's going to be. So knowing that every man's going
to receive the things done in his body, whether it's good or
bad, a logical question for me, and I know for you too, would
be, well, how should a man be just with God? Turn with me to
a very familiar passage, Luke 18. We've read this so many times,
but I thought this is such a good, good explanation. Do you know
who's going to be found in heaven, everyone that is justified before
God. What does that mean? No sin. No sin. Scripture declares that
God the Father chose a people in Christ that they should be
holy and without blame before Him in love. They're going to
have to have no sin and they're going to have to be righteous
as God. So who's going to be found in heaven? Those that are
justified by God, by God's law. The law has got to look and say,
no record, no guilt, no record of guilt, nothing there. No infraction,
that's justification. Luke chapter 18, Luke 18 verse
9, this parable unto certain which
trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. And the
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee
that I am not as other men are. extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican. All that stand before God who
trust in themselves that they are righteous know nothing of
the demand of God's law for holiness. And they shall in that day plead
their own cause before God, only to have Him cast them out. Man by nature doesn't realize
that to offend in one point of the law is to break the whole
law. That's what James 2.10 says.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one
point, he's guilty of all. So here's two men. These two
men are representatives of all mankind. Everybody is going to
fall under one of these two men right here. All men either trust
in themselves that they are righteous or they trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. But the first one we read about that Pharisee. He
trusted in himself and his own righteousness and was found to
be a liar. He's a liar. You know, you ask
a man, do you believe in salvation by works? Absolutely not. This
man right here, out of a deceived heart, was claiming that he believed
salvation by grace and was proving it by all the things he did.
He was a liar just like all men because he was dug out of the
same slew of despond like every other son of Adam. And here he
starts justifying himself. He said, I thank you God that
I'm not as other men are, extortioners. Those that try to steal by deceit
something that belongs to somebody else. That's extortion. You're
going to take something. Tell somebody, I say what, I
got some dirt on you. Now you pay me a little money.
What they're trying to do is they're trying to hold that man's
name and reputation, you know, by extortion. This man said,
I'm not an extortioner and he's just as unjust as he could possibly
be. He's still in God's honor, that's
what he's trying to do. He was unjust because God said
that there was none good. No, not one. He's an adulterer
because he's found to be a committer of spiritual fornication against
God. He trusted in himself that he
was righteous. And the Scripture says salvation
is of the Lord. So this man was everything that
he said he wasn't. But then there was another man.
And this man, by a new heart, it's obvious because of the answer
that the Lord gave of him, did something that that Pharisee
didn't do. The Scripture declares that this
publican, verse 13, standing afar off, would not lift up so
much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God, here's what he's saying, I am guilty. I am guilty of everything
that you've ever said I'm guilty of. I've committed all of them. I'm an extortioner. He said,
I'm unjust. I don't have any righteousness.
He said, I'm just like all men. I'm a sinner. God be merciful
to me, a sinner. And the only way that God Almighty
is going to be merciful to a sinner is to be merciful to that sinner
in the Lord Jesus Christ who's paid his debt. God can't show
mercy without exercising justice. He's a just God, but He said,
I'm a Savior. So mercy is the very word. It means, I'm guilty. I'm asking
you. I'm asking you to forgive me.
God be merciful to me. What did the Lord say to Moses? Show me your glory, Moses said.
He said, I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have
compassion on whom I'll have compassion. So then it's not
of him that willeth, him that runneth. but of God that showeth
mercy." So, here he is. What did he do? He came to Almighty
God in the only way he could go in the person of Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, be merciful to me. I'm
a sinner. Christ said, Him that cometh
to me. And Christ is the mercy of God. Christ is the mercy of
God. Be merciful to me. The Lord said,
I tell you, Verse 14, this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other. For everyone that exalts himself
shall be abased and he that humbleth himself. And how's a man humble
himself? God's gotta give him a new heart.
God's gotta do something that he can't do for himself. Man
by nature's proud, arrogant, haughty. He that humbleth himself. shall be exalted. That publican
evidenced the marvelous work of God's grace. A man justified
is a man with no sin. A man justified, you know you've
heard justification. That means just as if I'd never
sinned. Just as if I'd never sinned.
That's not justification. Justification is I never sinned. I never sinned. How can that be? How can there
be that I've never sinned? Well,
the Lord told Nicodemus, he said, you must be born again. He said,
unless a man is born again, he'll never see the kingdom of heaven.
I was born an old man. I was born dead in trespasses
and sins. And in regenerating grace God,
this is Ephesians 4.24, says that there is a new man who after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness. There's two
men in a believer. There's one That is the old man
that never dies. That has never gone away. He's
dead spiritually. But he's still there. He's never
left. He won't leave until God removes that believer out of
this world. And here he is. He sees it. Paul said, I say, oh wretched
man that I am. Here's the old man, new man. Paul says, I see
in me death. A body of death. I see sin. Oh,
wretched man that I am. Here's the new man talking about
himself. The old man. Paul says, I see
it. I see it. I see it in me. So
how can one be justified before God? Because there's a man there
that is created in righteousness. He's a man born of God. One in whom Christ has been formed.
A partaker of the new nature and he said, that he sins not. The scripture says he sinned,
1 John 3, 9. He cannot sin because he's born
of God. As I've said before, how many
times have you ever seen it in yourself? I don't. I don't. But God said in creation, in
new creation, there's a new man there that believes God. Yes,
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that
everyone may receive the things done in his body, good or bad. I got an old man. I got an old
man that's done nothing but bad. Every man, every woman that's
ever been born in Adam has done nothing but that which is bad. But for all found to be in Christ,
before the foundation of the world. Everything that they ever
did that was bad and is doing that is bad and shall do until
they leave this world that is bad. Christ took and bore the
crime itself and therefore the wrath for it. Now the remnants
of it is still with us. And we still see it. And we feel
the pain of it. And we hate it and resentment
and call it what it is. Wretched man that I am. But I'm telling you there's a
new man there. A new man that does not sin. And that man has
done nothing but that which is good. That's all he's done. Good
being born in Christ. Born from above. New nature. And God's kept Him. Kept Him
by the power of God through faith. Ready to be revealed in that
last day. And has robed Him in His own
righteousness. God said this is what He is.
He's holy in me. Christ in me. There they stand
in Him. Holy and without blame before
God in love. Every man, every woman that's
ever been in this world We're going to all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. In that day, the books are going
to be open. All the books for those for whom
Christ has not put away their guilt, all the information is
going to be brought up. And they're going to be judged
out of those books according to their works. But there's a
book, and in that book is found every name of every person that
Almighty God has eternally purposed to save. When that book is opened,
the book of life, the book of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
that book is going to be opened and it's going to be found there
that every name that's written in that book is justified. No charge. No charge. Their sins
have been cast as far as the east is from the, there's no
record of it. I pray God bless this to our heart for Christ's
sake.