Well, it's a joy to be with you. Would you turn back to 2 Corinthians
chapter five? I'm excited for you. Trust the
Lord will bless the building and the Lord's already done work
of grace here and I hope he'll continue to do it even more and
I believe he will. Let's look at verse 10 of 2 Corinthians
chapter five. For we, that's everybody must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone
may receive the things done in his body according to that he
had done. Whether it be good or bad. Now, how many times have you
read that passage of scripture and felt uncomfortable? What
does it mean? I've entitled this message, the
reality of justification. The reality. of justification. I'm looking at some people that
are probably like me, you've probably never played computer
games. I've never been on a Xbox or PlayStation or any of those
things. The closest I've ever come to something like that is
playing Pac-Man. They don't even make those anymore, I don't guess.
But I have watched TV commercials about these things and you see
these wars and people and things that look real, real. They look
real. It's called virtual reality. Looks real, but it's not. Virtual is an adjective that
means almost or nearly as described, but not completely or according
to strict definition. Not physically existing as such,
but made to appear to do so. Now that's the reality that's
generated by computer software. I've seen it on commercials.
It looks real. It looks impressive, but it's not real. Justification is a biblical term
and I've heard this used to describe it. Justification is just as
if I never sinned. Just as if I never sinned. There's one problem with that.
I've still sinned. Just as if I never sinned, Is
virtual justification. It's virtual. It's not the real
thing. Now this verse I just read is
used by many to speak of a judgment for believer. after the judgment
to get rewards in heaven. You ever heard that you're going
to be judged according to the things done in your body. Now,
salvation's already taken care of, but your position in glory
is going to be how you have done in this body. You can be judged according to
your works. good or bad. Now, let me ask you a question.
Do you want anything that's been done in your body to be judged
by God? Well, if you want to, he'll oblige
you. He'll meet you on that ground if you want. Now the scripture does teach
there are degrees of punishment. several scriptures. I think of
what the Lord said to the people who listened to him preach. He
said, it'll be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the
day of judgment than for you. There are different degrees of
punishment because hell is according to your works. Yes, there are
different degrees of punishment, but There's not different degrees
of reward because salvation is by grace. Believers have the same righteousness,
His. They have the same reward, Him. And we have two beautiful illustrations
of this in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. You can
go into first Samuel 30, where the Amalekites had raided Ziklag. That's where David lived. And they took off his wife and
children and all their goods. And David says, shall I overtake
him? He prays to the Lord. The Lord
says, go get him. And they go after the Amalekites, 600 men,
David's mighty men of valor. And when they reached the brook
of Kidron, 200 of them were so tired and hungry that they couldn't
afford the brook and they had to stay behind. And so the other
400 went after the Amalekites and defeated them and brought
all the spoils, all the men and women back. And when they reached
the brook, the scripture says, all the sons of Belial. That
means sons of wickedness. worthless sons. Every one of
them said, these guys that didn't go to the battle, they get nothing. They didn't work the way we did.
They can have their wives and children back, but they're not
going to get any of the spoils. And David said, no, everybody
gets the exact same thing. And that was made a statute in
Israel forever. And what about the parable of
the workers in the vineyard? I love that parable. The Lord
of the vineyard at 6 a.m. goes out and hires some men.
Go out in the vineyard, he agreed with them for a penny, and you
work all day and you'll earn your penny. And he goes back
out at nine o'clock and sees others working in the vineyard.
And he said, what are you doing here? He said, nobody's hired
us. He said, you go out into the vineyard and whatever is
right, catch that. Whatever is right. I'll give
you. And then at 12, he said the same
thing. You go out and work and whatever's
right. I'll give you, God always gives
exactly what is right. That's who he is. The same with
the three o'clock, the same with the five o'clock, the fellows
who just worked one hour. Now, if I worked 12 hours and
you worked one hour, guess what? I've got more money coming. That's
what I would have thought. Now he gives those one hour workers
a penny. What was right, absolute justice. And when the guys come that have
worked for 12 hours, the scripture says they supposed that they
should receive more, but they received every man a penny. He gave them what is right. Somebody says, well, that sounds
like grace. Well, it is. It is no doubt about it. He said,
is my evil because there's your eye evil because mine is good
because I determined to give everybody the same. The reason men teach such things. Taking that verse of scripture
we just read, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. They call it the Bema judgment.
Have you ever heard that? The Bema judgment? I don't know why they
call it that. It has something to do with the Greek word. But
the reason men teach such things is to try to motivate people
to live good lives. You'll earn a higher reward in
heaven. You'll have a higher position in heaven. Now, that's
awful mercenary. Matter of fact, that's all it
is, it's mercenary. It's wrong. Do you think, or do these people
think, that their works are good enough to earn them a higher
reward? Do you have that high an opinion of your works, that
you think that something you've done in your body can give you
a higher position in glory. You know, somebody that believes
that way really does not understand justification by faith. Justification. I've already used
this. Justification is defined as just
as if I never sin. Justification is not just as
if I never sinned. Justification is I've never sinned. All the things done in my body
are good, are right, are perfect. That's what justification is.
It's not just as if I never sinned. Justification is I never sinned. I've kept God's law perfectly.
I've loved God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my
strength and my neighbor as myself. I've never had a sinful deed.
I've never had a sinful thought. I've never had a sinful motive. The things done in my body are
all good. the reality of justification. Now turn back for a moment to
Luke chapter 18. In some respects, I would call
this the most significant parable in the Bible. And let me read
it and then I'll tell you why. Verse nine. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous. You want to know what self-righteousness
is? Right there. You trust in yourselves. I trust
in myself that there's some righteousness in me. That is self-righteousness. And here's what always goes along
with it. They despised others. Anytime I have a self-righteousness,
I can find somebody that I'm more righteous than they are.
And I can feel good about myself. They trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and they looked down upon others. Verse
10, two men went up into the temple to pray. And let me say,
these are the two representative men. All of mankind is in one
of these two groups. You and I are in one of these
two groups of these two men. Two men went up into the temple
to pray. The one, a Pharisee, a religious
man, and the other, a publican. A sinful man, what he did for
a living was sinful. He worked for the government
of Rome, collecting taxes and adding onto it to pat his own
pockets. And he was the most despised man in this day. Verse 11, the Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself. He thought he was praying to
God, but he wasn't. He prayed thus with himself. His prayer didn't get any higher
than the ceiling. Now God heard what he was saying,
but God didn't accept what he was saying. He prayed thus with
himself. God, I thank thee. He gives God
the credit. I don't believe in salvation
by works. I'm giving God the credit for this. God, I thank
thee that I am not as other men are. Not I thank you that salvation
by grace. Not I thank you for the power
of the blood of your son. Not I thank you for your mercy,
but I thank you that I am not as other men are. Now, let me
say this. What he says next is a lie. That's all you can call it. Did
he believe this to be true about himself? Perhaps he did, but
it wasn't. Look what he said. I am not as other men are extortioners,
unjust, Adulterers are even as this publican. Now I take objection
to that. He was everything that he said
he was not. You can write that down. He was everything he said
he was not. He said, I fast twice in the
week. I give tithes of all that I possess
and the publican standing afar off. would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven but he smote upon his breast," He knew
that's what the problem was, his heart, an evil heart. He smote upon his breast saying,
God be merciful to me, the sinner, the definite article. is in the
original and that merciful is really propitious. Propitious,
you know what that word means? It means be a sin removing sacrifice
for me. Do something about my sin. I
can't do anything about it. I can't make it go away. Do something
about my sin. Now look what the Lord says in
verse 14. I tell you, this man, Went down
to his house. What? Justified. Not forgiven. Not shown mercy. He went down to his house. Justified. Now, if you're justified, what
does that mean? That means you're not guilty. That means you haven't sinned. That means you stand just before
the law. That's what the Lord said with
regard to this man. He went down to his house, justified,
perfect, without guilt before God's holy law. Rather than the other, that other
man went down to his house in his sins. In his guilt under
the condemnation of God for everyone that exalts himself shall be
based. And he that humbles himself shall
be exalted. Now the Lord in this parable does
not tell us how he was justified just as he was. And he uses the
rest of the Bible, Genesis through Revelation, to tell how this
great thing comes to pass. That this man who was self-condemned,
saw himself as nothing but sin, went down to his house, absolutely
justified, without guilt, perfect before the holy law of God. Now
that's something that interests me. I want to know how that can
be. Now turn back to our text in
2 Corinthians 5. Verse one for we know. One of the things I love about
the gospel is we can say we know. We know. This is not something
we have any doubt about. This is not something we struggle
with. We know. We know. Somebody says,
I don't. Well, I do. We know. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. We know. And he's speaking of
every believer for we know. That if our earthly house of
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Now this is only referring to
the believer and these bodies we live in right now are tents. They are temporary dwelling places. And when these bodies are dissolved
and we die, we have a house made without hands, eternal. Get that word eternal. That's
important. I obviously don't understand
eternity, nor does anyone else. We're creatures of time. We're
stuck in time. We're stuck in space, but in
heaven, nobody's waiting on anything to happen. It's all in the eternal present. And he's talking about our glorified
bodies that every believer will enjoy. Verse two. For in this tabernacle, this
earthly body, we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house, which is from heaven." Now in this body, we groan physical
problems, disease, aging, that all is certainly included, but
what he's really talking about, in this body we've grown like
this. Oh, wretched man that I am. Not that I was, that I am right
now. In this body we groan. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? This is a reference to the old
man, the evil nature that I carry around continually. Every believer
has two natures, a holy nature and an evil nature. And the only way you can understand
this is if you have two natures. If you only have one nature,
what's he talking about? That's crazy. But if you have
two natures, you know exactly what this means. Verse three,
if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. Being clothed by Christ inside
and out. We shall not be found naked exposed
to the wrath of God. We're going to be like that arc
pitched within and without with pitch. Verse four, for we that are in
this tabernacle, this body of death do groan being burdened. Sin is such a burden, and that's
why we groan in this body. You know, a believer is never
going to be content until he awakes in the very likeness of
Christ. But in this body, we groan, being
burdened Not for that we should be unclothed, but clothed upon
that mortality might be swallowed up in life. It's not just that
we want to Be rid of sin, although that's certainly part of it,
but we want to be just like Christ. So the end of predestination
will be realized, perfectly conformed to his image, being like him
and seeing him as he is. Verse five, now he that wrought
us for the self same thing is God. The reason we feel this
way is because of God. Salvation is of the Lord. Every desire we have for likeness
to Christ is of God. Our desire to be done with this
body of death is of God. He's the one who's done this
in us. And you know that if you're a believer, don't you know that
so? Any desire you have for Christ, God put that in you. He wrought
it within you. Verse five, who also had given
unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Now, every believer has this
earnest, this guarantee, this down payment, as it were, the
Spirit of God. Now, somebody says, how can I
know if I have the Spirit of God? I can tell you real easily
how you can know. First John chapter five, verse one says,
whoso believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Do you believe Jesus is the Christ?
You know, he's a prophet like No other prophet. Every other
prophet said, thus saith the Lord. He said, I say unto you. He's a priest like no other priest.
Every other priest brings the blood of an animal that can never
take away sins. He brings his own blood that
actually takes away sins. He's a king like no other king. Every other king has borrowed
authority. He has authority in and of himself. He's the king of kings. Do you
believe, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Do you? I do. If you do, you're born
of God. You have the earnest of the spirit. Verse six, therefore, We're always
confident knowing that whilst we're at home in the body, we're
absent from the Lord for we walk by faith, not by sight. Now, what does that mean? We
walk by faith, not by sight. I cannot see that I'm justified
and without seeing before God by what I see. Can't do it. But I am, what's the evidence? I believe the gospel. I believe
the Christ. I believe on Jesus Christ, the
son of God. That is the evidence. Faith is
the evidence of things not seen. I don't see my justification.
I don't see my sanctification. I don't see my perfection before
God, but I believe I am because the Lord has caused me to believe
the gospel. We walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident
verse eight, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the
body, to be present with the Lord. Paul said, I long to be
with Christ, which is far better. That's our desire. Far better. Verse nine, wherefore we labor.
that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. That's
our desire to be accepted of him. Verse 10. For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Now all know this
intuitively. Everybody born into this world
knows that God is. Everybody knows that. You're
born knowing that. Somebody that claims, well, I'm
an atheist. Well, you haven't always been an atheist. It is
just natural to know somebody made this. God did. He's the
cause of all things. We all know that God is, and
we all know that God will reward the righteous and punish the
wicked. There is judgment and there's
only two kinds of people in this world, the righteous and the
wicked. And here's what is so amazing.
All of the righteous believe themselves to be wicked. And
all of the wicked believe themselves to be righteous, or at least
have the potential to be righteous if you put them in the right
place. Now, all will stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. And like I said, this verse is
really the main verse used by people to say that there's going
to be a judgment after the judgment. First, you'll be judged. Revelation
20, the great white throne judgment, that's where the judgment will
take place. And this is the one after that judgment, where you
will be judged according to the things done in your body, where
you'll either have a higher reward in heaven, or you will be penalized
and not be given such a good spot. You know, I even heard
a preacher say on the radio in Lexington to the congregation
he was preaching to, he said, some of you be shining my shoes
in heaven. Well, I'd like to be able to tell the fella, you
don't need to worry about that. You ain't gonna be there. You won't
be there. Not with that attitude, not with
that understanding. This very, but first let's turn
to Revelation 20. Verse 11, this is what's called
the great white throne judgment. And 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. Now, if I am not in Christ, every
sin I've ever thought is recorded in this book. Now, I don't understand
that you'd think, well, judgment will take forever then. Well,
no, it'll happen just like that. eternity. I don't understand
how this is, but if you're outside of Christ, every sinful thought,
every sinful motive, every sinful deed is recorded in this book. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead, those dead in sins
were judged out of those things which are written in the books.
according to their works." Now judgment is absolutely just,
impartial justice. God is just. The punishment always
fits the crime. He's not too harsh. Every man
outside of Christ will be judged strictly according to his works. Verse 13, and the sea gave up
the dead which were in it, And death and hell delivered up the
dead, which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. They were receiving the things
done in the body. Verse 14 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. It's called
the Book of Life of the Lamb Slain from the Foundation of
the World. This is talking about God's elect,
those in the Lord Jesus Christ who have always been in Christ. There's never been a time when
they've not been in Christ. This speaks of their eternal
union with the Son of God. Now, what all that means? I love the illustration the Lord
gives of the vine and the branches. The same stem that goes through
the branch goes through the vine. There's no connecting point.
There's no beginning point. God's people have always been
in Christ. That's what the scripture teaches.
And written in that book, They are saved. Now, everybody on judgment will
be getting exactly what they deserve. And there's another
group that have done nothing but good in their bodies. they're going to hear said to
them by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, well done, thou good
and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. Come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Now, somebody says, how can that be? Think of that
thief on the cross, I mean, not the thief on the cross, the publican
in the temple. By his own confession, he was a sinner. If you would
have asked him about the works done in his body, what do you
think he would have said? They're all bad. Every single one of them, they're
all bad. Yet the Lord says to him that
he went down to his house justified. Now, if you're justified, that
means there's been no sin done in your body. means you stand before God without
guilt. Perfect before the law of God. That's what justification
is. It's not just as if you never sinned. It means you never sinned.
It means you have no guilt. It means you're perfectly righteous
before God. You don't have anything to fear
on judgment day, as he is. So are we in this world. However
he is, that's how I am. Was everything done in his body
good? You better believe it. Everything done in his body was
good. That is my life before God. Turn with me to Revelation
19. You're there in 20, look at 19. Verse seven, let us be glad and
rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb
has come and his wife has made herself ready and to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white
for the fine linen is the righteousness of Christ imputed to the saints.
I didn't read that right, did I? The fine linen, clean and
white is the righteousness of the saints. How can that be? Well, Hebrews
1.3 says, when he had by himself purged our sins, And this phrase
by himself is so very important. That means it doesn't have anything
to do with anything near you have done. You didn't contribute
in this thing. This is not something that you
did. This is not something that you allowed to be done. You were
shut out at this time. This doesn't have anything to
do with you. When he had by himself purged Our sins made purification
for our sins made our sins to not be, I don't have any sin. So justification means when he
had by himself purged our sins and the good things done in your
body. have nothing to do with what you have done in your body. Now, the only way I know how
to, as a matter of fact, I can't explain it. This is something
to be believed, not understood. The Lord took my sins upon himself
and they became his sins. He became guilty of the commission
of my wicked sins. Now, he never sinned himself,
you know that, but he was made sin. And what all that means,
me and you will never understand. You know, when the Lord cried
out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It was in thick
darkness, letting us know that we can't really understand what
was going on. But I know this much. I know
that my sin became his sin. When he drank that cup in Gethsemane's
garden, I know what was in that cup. The sins of his elect. He bore those sins in his own
body on the tree. Sin can't be two place at once.
If he bore them, I don't have them. He bore my sin that we
were singing that song. He took my sins and my sorrows. He made them his very own. He
bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. My sins
came into his body. Scripture says that. To his own
self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree. My sins came
into his own body. Do I understand that? No. Do
I believe it altogether? But just as truly as my sins
came into his body, his righteousness comes into my body. And all the
things that I've done in my body are good. That's what justification
is. A perfect standing before God. Now let's close. by looking at
2 Peter 2. And while you're turning there,
I want to remind you of scripture. When the Lord came to John the
Baptist to be baptized, John said, I have need to be baptized
of thee, comest thou to me? How would you feel if the Lord
asked you to baptize him? You'd feel completely unqualified,
wouldn't you? Well, John did too. John felt completely unqualified,
but. The Lord said, suffer to be so
now for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. You see what the Lord did. He
did as an us. And when he fulfilled all righteousness,
so did every one of his people. So that the things done in your
body are all good. And you can have some confidence
with regard to judgment with that. Can't you? Now in 2 Peter chapter
two, verse five, he spared not the
old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of
righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned
them with an overthrow making them an example unto those that
would after live ungodly and delivered just Lot. Now this is God's description
of Lot. Now I could show you from the
scriptures that Lot loved the world way too much. The Lord
said, get out of Sodom. And what did he do? He lingered.
The scripture says, and the angels grabbed him by the hand and pulled
him out. I can show you where Lot was
a drunken man and an incestuous man with his own daughters. I
mean, that's, I even hesitate using language like that, but
I mean, Lot, Lot, Remember how he was given the choice between
the watered plain and something else. He didn't show deference
to Abraham like he should have. He took what was best and let
Abraham have what was left. He had no respect for Abraham,
not the way he should have. Lot was not a good man, as we
would say. As a matter of fact, if we didn't
have this passage of scripture, most people would think he probably
wasn't even saved. But what does God call it? just, perfectly equal, perfectly
righteous lot who is vexed with the filthy conversation of the
wicked for that righteous man. Dwelling among them and seeing
and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their
unlawful deeds. Now, Colossians chapter one, verse
22 says that Christ presents every believer, holy and unblameable
and unapprovable in his sight. Now how God sees things is how
they are. And if God sees me because of
what Christ did for me as altogether righteous, perfect before his
law, without fault, justified. If God sees me that way, you
know what? That's the way I am. And I'm going to receive the
things done in my body. Now that is the mystery of the
gospel. Now back to our text. Verse 11, knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord. His wrath is terror. We persuade men. Look to Christ
only. Don't look anywhere else. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Okay. Pastor. Preach too long. Sorry.