If you would, open your Bibles
to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5. I've got a very simple outline
for us to follow. I'm going to give us a series
of facts, things that we know without a doubt are true. And
then those facts together are going to lead us to a single
question. Then we'll look at that question,
and I'll give you an answer for it. We're starting with facts. So
let me start by saying the only place in the world that you can
find a fact is in this book. Everything that's not in this
book is man's opinion. And I mean that. There are a
lot of things that people would say are a fact. And if it's not
in this book, we don't know that. For thousands of years, man has
continuously, over and over and over again, proven that what
we were 100% sure was a fact is not a fact. And then once
we prove that's not a fact, we deem the next decision, that's
the fact. And we just keep changing it. So when someone makes a claim
about God, about religion, salvation, or anything for that matter,
take it to this book and check it out. Check its validity. See
if its merit stands up. See if that's what God said and
that's the truth of it. It's not because it's in between
these this binding and these two words that say Holy Bible,
because there are Bibles that there are things in it that aren't
facts. But the true Word of God comes from Him and that's what
makes it a fact. Now, as we look at it later,
you'll also see that when our question arises, you don't want
to be wholly on to something that's not a fact. So let's look
at 2 Corinthians 5, Verse 10, For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. The first part of verse 10 says,
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
Turn with me to 2 Peter. And remember, I'm getting facts,
so I'm going to go to a lot of places to prove that what I'm
going to say, these three facts, are truly facts. 2 Peter 2. While you're turning, let me
quote James 2. So speak ye, and so do, as they
that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have
judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy. Look in verse
3 of 2 Peter 2. And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose judgment
now of a long time lingereth not. His judgment will not linger
much longer, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared
not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered
them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment,
and God spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person,
a preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood upon the world of
ungodly, He destroyed the world with the flood. And then verse
6, "...and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemning them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto
those that after should live ungodly." Look at verse 9, "...the
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and
to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."
Turn one page over to 2 Peter 3 verse 7. But the heavens and the earth,
which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. I hope you're getting a theme
here with this word judgment. Look at verse 10. But the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Jude, verse 14 and 15 says,
Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to
execute judgment upon all. And one last one in Revelation
18. Don't turn, I'll get this one. Therefore shall her plagues come
in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be
utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth
her." All those things I've said. This is just six or seven of
the places in this book that let us know judgment is coming. We heard a message last week
at this very moment on that topic. We don't know when it will come.
It says here there's a thief in the night. We will all have
to face judgment. It may be when the Lord returns,
or it may be when we die, but it undoubtedly will come to all
of us. Anybody who argues or thinks that this doesn't apply
to them, let me read what it says in Romans 2. It says, And
thinkest you this, O man, that you should escape the judgment
of God? We better take this seriously.
Do you know how serious this is? Look at John chapter 9 with
me. We better take it seriously that
judgment is coming. John 9 verse 39. Listen to this. John 9 verse
39. For judgment I am come into this
world, that they which see not might see, and they that would
see might be made blind. If you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, it's so important to take this serious. He says in
this verse, the first part of this verse, for judgment I am
come into this world. Should we pay attention to something
that our Lord says that's why I came? Fact one is that we will
all face judgment. Judgment is coming. The next
fact we will find in Romans 3. Turn there with me. Romans 3.
Romans 3 verse 10. As it is written, There is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way, they are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. Look at verse 23 in the same
chapter. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Maybe going before the judge
for judgment, which that's what it is. Judgment means we go before
the judge. Maybe that doesn't scare you.
I can think of two reasons why going before a judge would not
scare me. The first one being, you're innocent. Now, I've been into a courtroom
before for a situation where your tag is expired or something
that is of small consequence, or it was a miscommunication.
And I'm not really scared in that situation. I'm a little
nervous, but I'm not scared. The second reason is if you aren't
scared of the punishment. There's no worry to go in front
of the judge if the biggest punishment you're going to get is a $30
fine. It's OK if he finds you guilty. That's no big deal. Look
at verse 19 in Romans 3 here. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith It saith to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. That doesn't sound like we have
a chance to be innocent. In Mark 3, 29, it says, But he
that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness,
but is in danger of eternal damnation. ye serpents, ye generation of
vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? So we just
read that it said that we're guilty, everyone's guilty, and
now we read that the consequences of this judgment are life and
death. With stakes being that high,
the punishment eternal damnation, I sure hope that I have your
attention, that maybe your ears have been pricked to think, what's
going to happen? Hold your place here at Romans
3. We'll come right back. If you still want to argue that
you're guilt, that you may not be guilty, turn over to James
2. And there are plenty that would argue their guilt. James chapter 2. Look at verse 10. For whosoever shall keep the
whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. I know a lot of people who argue
that they haven't broken all the laws or that they don't break
laws anymore. I've heard a lot of arguments,
but I don't think I've ever heard anyone argue that they've never
sinned, they've never broken a rule. Well, this plainly states
right here, if you've ever broken one rule, one part of the law,
you're guilty. So back here in Romans 3, let's
look at verse 19 one more time. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. Listen closely here because I couldn't believe this when
I read it. In verse 19, the last phrase says, ìAll the world may
become guilty before God.î Look over in the middle if your Bible
has a reference. The actual translation here says,
ìAll the world is subject to the judgment of God." Well, that's
exactly what I'm preaching on here. All the world is subject
to the judgment of God. But the writers have taken out
the part that says, subject to the judgment, and they put in
the word guilty. So it says here that we're all
subject to judgment under God, but the writers, instead of letting
us read that, instead we read, we're not subject to the judgment,
we are guilty already. First fact, judgment is coming. The second fact, we're all guilty.
So now we have one more. Let's establish this one more
fact before we get to our question. Go to Romans 14. Romans 14, look at verse 11. For it is written, As I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God. So then every one of us shall
give account of himself to God. The phrase there that's important,
every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Now let me
read something from Matthew 12. But I say unto you that every
idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof
in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be
justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Fact three,
we must give account of ourselves to God. When we come before God,
we have to make our case. That's what that means. Give
account. We have to make our case. We have to give a reason
why we deserve life and not death. Listen to this from 1 Peter 4.
Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick
and the dead? Here's where we stand right now.
We know judgment is coming. We know that we are all guilty,
and yet we also know we must give account of ourselves to
God. Knowing these facts, knowing
the situation that we're in, I'm left with one question. What
shall I give for my account? We will face judgment. We're
already guilty, and we must give account of ourselves. So the
question we need answering is, what shall I give for my account? So let me set up the situation.
I'm standing before the judge. It's my turn. The charges have
been made. The claim is that I'm a sinner
who deserves death. What shall I give for my account?
The judge is God Almighty. The evidence is completely insurmountable. Someone has to be punished. Justice must be served. What shall I give for my account? Well, let me give you some options. I've got 20 different options
that you can do. And I'm just going to read through
them real quick. You can plead innocence. You didn't know any
better. You can claim you're not guilty.
You weren't aware of all these laws. You can be defiant. I will not have this man reign
over me. You can be self-righteous. I did none of these things that
you claim. You can argue that you know better. My way is better
than God's. You can claim innocence due to
insanity. You can partially admit guilt.
I'm a sinner, but a pretty good one. You can completely admit
guilt, but argue that everyone else is guilty too. You can be
ignorant and think that this punishment's not really coming.
You can blame everything on Adam. It's God's fault. You can choose
to compare yourself to others, arguing that you're more worthy
than some. You can say you're guilty, but you don't really
mean it. You can expect salvation because you deserve it. You can
think you've done enough good to outweigh these bad. You can
make a choice to choose your own salvation. You can try to
buy salvation. You can say, I prophesied in
thy name. You can say, I cast out devils
in thy name. You can say, I did many wonderful
works in thy name. And you can be resigned to just
not caring. That's 20 options. Many of them
have saved many people over many decades. Many judges have found
people innocent for that reason. And how awful would it be if
I sat down right now and that was all you had? You had to pick
between one of those things I just said. You had to literally look
at yourself and say, well, I don't think I've done enough good stuff,
so maybe I shouldn't choose that one. I don't have a lot of money,
so maybe I can't buy it." And you might find one on that list
that you can convince yourself that maybe there's a shot. I've
probably forgotten others in many reasons, but apart from
the grace of God, I will use one of those strategies to plead
my case for salvation. It seems ludicrous that people
would go before the God Almighty with such hopeless plans and
ideas, but they do. Thankfully, God has given us
a book, his word, that we might search it and through his revelation
and his guidance know what must happen when it's time to give
our account. So, we have to answer this question. What can I give for my account?
Let's look at 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3 and verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts. and be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of your hope that
is in you with meekness and fear." We must be ready to give an answer.
But before we can answer, the Lord God must put it in our heart.
He must be in our heart. He must give us a new heart.
We must truly believe, love, praise, and worship Him in our
hearts. Of course, we can't do this.
We're dependent upon Him to put it in us, to do it for us. God
first loved us. We love Him because He loved
us. One part of our account is belief and love of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. By Him all that believe are justified. We must believe. Another part
of our account is faith in the Lord. Turn back a few pages to
2 Timothy 3. We must believe and we must have
faith. 2 Timothy 3 verse 15, And that from a child thou hast
known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit uses the Word
of God to convince man of sin, to reveal Christ's person and
work, and to beget life and faith into a sinner. Wisdom to salvation
lies not in the knowledge of the law, of the rituals, of ceremonies. Knowledge lies in true wisdom
to salvation. It's in a spiritual knowledge
of Christ which comes from the Scriptures. We must believe and
we must have faith that when He says, I will cleanse them
from all their iniquity, that's exactly what we know He will
do. And we share the thoughts of
Paul saying, I endure all things that we may obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Now, how else
can we give our account? What other pieces do we need?
Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. We must believe and we must have
faith, both given from God, of course. 1 Corinthians 1 verse
29. that no flesh should glory in
his presence, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,
that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord." Salvation is wholly attributed to the sovereign grace
and good pleasure of our God. In His presence, we have no reason
and no desire to get the glory ourselves. We have life in Christ
that has been given freely from Him. Christ is our wisdom, revealing
to us the mysteries of godliness and spiritual truth. Christ is
our righteousness, making us upright and putting us in a right
standing with God. Christ is our redemption, providing
our ransom from the curse and condemnation of sin. So it's
written in Jeremiah, he that boasts and rejoices in glories,
let him only in the Lord. We must believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. We must have faith in him and we must give him the
glory. We have one more necessity when
making our case, giving our account. We must look to Christ. Turn with me to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45, and we'll look at
verse 16. Remember, this is looking to
Christ. Isaiah 45 verse 16. They shall
be ashamed and also confounded, all of them. They shall go to
confusion together that are makers of idols. But Israel shall be
saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed
nor confounded, world without end. For thus saith the Lord
that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth
and made it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain,
he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth.
I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain? I, the Lord,
speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot
save. Tell ye, and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel
together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. for I
am God and there is none else. I have sworn by myself the word
has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall
one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall
men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall
glory." Let me give you an illustration
to see if I can explain this look to Christ. Imagine a little
girl, a small child. She goes to a fair or a carnival
with thousands of people around. She's enjoying herself. She's
so excited. She's running around saying all
the things that she wants to do. As she does this, She gets
to a certain place in the park and all of a sudden a loud noise
happens and a commotion. In that very moment, she realizes
where she is and she turns and looks. She doesn't see anyone
she knows. She doesn't see her family. She
doesn't see any friends. She doesn't see anything. That's
a look that will come, emotions start coming, and it's a desperate
look. It's one that has turned no longer
from Who do I know are a specific person but anyone? Is there anyone
that can help me? I'm in a desperate situation
and I need help. That's not the look that we're
talking about here. Now I'm going to change one thing
about this story and I'm going to start over. There's a little
girl at this fair with thousands of people around. She's running
around having a great time, so excited, seeing the things that
there are to offer. Her father is following her every
single step she takes, everywhere through the whole park, right
behind her. She doesn't really pay much attention to it, but
she knows he's there. All of a sudden, a commotion
happens, a loud noise. What does that little girl do?
She turns and looks to her father. He reaches down. He picks her
up and holds her. That's the look that we have
in judgment towards our Lord Jesus Christ. He's there. We believe he's there. We have
faith he's there. He gets all the glory. We know
he's going to be there because he tells us over and over and
over again that he has us in his hands, in his bosom. He takes
care of us. We are found in him. To whom
should we look if we would be saved? To whom must we look if
we would be saved? It's to Him, our Lord. The word
is look. It's not work. It's not labor.
It's not serve. These things are the results
of salvation. But salvation and eternal life
is the gift of God through the person and work of Christ. Only
believe and live. That's it. All men died in Adam. All men are under the curse of
sin. And all men will look to Christ and be saved, or they
will not look to Him and they will perish. All of spiritual
Israel, Jew or Gentile, that are given to Christ, represented
by Christ, redeemed by Christ, and interceded for by Christ,
shall be justified in Him, and they all shall glory in Him,
not in themselves, but unto Him who has made unto us all that
we need." Now a naysayer might ask, well, in that day, How do
you know the Lord will be there? How can you be sure that you'll
be able to see Him or find Him? I can confidently say, if a child
of God must give an account before God, not only will our Lord Jesus
Christ be there, but that child will be in Him and the Lord will
give my account for me. Anytime that you have a question,
and I hope we've answered this question, but anytime you have
a question, a problem, a need, or you need to figure something
out, we always must look to the Lord. And we can truly find peace
if we get all of our answers from Him. And I mean all of our
answers, in work, in our relationships, in everything. If you don't know
the answer, search the Scriptures, and you will read the answer,
you will find the answer, you will hear the answer, the answer
will come to you. It just will, because the Lord
will provide for His children. We can truly find peace if we
get all of our answers from Him. Our Lord provides to us a literal
example and an answer of this question. How do we face the
judgment of God? On the cross, the Lord Jesus
Christ bore the sins of His children. He was guilty. He deserved the
punishment that was coming to Him because of us. And He faced
the wrath and judgment of God. He believed in the power of God.
He asked, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
He had faith in the moment. Knowing his ascension to come,
he told the thief beside him, today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. Our Lord lowered himself to become
a man, bore our sins on the cross so that God will get the glory
in salvation. And in his last moments before
his death, he looked to his father and said, it is finished. And
he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. He bore our punishment. He took our place. In Him we
have salvation, and in Him we find rest. And because He said
it is finished, and it is finished, we believe, we have faith, we
give God the glory, and we look to Him in the day of judgment.