2nd Corinthians chapter 5. It says in verse 10, for we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one
may receive what is due him for the things done while in the
body, whether good or bad. Now in some ways this is a difficult
scripture. And it's difficult because it
seems rather difficult to fit this within the scheme of the
grace of God. Paul says we all must appear
before the judgment seat of Christ to receive what is due us. But actually its difficulty arises
from its misuse. which is so widespread that everyone
takes for granted that the standard interpretation of this verse
is the correct one. But what most people think this
verse means does not even fit the context of what Paul is talking
about. You know, whenever we look at
the scriptures and try to understand what they mean, we always have
to be careful. that we don't take a verse of
scripture and just pull it out of its context and then try to
interpret it. It means something, but whatever
it is it means, it means it within a particular context. But the
standard interpretation that people give to this simply cannot
be true. When I read this verse, what
thoughts came to your mind? Did it evoke a fear of judgment
to come? Did it make you consider how
you would change your conduct so that on the day of judgment
you will receive a reward for good works instead of punishment
for evil works? Are you now thinking, I sure
hope he has something in his message to remove this worry
I now feel about the things that I have done? Now, if you answer
yes to any of those questions, it's probably because you don't
understand what Paul means by this text of scripture. Now,
if you read this view like just about everybody else does, even,
by the way, Charles Spurgeon and other faithful preachers, if you read it like they do or
view it and interpret it as they do, this would cause fear. It would cause me fear. If I
believe that this scripture was saying what most people claim
that it says, because if I stand before Christ and he gives me
what is due to me because of what I have done in this body,
I am a lost, lost man. It's that simple. The standard interpretation of
this text goes something like this. At the end of time, on
the day of judgment, all people will stand before Christ to be
judged according to what they did on earth, and each will have
their eternal destiny or some kind of extra heavenly rewards
determined according to the quality of the deeds that they have done. Some even go so far as to say
that our lives will be displayed like a movie. for all to see,
and all those wicked things we did in secret are going to be
exposed. I think that for most of us,
probably all of us, if all those things we have done in secret
were made into a movie, that movie would have a rating which
would prevent us from being allowed to go. But I remember being told that
specifically. when I was a kid. Oh, they're
going to play your life like a movie and everyone's going
to see what you did. Now, since many who preach it
this way also believe in the grace of God, like we do, they
always have to add some kind of disclaimers or insert something
that really just makes the whole verse much more complex and really
doesn't serve to help at all. But before we get to what it
does mean, let me show you from the scriptures that the standard
interpretation that I've described to you simply cannot be what
this verse means. Romans chapter 8, verse Verses
one and two says, therefore, there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus,
the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the
law of sin and death. Now, if there is to be a judgment
of us, this judgment must be according to a law. Without a
law, you can't have judgment. And yet this scripture says that
we've been set free from the law of sin and death. And it
says there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Now, if I am in Christ Jesus,
and yet at the end of time I'm going to be brought before him,
he's going to make a public spectacle of all my sins and then reward
me according to what I have done. How is that not going to be condemnation? So if there is no condemnation,
my friends, then there can be no judgment upon the people of
God, which results in their condemnation. First John chapter two, verse
one says this. little children I'm writing these
things to you so that you will not sin but if anyone does sin
we have an advocate before the Father Jesus Christ the righteous
one. So now John is saying that at
the present time he was writing these scriptures in order that
we not sin but if any man sins and we know we do There's really
no doubt about whether or not we sin. If any man sins, we have
an advocate. And the sense here is one who
stands near as a defense attorney. One who pleads our cause for
us. And that one is Jesus Christ,
the righteous one. But if you take the standard
interpretation of 2 Corinthians 5.10, that means that this one
who has been our advocate, for all these years is in the last
day going to change sides and become our prosecutor and judge.
That just doesn't make any sense, does it? And then Jeremiah 31 verse 34.
where God is describing the new covenant of the gospel, he gives
this particular characteristic of it. For I will forgive their
wickedness and remember their sin no more. And that word remember
can mean call to mind or bring it up. God says he's not gonna
bring up the sins of his people anymore. And yet, if indeed at
the end of time we're gonna face a judgment, where all of our
deeds done in this body are going to be brought out for all to
see, and we're going to be rewarded according to what we've done?
Well, how does that fit in with their sins? I will remember no
more. I'll not bring it up. Doesn't fit, does it? And the scriptures say, love
covers a multitude of sins. How can it be then that the one
who loved us and gave himself for us will at the last day seat
himself upon a throne of judgment and expose our sins for us and
everyone else to see? You see, whenever we put an interpretation
on scripture, we've got to see if it fits everything else the
scripture says. the Scriptures have only one
message, and it's not on the one hand going to assure us of
the forgiveness of sins, and then on the other hand bring
us into fear of the exposure of our sins. It's not on the one hand going
to say salvation is all according to grace, but in the end you're
going to be rewarded according to how good you've been on earth. Those things just can't go together. So when we come up on something
like 2 Corinthians 5 verse 10, we read it, you know, we read
just that verse and say, man, I don't see how that can fit
into the gospel. Well, if it won't fit, if what
you think that scripture means won't fit into the gospel of
God's grace, it means you're not understanding that scripture
correctly. So let's see what it does mean,
because it means something that will bring comfort to every believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you realize every scripture
will do that? Every last one of them is designed to bring
comfort to God's people. Let's improve on the translation
a little bit, and that'll start us down the right path to understanding.
Who is the we that Paul refers to when he says we all must appear
before the judgment seat of Christ? There is a way that it could
be applied to everyone, but that's not Paul's intention. The we
in this verse, and we're gonna see this, but the we in this
verse is people who set themselves forward as preachers. who claim
to be spokesmen for God. That's the we that he's talking
about. Now, seeing that the description
of gospel preacher can be applied to some degree to every believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, this verse could apply to all believers. I mean, it's not as though even
when we learn the true meaning of this, that those who aren't
preachers, that is, who aren't officially recognized as preachers,
that they can say, oh, I don't have to worry about that scripture,
I can just skip over it. No, it has an application, and
you'll see. But this entire book of 2 Corinthians
Of course, like all other books of the scriptures, it's a book
about Christ. But the vehicle that Paul uses
to set forth the Lord Jesus Christ is this. Throughout the whole
book, he is defending his apostleship and his ministry against some
who had come into the Corinthian church and tried to draw their
affections away from Paul so that the Corinthians would regard
these other preachers and dismiss Paul. And they were saying things
about him like, he doesn't really care about you. He said he would
come back, but he hadn't come back yet. Paul explains why he
hadn't come back yet. And they say, well, you know,
really, there ain't much to Paul. He's not very good looking, you
know, and his speech, he's not a polished speaker at all. They
were saying these things about him. And in this book, he defends
himself as a faithful minister of the gospel of Christ. Therefore,
he's saying, all of us, me and those fellas that want you to
believe that I'm no faith, that I'm no good preacher. We're all
going to come under the, we're all going to be at the judgment
seat of Christ. Thirdly, that phrase judgment
seat, excuse me. Secondly, the word translated
appear does not mean show up. You know, if you get a summons
from the court, it is a summons to appear at the court and that
just means show up. But what this word here actually
means is to be revealed. To be revealed. Now all of us
in this life are putting on a show to a greater or lesser degree.
And it's a good thing we do. We couldn't live with each other
if we made everything about us known. But what Paul is saying here,
that all these fellas that claim to be faithful, earnest preachers
of the gospel, the time will come when they will be revealed
for what they really are. I'm going to prove all of this,
but I'll just let you know that's what he's talking about here.
This is a revelation of the reality of a person as opposed to what
he has claimed about himself. Thirdly, it's called the judgment
seat of Christ, so it's not going to be about those things that
can easily be determined by the judgment seat of man. You know,
there's things that men are capable of judging. The judgment seat
of man was perfectly capable of rendering a judgment that
David, King David, was an adulterer and a murderer. I mean, all he had to do is know
the facts. So the judgment seat of man is
perfectly capable of detecting outward transgression. Only the
judgment seat of Christ could know that David, the adulterer
and the murderer, was in reality a man after God's own heart.
That's what the Bible calls him. You and I wouldn't have been
able to detect that. If you and I passed judgment on David, we'd
have said, well, he's guilty of two capital offenses, stoning
to death. That's what the law says. That's
all we'd have been able to know about David for sure. So the judgment seat of man can
judge some things, but it cannot judge spiritual things. That
requires a judgment seat of Christ. And while David by his actions
was an adulterer and a murderer, the judgment seat of Christ looked
upon him and said, behold, a man after my own heart. And then the good and the evil
that is contrasted is not a matter of righteous and unrighteous. Not in the way we normally think
of those words. Actually, it's speaking of good. Remember, I've pointed out before,
goodness and righteousness are not the same thing. Does someone
do what is good, which means does someone do what is God honoring
and useful? as opposed to, and the final
word is not speaking about evil so much as a moral concept, as
it's speaking about evil as a worthless and useless thing. Consequently, it's saying that
the things done in the body, they are either good, that is
God honoring and useful, or they are bad, which is self-serving
and useless. But to understand, we must follow
Paul's argument all the way up to this point. Remember, he's
defending his ministry from false accusations made by those who
wanted to diminish him in the eyes of the people there at Corinth,
and hopefully that would make them dismiss Paul and turn their
affections and allegiance toward them. Now you can follow along
in your Bible or just listen as I point out the progress here
beginning way back in chapter 1 verse 12. Paul says, now this is our boast,
our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in
the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the
holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not
according to worldly wisdom, but according to God's grace."
So Paul boasted to them, and I'm using the word boast. He
used it later on as well. He said, I feel foolish for having
to do this boasting. But he had to, he had to describe
to them what he was doing and why that was an acceptable ministry
as opposed to what these other fellows were doing. And he says,
we, we. Remember, he goes, now this is
our boast. So I assume he's talking about
himself and the fellows that traveled with him. Or he's just
doing like some people do. When they wanna talk about themselves
but not make it sound so self-centered, they say we instead of I. I don't
know for sure. But I'm just gonna, I assume
he means we, meaning himself and the others that traveled
with him and ministered with him. And he said, we behave with
simplicity and godly sincerity when we were among you. And then he says, In verse 14,
as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand
fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you
in the days of the Lord Jesus. So what he's saying here is,
you know me, maybe not completely, but you know me well enough that
in that day, you can speak well of me just as I speak well of
you on that day. Now Paul is going to go on. Well,
he in first Corinthians, he pointed out many problems among them.
And there were more of them spoken of in second Corinthians. And
yet he says, I will boast of you in that day. What day that
day of the judgment seat of Christ. And yet he felt free. They could
boast of him and he could boast of them. and it wouldn't get
thrown back in their face by God exposing all that was wrong
with them. Chapter 2, verse 17. Unlike many, we do not peddle
the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ, we
speak before God with sincerity like men sent from God. You're familiar, I mean, in some
it's just so obvious. These self-proclaimed preachers,
that they're just in it for the money. For the money. They're peddling
the Word of God. And one easy way to tell that
that's what somebody's about is if they are willing to alter
their message in order to gain a larger audience, which results
in larger offerings, which they expect they can turn into a larger
wage. Paul says, we don't peddle the
word of God for profit. We preach it. And he did go on
to say in other places that those who are taught should communicate
in all good things with those who teach them. That makes sense. Laborers worthy of his wage. But no preacher sent by God is
in it for the money. Just not so. They'd do it for
free if that's the way it had to be done. And so he says, we're not gospel
peddlers. We're not selling anything. but
as those who are sincere about what they're doing, we preach
the gospel. In verse 1 of chapter 3, he says,
are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need, like some
people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? Now it had
already gotten to the point that preachers would get a letter
of recommendation that they would carry around with them, so if
they were in a city where people didn't know them, you know, and
they walked into the local assembly, maybe somebody let them preach.
They could say, well look here, so-and-so says I'm approved.
And so Paul says, am I beginning to make my case to you again? To commend me? am I looking for
you to write me a letter of commendation so when I go to other Gentile
cities they'll accept me, or am I trying to put one together
to bring to you to convince you? Do you know what the letter of
commendation for any preacher is? The people who listen to
him. The people whom the Lord has
been pleased to bring to salvation. through his ministry. I need no letter of recommendation
to you or from you. Why? Here you are. You are my
letter of recommendation. I was talking to someone the
other day, can't even remember who it was, but I was talking
about how, particularly early on, I was always worried about
whether or not my ministry was appreciated, what people thought
I was doing a good job, you know, and that this is what they wanted.
It's just in my nature to worry about things like that. But after
a good many years went by, I suddenly realized, you know, there isn't
anything here but the preaching of the gospel, singing songs
and praying. They can't possibly be coming
for anything else. So it must be that those who
come here week after week indeed recommend the ministry that's
carried on here. Some of you have been with me
for the 32 years that this church has been in existence. I don't
proclaim to be perfect by any means. I'm just a human being.
But if you did not like what you were hearing, you would have
left by now. Chapter 4 verse 1, therefore
since through God's mercy we have this ministry we do not
lose heart. He said now the ministry we have
comes to us by mercy. We don't have a ministry because
we've got a seminary degree and a board of elders somewhere got
together or a bunch of professors got together and put their seal
of approval upon us. By God's mercy, sheer mercy, He gave Paul the
ministry of being an apostle. And Paul knew it was by mercy
because Paul had in times past been a persecutor of the church.
He certainly did not earn any right to be a preacher of the
grace of God, did he? But God made him the most effective
and well-known preacher. among the Gentiles anyway in
that day. And Paul says, I'm telling you
right now, I'm not, you know, he goes, I'm not going to hold
back declaring that I'm an apostle, but I want you to understand,
I realize I'm an apostle by the mercy of God. There's no other
reason than that. And because of that, I don't
lose heart. He said people may try to diminish
me, people may try to undermine me, but in as much as I know
that it was God's mercy that gave me this ministry, I know
that that same mercy will sustain me and will accomplish through
me all that God intended to accomplish. No man can stand against me. Paul said in another place, he
said, I'm less than the least of all the apostles. I'm not
even worthy to be called an apostle, but by the grace of God, that's
exactly what I am. You know, if a man's been called
by God's grace, been put in a ministry by God's mercy, he does not have
to worry about whether or not men approve of his ministry.
It was not they who put him there in the first place. So they're not looking for the
favor of men. Verse 5 of chapter 4, he goes
on, Now, again, he's defending himself and showing how he's
different than these guys who are trying to supplant him, and
he says, We didn't come here and preach
ourselves to be Lord over you. We didn't come, you know when
Paul came to Corinth to preach, even though that town was a very
wealthy town, he would not allow them to pay him. You know why? He said, because I wanted you
to know and remember you got the gospel for free. He wanted
them to understand concept of the grace of God that everything
comes freely, otherwise they who might naturally have some
pride in their wealth would say, we bought the gospel. He said,
no you didn't, I brought it to you freely. And I didn't come
in here trying to set up a church to Saint Paul the Apostle and
set myself up as a Lord over you. Rather, I set forth Jesus
Christ to be your Lord. I set forth the one that God
set forth as Lord in Christ. And I set him before you and
I said, follow him. He's the Lord. And then starting in verse 7
he says, but we have this, this is chapter 4 verse 7, but we
have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing
power is from God and not from us. This all-surpassing power
of God in the gospel. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, it's the power of God unto salvation.
But to make sure everybody knows that this all-surpassing power
is from God and not from the preacher himself, He said, we're
just like old clay pots. Now clay pots serve a function,
but they're easily broken. You just drop them and there
they go. And we who preach the gospel,
we're easily broken. Yet God has been pleased to put
his treasure of truth in us who've been called to preach. So that
when you hear that glorious gospel from the lips of a man like me,
you won't be even tempted to think, well, that Joe is just
somebody. Look at the gospel he came up
with. I didn't come up with this. God did. I'm just telling you
what God said, what God has shown me. But nothing that has been
worked among you or in any individual one of you has come about because
of any natural power I have. And then faithful preachers,
they speak what they themselves believe. Look at verse 13, chapter
4. It is written, I believe, therefore
have I spoken with the same spirit of faith we also believe and
therefore speak. Now there are preachers out there
that preach, but they don't even believe what they're saying.
They're con artists. They're saying what they figure
the people want to hear and what will move them to put money in
the offering plate. give them a following and riches. They don't believe it, but I'll tell you this, what
I preach to you every week, I believe it. I don't preach it to you
because I learned it in Bible school, I don't, now this is
going to sound funny to you, but I don't even preach it because
I found it in the Bible. Now I wouldn't preach it to you
if I couldn't find it in the Bible, But that's not what motivates
me to preach it to you. What motivates me to preach what
I preach is this. God has put his word in my heart.
And from my heart, I preach to you the very same thing I believe.
And if you believe what I say, and you perish, I'm perishing
too. I'm not standing in one boat
telling you to get in another one. You and I are in the same boat.
If this business of salvation is not as I have described it,
I am a lost man. Because this is what I honestly
believe to be the truth. Paul goes on to say, though we
are wasting away, this is in verse 16. We don't lose heart,
though outwardly we're wasting away, yet inwardly we are being
renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles
are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them
all, so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is
unseen. For what is seen is temporary,
but what is unseen is eternal. Even though we're wasting away
on the outer man, we're renewed day by day. We're able to look
past the light and momentary afflictions associated with the
life of preaching the gospel of Christ in a world that hates
God. For we're looking past this world,
which can be seen, to the glory of the next world, which cannot
be seen. Now we preached recently from
the first part of chapter five, when I preached here a few weeks
ago on the subject, we live by faith, not by sight. But in the first five verses,
let me summarize what Paul says. Our outward form will waste away
until it's finally destroyed, but we do not despair, for we
know that we have another home for our souls in heaven. We even
presently groan, longing for this transformation, so that
the death that is being worked in us will be swallowed up by
life, and God's made us just for that purpose. Now why would
he mention that in the defense of himself? because people were
using that to accuse him of not being blessed by God. He was getting old. He couldn't
see well, evidently. And he'd go to a town and end
up in prison. He was wasting away. And others
who were more, who were younger and maybe of a better natural
constitution, and maybe had a better emotional life to where they
always seemed like to be upbeat and happy. Have you ever noticed
that the preachers on TV never look sad and broken? And yet
God's preachers often are. But he said, wasting away, wasting
away. In the beginning of verse 6,
therefore, we are always confident and know that as long as we are
at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. We live by faith,
not by sight. We are confident, I say, and
would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the
Lord, so we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are
at home in the body or away from it. Despite all that we know
about ourselves and all that we see around us, we are of good
courage. We're not walking by the things
we see. We're walking by faith, by things
that can't be seen. We would rather leave here and
be with the Lord. He said, we'd rather have that.
However, wherever we are, this is our aim, to please the Lord. And then he says, for we must
all be revealed for what we are at the judgment seat of Christ.
that we may receive what is due us according to what
we've done, whether it was sincere and for the glory of God or selfish
and wasteful. We all, all of us who preach
and hold ourselves forward as ministers of the gospel, before
the judgment seat of Christ, not before the judgment seat
of man who can be fooled. You don't know what I really
believe, and I just told you that what I preach is what I
believe, but I could be lying when I say that. You don't know. Judgment seat of man cannot determine
whether or not I've been a faithful minister of the gospel. But I will be revealed for what
I really am. Look over in Philippians chapter
one. Now what I am, what I really
am, interestingly enough, for good or bad, is not gonna affect
you. If I'm up here preaching what
I preach, as someone who doesn't really believe this, but just
thought it'd be a good idea to be a preacher, As long as I'm telling you the
truth, it'll be good for you. But in Philippians chapter 1,
verse 15, Paul says, it's true that some preach Christ out of
envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do
so in love, knowing that I'm put here for the defense of the
gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not
sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while
I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in
every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice.
Now, I can't look at preachers and
determine whether they're preaching from false motives or true, but
you know who can? Jesus Christ, because he sees
the heart. And in that day, all those who
have set themselves forward as preachers of the gospel will
be revealed for what they are. whether they be sincere, loving
God and loving his gospel, or if they just be men of selfish
ambition who did what they did to gain a following. Now, they're not going to hurt
the church when they do that. Their insincerity is not going
to deprive the gospel of its power. If it's Christ that is
being preached, it is the gospel, and the gospel is the power of
God unto salvation, no matter who's preaching it. But in the
end, it will be revealed what each man is. So he says in verse
11, since then we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to
persuade men. Knowing the fear of the Lord,
Paul did not exert himself to advance his own glory or to attract
attention to himself or even to build a lasting ministry.
That was not his goal. He even later mentions how foolish
he felt defending his ministry against all his detractors, and
he only did it for the sake of the Corinthians so that they
wouldn't be drawn after these charlatans. But knowing this,
the judgment seat of Christ, Paul's efforts were directed
toward persuading men and women of the truth of Christ. That's
what his goal was. He was not seeking disciples
of Paul. He was not trying to persuade
them to follow Him. He sought to persuade men of
the very things that the Spirit of God convinces His people of. And our Lord said, when He, that
is, the Spirit of Truth has come, He will convince the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because
they did not believe on Me. Of righteousness, because I go
to the Father and you see Me no more. And of judgment, because
the Prince of this world is judged, is cast out. And Paul said, I've
tried to persuade, that's what I'm trying to persuade people
of. Paul was not trying to persuade
people that he was an apostle. He was trying to persuade people
that Jesus is the Christ. Because that's what preachers
have been sent to do. He goes on to say, what we are
is known of God. You know, we who preach from
a sincere heart, we do not fear the judgment seat
of Christ. For even though unbelievers do
not know what we are, God does. And we believe that you who listen
also know what we are. You know that we're sinful men. In the flesh we're no different
than anybody else, but that from our hearts we truly desire to
make Christ known, and that we do what we do for his sake and
for your sake. That's what Paul's saying. And here's the crux of the whole
matter, verse 12. We are not trying to commend ourselves to
you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride
in us so that you can answer those who take pride in what
is seen rather than what is in the heart. The judgment seat
of Christ is about the heart. If they did show a movie of everything
you did, it still would not be the judgment seat of Christ.
Because a movie is about things that can be seen. The judgment
seat of Christ is about things that can't be seen. The thoughts
and intentions of the heart. Knowing that everyone will be
revealed for what they are. Paul says, as our brother read
to us, we no longer judge any man by the flesh. For we know
that if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation, he's no
longer the man you see, he is the man you cannot see. The old,
and that does not mean simply those things which happened in
the past, the old means everything pertaining to this old world,
the world that's in Adam, everything, all of it is past. Behold, all things are become
new. Now we know each other, let's bring this right down you
know, where the rubber hits the road. We know each other. We
know that we've got faults, serious faults, but that's not how we
judge each other. Why? Because that which pertains
to our flesh, which is the source of all the faults we have, that's
the part of us that is yet in Adam. It is the old man and we
treat it as though he is gone and everything associated with
him is gone. Something new has come. There's
a new person there. A virtual person, if you will.
One that exists in the mind and purpose of God. and will someday
be revealed. But we're not living by what
we say. Isn't that so? I don't judge you by what I say.
I judge you by what God said about you. And all of this is from God. And then he says, in verse 21,
now he describes the ministry as calling men to be reconciled
to God. And then he says in verse 21,
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God. There's been a great
deal of controversy of late as to just what the first part of
this verse means. What does it mean for Christ
to be made sin? I have my opinion of its meaning, but it's not
really that important, at least not for the purpose of this message.
I do know this, this statement, that God made him who knew no
sin to be sin on our behalf. If that does not make you just
sit down with wonder, you haven't understood the first thing of
what that means. If it does not make you say,
like David did, Such things are too wonderful for me. They're
high. I can't attain unto that. That
the blessed Son of God, who did no sin, who knew no sin, who
desired no sin, in whom is no sin, should be connected to sin
in any way, on our behalf, is simply amazing to think about. Why would God do that? That's what he did. And the result is, we become
the righteousness of God in him. That's just about as awe-inspiring
as the first phrase. How is that possible for a person
like me? This isn't talking about just
being declared righteous, such as justification is. This word
here became, he actually causes us to become the righteousness
of God. For any preacher who uses 2 Corinthians
5.10 as a legal club by which to frighten the people of God
into certain behavior so that they will not be embarrassed
on the day of judgment, let me say this. By the time that day
comes, that old man in Adam will not only be virtually gone, he
will in all reality no longer exist. He will not even be at
this judgment. But what will appear before Christ
and be made manifest for the world to see is the new man created
in Christ Jesus. And there will be no fault there. And what was said of old by the
prophet Jeremiah will be fulfilled in them in those days at that
time declares the Lord. Search will be made for Israel's
guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but
none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare."
Here it says that in this day of judgment, search will be made
for the sins of those chosen, redeemed, and called by God who
have believed Him. Search will be made, but no sin
will be found. Nothing. You say, but I know
all kinds of sins. Won't matter, it's all gone.
It's all been washed away. He who has made sin in your behalf
took that sin away. And when you get there, there'll
be nothing to find. You won't be put to shame because
you will have nothing to be ashamed of. This is the declaration of Jehovah
and what Jehovah has declared, no preacher, no matter how much
seminary he's attended, no matter how uprightly he has lived his
life, no matter how diligently he's carried out his ministry,
no matter how much men may admire him and no matter how many likes
and shares he gets on his Facebook post, what Jehovah has declared,
no preacher can undeclare. He who is in Christ has no sin. Period. Because in Christ is
no sin. And you can be sure what Jehovah
has declared in the scriptures, he will not undeclare on the
day of judgment and put you to shame if your hope is in him. To you who believe, who sincerely
know your sin and have reconciled to God, acknowledging your sin
and your helplessness, and have fled to Christ for refuge, do
not fear the judgment seat of Christ. It's not going to find
anything wrong with you. It won't. He who sits there is the same
one that hung on Calvary's tree for you and has defended you
against every charge brought against you to this very day. And he will continue defending
you against every charge brought in the sight of God against you.
And on that day, he will find no fault in you. but for you whose service of
Christ is insincere, who do not acknowledge your utter sin and
helplessness, who believe you have at least a little something
to contribute to your own acceptance with God, who take pride in all
the good things you have done for Christ, even as you parrot
the required words by the grace of God, on that day you will
be laid bare for what you really are, a phony. a fake, a charlatan,
a proud, self-serving rebel whose works were just worthless rubbish. And he who sits on the throne
shall say to you, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
I never knew you. You still scared? All brethren, look to Christ,
and you won't have to fear the judgment seat of Christ. Make
Him your only hope, and you will not have any reason for fear
on that day. Lord, bless your word as only
you can. In the name of Christ, we pray
it. Amen. Scott, if you and James
would come, we'll observe the Lord's table, and we'll sing
verse 352.