Let's turn to Romans chapter
14. Romans chapter 14. Paul is being used as the Holy
Ghost here to instruct us, give us some precepts, give us some
guidance about these chapters. And the intent of that is to
give us an ability to live together and worship our Lord. He reminds
us often of that. all throughout. And we need reminded
often, don't we? We'll begin reading here in verse
9, Romans 14 verse 9. For to this end Christ both died
and rose and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead
and the living. But why dost thou judge thy brother?
Why dost thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ, 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 an account of himself to God." We have some deadlines. in our country, don't we? Coming
up to April 15th, most adults know what that is. There's a
time coming, you've got to file your taxes. That's a poor illustration,
so I said, well, you can file an extension. You know what I
mean. We have deadlines. There's an appointed time for
things in this world, and each one of us has an appointed time
as an end. Our final day is appointed. Thanks
be to God, we don't know when that day is. That's appointed
to every one of us. I don't know anybody that's 275
years old, do you? It happens. We have an end. Every
one of us will give an account of himself to God. And in the
context of what Paul's telling us here, reminding us, we're
not to give an account for those around us. I don't have to give
an account for you. You don't have to give an account
for me. I have to give an account of what I preach to you. But
we don't have to give account to the one next to us, we have
to give account of ourselves. Staying on our own in front of
the Lord. Verse 10 there says, but why dost thou judge thy brother?
That's speaking to the weaker brother. Paul's talking about
the weaker and the stronger brother. He said, why are you judging
those stronger in the faith of you? If they had a glass of wine,
or they ate a meat that you weren't fond of, or they celebrated a
day, or didn't celebrate a day, avoided a day, why would you
Why would you be mad at their liberty? Why would you judge
them? We ought not to do that. And then he speaks to the stronger
brother. And he says, why are you set
at nought, the weaker brother? That word nought means despise.
That's why we can read a long definition of that in our terms
nowadays. Why do you get frustrated with
the weaker brother? If it's somebody young in the
face, why do we get frustrated with small children? They don't
know how to add. They don't know how to walk yet,
do they? We ought not do those things. And it gives us reason
here why we should not judge one another in the faith. Now,
he's not speaking about the truth of the gospel. We're to try the
Spirit to see if they're of God. But just as one believer to another
as we walk through this life, our brethren don't answer to
us, but individually, as each one of us do, we must answer
to Christ one day. Up in verse 4, Romans 14, 4,
he says, Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his
own master he standeth or falleth. And at the end of verse 10, he
says, For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Nothing could be more contrary to grace. Nothing could be more
contrary to the love of God shed abroad in our hearts of His people
to despise one another and to condemn one another. That's just
contrary, isn't it? That's not how the Lord dealt
with us. That's just how frustrated He'd
be with me. All this is under why we're in
agreement with the Gospel. We're not to go up and just be
in agreement with everybody underneath the sun. That's not what He's
speaking of. But when we look down on, or we set it not, or
we judge another believer for anything, we are setting in judgment
on another member of Christ's body. What we're doing is we're
putting ourselves in the judgment seat that's given to and rightfully
earned by Christ Jesus the Lord. That's what we're doing. I want
to look at some things this evening concerning this judgment seat
of Christ. Some fables and some truths. We all know what a fable
is, isn't it? That's a fictional story to teach a moral truth. That's a lie to tell somebody
how to be good. That's how our minds are as humans,
isn't it? That's the vanity of our minds. There's some that
say, throughout this country and throughout this world, there's
going to be a second judgment. We're all going to die, and then
there'll be another judgment. That first one, it determines
who's going to go to heaven and who's going to go to hell. And
then people that's found guilty, they go to eternal damnation.
And those that's found righteous, they enter into eternal bliss.
But they say that there's a second judgment before Christ. It's
for those that save from damnation, but they're going to account
for all their good and bad while they follow the Lord on this
earth. And those that serve better than others, they're going to
get more rewards. They're going to get a bigger
mansion. They're going to have more jewels and a crown. Be seated closer
to the Lord at that marriage feast. Sit closer to Him at the
table. They're going to be rewarded accordingly how they walked on
this earth. That is wrong. Every bit of that
is works. That's all it is. Those are horrible,
horrible thoughts. They're terrible. That's to believe
that we indebt God to us for something that we do. And much
worse to that, much worse than us trying to indebt God to us,
is that it's contrary to the good news. That's contrary to
the gospel. It's to say that we can improve
on the person and the work of Christ Jesus. and prove on His accepted blood
sacrifice. When Christ made His sheep holy,
they were holy. When He made them righteous,
His righteousness, they are righteous. What greater righteousness could
there be? You can't improve on perfection.
What greater could there be? Judgment seat of Christ, it's
not just a benchmark. It's not a starting point to
improve from. There's not going to be some
believers living in a mansion way up on the hill and other
believers living in a tent underneath a bridge. That's not going to
happen. We all have the same wedding garments on. We'll all
be robed in Christ's righteousness. We're all going to have the same
faith of Abraham. What was reckoned to us for righteousness
there in Romans 4.9. It was imputed to us. It's inventoried
in our account. the faith of Christ given to
us. We all have the same reward as Abraham that was promised
to him. Genesis 15 once says, Fear not,
Abraham, I am thy shield. What protection do we have? We
get so fearful, don't we? The Lord told Abraham and his
people, I am your shield and thy exceeding great reward. He's
the promise and the protection. Christ is the eternal, exceedingly
great inheritance for those that He died for. Turn over to Matthew
chapter 19. Matthew 19. After that rich young ruler departed
from our Lord because he couldn't let go of his own riches. He
wouldn't sell off everything he owned and follow the Lord.
Our Master speaks here in Matthew 19 verse 23. And then said Jesus
unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall
hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto
you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When
his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying,
Who then can be saved? Who then can be saved? His disciples
understood this. I saw this to wit people that
made a good living in this world. The disciples said, Who then
can be saved? They knew what that meant. They
knew it wasn't this worldly riches, this money and land and those
things. It was the false riches in religion. The false riches
of men and women's goodness. Look at all the good things I've
done. And they asked there, who then can be saved? These disciples
weren't millionaires, were they? They were poor, weren't they?
They knew their next meal would come from the Lord, they just
didn't know when it was going to come. They knew the pride in themselves.
They knew the self-righteousness that continued after the new
birth that carried on in their old natures. They walked with
it every day. And they asked, who then can
be saved? While following Christ, His disciples, His apostles walking
this earth, they were concerned that they weren't following Christ.
Do we get that? Those in religion, the self-righteous,
they just assume that they're following Christ at all times.
I'm doing the good works. I'm following God. Here's Christ's
disciples sitting with Him and saying, Who can be saved, Lord?
He answers them. Here in verse 26, But Jesus beheld
them, He knew that pain and sorrow in their hearts, that struggle
they were experiencing. He said unto them, with men this
is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Salvation
is impossible with mankind, those born of Adam. We can't have a
hand to it, but with God all things are possible. Verse 27,
then Peter Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we
have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore?"
These high-minded, mighty theologians often, they give Peter a hard
time, don't they? They say, Oh, erring Peter. I'm
thankful for Peter. Peter here, he's just the voice
of our inner man. He said, we forsook everything
and followed you, Lord. We've all gave up everything
we had and we walked behind you. What's in it for me? That's what
he's asking. We've sacrificed a lot for the
gospel, but somewhere when no one else is speaking, no one
else is around, we're in our closet by ourselves, so what's
in it for me? Peter asked him that. That's what we ought to do. Our
questions, our comments, our concerns, we should take every
one of them to the Lord. Not to anybody else, take them to
the Lord. And He will address His children. He'll answer every
one of them. Here in verse 28, Matthew 19,
28. And Jesus said unto them, Verily
I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration
when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye
also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren,
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands,
for my name's sake shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit
everlasting life. But many that are first shall
be last, and the last shall be first." Now our Lord's going
to explain what he's saying here in a parable. He's going to paint
us a picture, something we can understand. There's a householder
in chapter 20, and he's going out hiring a laborer every hour
to come work in his field, work in his vineyards. And at the
end of the day coming, it was time to pay them all. Some had
worked eight hours, some worked four hours, some worked one hour.
But they all agreed upon a payment whenever they came to work there.
One penny. He said, you come labor my field,
one penny. And they came. It says in Matthew
20, verse 8. So when evening was come, the
lord of the vineyard saith to his steward, call the laborers
and give them their hire, beginning with the last unto the first. You start paying the last one
that showed up. And when they came, that were hired about the
11th hour. They'd only worked one hour.
They received every man a penny. And when the first came, they
supposed that they should have received more. And they likewise
received every man a penny. And when they had received it,
they murmured against the good man of the house, saying, These
last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal
to us, which have borne the burden and the heat of the day. But
he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not thou agree with me
for a penny? Take that as thine, take that thine is, and go thy
way. I will give unto the last, even
as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with my own? Is thine I an evil, because I
am good? So the last shall be first, and
the first shall be last. For many are called, but few
are chosen." Here's what Christ is teaching us in this. Every
one of his own, every one of his children, They're given stewardship
over some things. We looked at this recently. We're
all given different ministries, different services, different
gifts, different ways to serve in God and his people, different
labors, but the payment is the same. The inheritance is the
same for his children. It will not be a payment of what
we did. It won't be our works, but it's a wage of what Christ
has earned for his people. There'll be no degrees of holiness
in His reward, because each of His blood-bought children will
be conformed to His image and made like unto Him. What a reward! That's more than a penny. If
you think you're the hardest worker and you deserve more,
I could imagine you'd be pretty disappointed in that, wouldn't
you? But if you're convinced in your heart that you're the
least of sinners, that you are the chief of sinners. What grace
that is. What good news. It'd be wonderful
to be represented by another. A worthy substitute if I had
no good in me. I had no worth of my own. So
first we see that some say God's people receive different awards
or degrees of inheritance. No. Those in Christ, they receive
Christ. That's what they get. Secondly,
some people say that this text that Paul's referring to is speaking
of that general judgment in the last day. And those that do not
have faith in Christ, they're going to be cast into outer darkness.
And they're right. That's true. But they say that
our lives will be on display. I think they made a movie about
this in late 80s, early 90s. That every sin we committed in
thought, word, or deed will be shown for all creation to see.
Every secret thought, every moment that we had a lack of faith,
everything will be shown. And then Christ, from his judgment
seat, is going to cast down sin. And he'll say, well, they did
all this, but I paid for it. Now they can enter into heaven.
Those people that believe that, they say it will be embarrassing.
And that would be, wouldn't it? I wouldn't want to face that
trial. I have every thought that went through my head in an hour,
much less than a lifetime, displayed for everybody to see. But those
same folks, they put the child of God back under the law for
a reward. To earn a reward. That reward's
a lack of embarrassment. And they whip them with it. That's
an upside-down yoke of bondage. Instead of sitting on top of
the neck, it's pulling from the bottom. Trying to control the
morality of the child of God. What a horrible thing. Doesn't
Christ constrain His people? Doesn't His love constrain them?
Doesn't He correct His own children? Turn over to Revelation 20. The saints of God, those put
in Christ before time, those bought by His death on Calvary,
those the Holy Ghost quickens, their sin will not be mentioned
in judgment. Revelation 20, verse 11. And I saw a great white throne,
and Him that sat on it, that's Christ on His judgment seat,
from whose face the earth and 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. And they were judged every man
according to their works. The dead 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." Those are the two books that mankind
will be judged from. The books of their works or the Lamb's Book of Life. And
the wages of sin recorded there on their account will be paid
for eternity. Those written in the Book of Life, their sins
have been blotted out by the blood of Christ. As far as the
East is from the West, it's been removed. There's no account,
just a name. These names were written in that
land's book of life before the world was formed, before time,
before this earth began. And the Lord Jesus Christ, as
a substitute of those He was given, He has forever put away
their sin. No condemnation. There's nothing
to be brought up. Their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more, the Lord said. It's gone. Don't turn there,
stay in Revelation. But the Lord spoke to Jeremiah,
Jeremiah 50, and he said, In those days and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for.
It's going to be looked for. What'd they do wrong? They're
looking at another, ain't they? Not looking to the Lord, looking
to another. and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah,
they're going to be looked for, and they shall not be found.
For I will pardon them whom I reserve." Those that he's reserved has
been pardoned, taken away. So we see that there will be
no varying degrees of reward at Christ's throne of judgment. And the sin of the children of
God will be removed forever, not to be mentioned again. But
every man, woman, and child born of Adam that departs from this
earth will stand before Christ on that last day. All will stand,
every one of us, from the greatest to the least, from the biggest
to the smallest. And the Father won't be the judge of those people.
Christ will be on His throne, the Lord Jesus Christ. He told
us, He said, For the Father judges no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son. The sentence given at this judgment
From the judgment throne of Christ, it will be forever. That verdict
will stand forever. It'll be final, because there's
no higher court to appeal to. However we die in this earth,
however we depart from this earth, that's how we'll spend eternity.
How we die here is how we'll spend eternity. Turn one page
over there to Revelation 22. Revelation 22, verse 11. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. He that is filthy, let him be
filthy still. And he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him
be holy still. However we die is how we spend
eternity. If we die in our filthy rags,
our own righteousness, we're going to stay filthy. for eternity. If we die unrighteous in our
own works, seeking our own justice, we will remain unrighteous forever.
But if we die looking to Christ, the Lord our righteousness, for
our righteousness. I have none of my own. Christ
is my righteousness. If we die trusting that incorruptible
seed He gave us, that was born in us in that new birth of the
Holy Ghost, That's our only holiness. That we remain righteous and
holy in Christ for eternity. If we believe Christ, not just
in Him, not to tell somebody that walked the earth named Jesus
2,000 years ago, but if we believe Him, if we believe He is able,
we are righteous and we are holy right now. The Father says, well
done, my good and faithful servant. That's my child. She's perfect. He's perfect. Look at Him. Just
like my firstborn. Made just like Him. Turn over
to Isaiah 45. Isaiah chapter 45. Here's what
Paul was quoting there in Romans 14, 11. In that final judgment,
there's going to be many pleas. There'll be many people that
say, oh, haven't we done this in your name? We cast out devils
in Your name. We taught Sunday school in Your
name. We fed the poor in Your name. And the Lord is going to
look at them and say, I never knew you. Depart from me. There
will be a lot of pleas, a lot of pleading, but there will only
be one acceptable plea. That's the person and work of
Christ. His obedience, His righteousness,
and His blood is the only thing that will be accepted. Here's
what Paul was quoting there in Isaiah 45 verse 23. 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 and tongue shall swear. Now the Lord speaks to the unrighteous,
those cast out. Look up in verse 20. Isaiah 45,
20. 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 to a God that cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them
near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Let them gang up. Give them time
to prepare. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? And 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. No matter what people believe,
what people think, what they feel, or whatever they profess
to be true, there is no peace, there is no life, and there is
no holiness outside the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no excuses
either. Well, I didn't know. The Lord says He's declared this
from ancient times. Go out and look at a flower.
You watch the sunrise, watch the sunset, watch a bird fly
through the air. His glory is on display. He is the just God,
He says. He's holy. Holy. His law must be upheld. His honor
must be glorified. He's the justifier. He saved
His people. He's just and a justifier. That
means He did it in all righteousness. And He shall save His people. Those He said He will redeem
will be redeemed. Read on. Now here's the call.
How are those people going to know any better? How are they
going to know any better than what they were just born with
in this sin nature? How can they know that God provided Himself
a Lamb and that that Lamb was accepted? Look here in verse
22. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." That
means whosoever, where so ever, however old so ever. All the
ends of the earth. For I am God and there is none
else. What's he saying? Look and live.
Look and live. Just like that brazen serpent
of wilderness. Look and live. Verse 23, I have sworn by myself
the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not
return. It won't return to him void. That unto me every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Now here he's speaking
to the believer, verse 24. 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." Those that say, the Lord is my righteousness,
people's going to come after them. They're going to be incensed. They're going to be smoldering
hot, looking for a charge, looking for an accusation. And there's
no charge that can be found. No charge can be laid against
His elect. Their sin's been blotted out. Verse 25, in the Lord shall
all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. We are justified,
that spiritual Israel God, put in Christ before time. We are
justified the Lord Jesus Christ and we glory only in Him. That's
acceptable unto God. People say, how do I get to heaven?
First off, who's heaven? Second off, the Lord's told us
from ancient times. Look to Him. Come to Him. All the earth, come to Him. There's
no condemnation. Look and live. Have you looked?
Have I looked? Do I look to him now? We look to him for everything
required. That's what's important. We think
so many things in this world are important. We think April
15th is important. I got to go down Friday and make sure I sign
some papers so I don't get in trouble. Oh, it's important.
That's not important. This is eternal life and death.
This ain't just life and death. This is eternal life and death.
Back in our text here in Romans 14. With this completed, eternal
work of holiness and perfection in Christ, worked in and for
His people, with each individual sinner that Christ shed His blood
for, those that shall meet Him, those that He shall save. Romans 14 verse 9, For to this
end Christ both died and rose and revived, that He might be
Lord both of the living and dead. With that in mind, but why dost
thou judge thy brother? Well, it puts it in perspective,
doesn't it? Why condemn one that Christ died for? There's nothing
to be mentioned again for eternity. Or why dost thou set it not,
thy brother? Why get frustrated with them? Why look down on them? Weak or strong, there's no condemnation.
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
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." Look to Christ,
not to your brother or to your sister that's also looking to
Christ. To look elsewhere is to look away from Him. Well,
preacher, I have to live in this world. I've got to live with
these folks. What should I be doing for my
brethren? Verse 13. Let us not therefore, with all
this in mind, what Christ has done for us, let us not therefore
judge one another anymore, but judge this rather. Here's what
you need to judge. That no man put a stumbling block
or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. The only thing
in this life I need to be concerned about, as far as my walk in this
world goes and dealing with my brothers and sisters, is not
being a hindrance, not being a stumbling stone or a speed
bump in the lives of sinners looking to God, the God of our
salvation. Sinners, each individual, will
need to look to Christ alone. He said, come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's
one man wide. That's individual. This God of
our salvation, He delights in mercy. He shows it to thousands
who love Him. Seeing death, seeing death's
been conquered, seeing our sins been put away, seeing that law's
been fulfilled for us by looking to Him. All things are conquered
for us. Doesn't that make us love Him?
Doesn't that make us come begging for mercy more? I pray we can.