Welcome to our program. Today
I'm going to be preaching from the book of 2nd Corinthians chapter
5. I'm going to begin with verse
9 and the title of the message is The Reality of Judgment. The Reality of Judgment. Now
let me just read three verses here before I begin. It says
in Paul, the Apostle, writing to the church at Corinth, he
says, Wherefore we labor or endeavor that whether present or absent
we may be accepted or approved of him, that is, of the Lord.
And the wherefore there means that this is the reason for what
he had said before. But he goes on in verse 10, he
says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ
that everyone may receive the things done in his body according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Verse 11,
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men,
but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made
manifest in your consciences. Now there, obviously, he's talking
about the judgment, the final judgment, what is known as the
judgment seat of Christ. Many people have a lot of strange
ideas and wrong ideas about the judgment. Some people believe
that when we appear before judgment that that will be the determination
of whether we go to heaven or hell. And they'll say, well,
that God will then make the judgment and you'll find out that that's
not what the judgment is about. The judgment will not determine
anything. The judgment is a declarative
judgment. The judgment is the final declaration
of the reality of either sinners saved by the grace of God in
Christ or sinners on their own condemned unto eternal death."
You see, that's what the judgment's going to do. It's a declaration.
It's a sentencing, you might say. The trial is over. And we
come to judgment, and you'll either stand there in Christ
and blessed forever, washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness,
or you'll stand there on your own without a mediator, without
a substitute, without a righteousness, and you'll be damned forever.
That's what the judgment is. And then some people say, well,
it'll be determined there, you'll be judged by your works, and
God will determine what rewards he's going to give believers.
But that's not what the judgment is about either. First of all,
we cannot earn our rewards from God. We don't earn anything from
God. If you want to talk about earning
power, the only thing we can earn is the wages of sin. The
wages of sin is death, Romans 6, 23. But it goes on to say,
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Salvation and its reward is not something we earn. It's something
that Christ has earned for his people. So don't get caught up
in this rewards business that religion uses actually to try
to keep people in line, holding out a carrot before you to get
you to do what's right. The reason that we as believers
should do what's right is not by law or a mercenary trying
to earn our rewards, but because of love and gratitude and grace. That's what Paul says later on.
In 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 14, the love of Christ constrains
us, motivates us. And we'll see that in just a
moment. But some people actually believe that at judgment that
God's going to look at your good works and then look at your sins
and see which one outweighs the other. If your good works outweigh
your sins, you'll get into heaven. If your sins outweigh your good
works, you'll go to hell. That is totally anti-scriptural. It's anti-gospel. It's anti-Christ. I'm telling you the truth here
now about judgment. Well, what is judgment about?
What is the reality of judgment? Well, that's what I want to tell
you from the Word of God. Now, let's put out of our minds
the ideas and the thoughts of men. But Paul is saying here,
now look, in verse 9 he says, wherefore we labor. Now, he had
been talking about the final glory of all who die in Christ. They die in Christ, they appear
at the judgment seat of Christ, they'll be found in Christ, and
they'll enter glory, and they'll be changed, and when He comes
back again, all the saints of God, all believing sinners, all
sinners saved by the grace of God, will be resurrected unto
glory and be changed, and they'll be given an incorruptible, glorified
body, which will never die. And that's what he talked about
in being clothed in glory, clothed with this incorruptible spiritual
body that is the work of God that lasts forever. And so he's
saying that we're confident in that. We're confident that all
who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who rest in his finished
work, his death, burial, resurrection from the dead, His ascension
into glory, where He's seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. All who die in the Lord,
die in the faith, shall be resurrected unto glory. And we know that
as long as we're in this body, we groan earnestly, and that
groaning becomes even more intense as we grow older and suffer the
pains and the sorrows and pains of this life. But while we're
in this body, we're absent from the Lord in glory. Not in spirit,
because he's with us in spirit. He indwells his people. He says,
where two or three are gathered in my name, there I'll be with
them. So Christ is always with his people. But we're not yet
glorified, but we're confident. Paul says that we are. So, wherefore,
for that reason, he says in verse 9, we labor, we endeavor, we
work, you might say. That, whether present or absent,
You see, whether we're already with Him or absent here in this
body, we may be accepted of Him. We labor to be accepted. Now,
many people would look at a verse like that and they'd say, well
now is that teaching salvation by works? We're working to be
accepted? And the answer is absolutely
not. Now here's where we come to a
position where you have to reason in and from the scriptures. We
have to interpret scripture with scripture. We have to interpret
scripture in its context. You can't take a verse like that
and take it out of its context and build a theology and a denomination
on it. He is not teaching salvation
or being accepted before God based on our works and efforts
and endeavoring. If he were, that would contradict
not only Paul's preaching and writing here in Corinth, but
in other places. It was Paul who wrote that, for
by grace are you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The Holy Spirit wrote that through
Paul. Now the same man wouldn't write that salvation is by grace
and not works in one place and then say well salvation is based
on works in another place. That would be a contradiction.
You see what Paul is saying here is this, is that those who are
believers, those who are saved by the free sovereign grace of
God will endeavor and work to be accepted of God, not in order
to be saved, but to be approved of God. In other words, all he's
simply saying is those who are saved by grace want to please
God. That's all he's saying. We want
to be approved of God. We want our attitude, our thoughts,
our motivations, our works, our love to be in line and in tune
with the glory and the truth of God in Christ. It's the same
thing that Paul wrote over here in Romans chapter 12. Paul had
established that salvation is by grace. You cannot earn salvation. You will never deserve salvation. That's why it's by grace. Even
as a saved sinner, I cannot earn it and I cannot deserve it. My
whole salvation, all grace here, all glory hereafter, is because
of Christ. I'm a sinner saved by the grace
of God. Paul said that this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. By the grace of God,
I am what I am. It's God who makes me to differ
now and forever. But he said this in Romans 12
and verse 1. He said, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God." Now what he's saying is this. Believers, children
of God, recipients of grace and mercy, present your whole selves
as living sacrifices in service to God, not to be saved, but
do it by the mercies of God, by grace in Christ, and let your
life and your attitude be a living, walking example and proof of
God's grace and salvation. You see, Paul wrote in Ephesians
1 that we who are saved by grace are accepted in the Beloved,
in Christ. Our acceptance before God does
not come based on our works. But having been accepted before
God in Christ now and forever by His grace and mercy, now,
he says, we should endeavor. to be approved of God in our
attitude, in our works, in our thinking, in our persons. In
other words, we ought to try to do what's right. We ought
to desire to do what's right. Now, to go back to 2 Corinthians
5, that's what he's saying. In other words, we strive to
be accepted. I want to do what's right. I
want to be approved of God. I know my salvation is secure.
By the blood and righteousness of Christ, my works do not enter
into the attaining of salvation or the maintaining of it, but
because I'm saved by grace, God has given me a desire to be approved
of Him, to be accepted in everything that I do. I fail miserably in
that. That's why I'm so glad salvation
is by grace. But thank God He's given His
Spirit to convict me and bring me to godly sorrow and drive
me to Christ. Now, look at verse 10. Here's
where he comes to the judgment. He says we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. All without exception here. And
at that judgment seat he says that everyone may receive the
things done in his body. Now you notice he says the things
done. Now that word done is in italics. Means the King James
translators added it. But it's not a bad addition.
In their understanding of what the original Greek said. But you could read it this way,
to receive the things in body according to that he hath done,
whether good or bad. What he's simply saying here
is this, at the judgment it will be declared before the whole
universe whether or not a person is in Christ and the fruit of
grace in everything that he is and that he's done that's pleasing
to God. or whether or not a person is
without Christ. All the good that we can present
before God at judgment is not what we've done, but what God
has done for us and through us in Christ. And those without
Christ is nothing but bad. Now, people talk about good works
and bad works. And the scripture says that the
standing of a person before God is always bad without Christ. My friend, without Christ, without
the grace of God, without the blood of Christ to wash our sins
away, without the righteousness of Christ to give us a right
standing before God, there is nothing about us or in us that
is good. You may be religious. You may
be moral and sincere according to the world's standard. You
may work hard in this life, trying to establish a righteousness
of your own, which, by the way, is a denial of Christ. My friend,
if you come before God at judgment, pleading anything but the blood
and righteousness of Christ and Him alone, it will be declared
that you're bad and your works are bad. and you will be sentenced
unto eternal damnation. But all who stand before God,
washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness, pleading
his mercy, it will be declared that they are good, not because
of themselves or not in themselves, not by their works, but because
of Christ and him crucified. Now I want to show you some scripture
on that issue. First of all, think about this
judgment. What is the standard of judgment? That's an important thing. People
say, well, I'm going to go to the judgment and God is going
to judge this way. Well, let me show you the standard
of judgment. Now, Paul is standing here in
Acts chapter 17 on Mars Hill preaching to Greek philosophers,
probably some religionists, and he brings them to a point in
his preaching to show that they have no hope of salvation but
in Christ. And he says in verse 30 that
God has commanded all men everywhere to repent. And here's the basis
of that, verse 31. It says, because he hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. What
he's simply telling them there is this, the standard of judgment,
at the judgment, is Christ and His righteousness. God's going
to judge this world in righteousness. A man might ask a question. He might say, well how good do
I have to be to go to heaven? And that's a good question. Well
I'll tell you how good you have to be to go to heaven. You have
to be as good and as righteous as Christ. I was having lunch
with a man one time years ago and he was telling me about a
woman who died and he believed she was saved and I asked him,
I said, why do you believe this woman was saved? And he said
this, he said, because she did that which was required. And
I asked him this question, I said, well tell me in your words what
is required for salvation? And he looked very puzzled and
he looked at me and he said, really I don't know. Now, some
people might have various answers to that. Some say, well, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And that's
true. If you know who Christ is, if
you know yourself, if you know what he accomplished on Calvary,
that's the issue of the gospel. Some people say, well, repent
and believe. Well, that's included. Some people say, repent and believe
and do good work, you see. Well, let me ask you, what is
required for God to pronounce you or me or any other person
righteous? We must be as righteous as Christ
is. And God's gonna judge the world
in righteousness. When I told that man that he
had to be perfect and righteous as Christ, he looked at me and
he said, well, no one can do that. And I told him, I said,
that's right. And that's why salvation is by
grace and not by works. You see that? Your works cannot
make you righteous. Your works cannot even be righteous. You see, we're sinners. That's
why we need salvation. That's why we must not appear
at the judgment without Christ. If we do, we're doomed forever. Well, that's the standard now.
Christ and His righteousness. Well, what works are good and
what works are bad? You know, people talk about good
works, they talk about bad works, evil works or evil deeds. Well,
let me show you what he's talking about here. Now, you remember
what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 9. We labor, we endeavor
to be approved of God. He wanted to be accepted of God
in everything he did. Not to be saved now. You see,
salvation is by grace, but because we already are saved. There's
a big difference. Well, let me show you this. Back
in John chapter 3, the Lord was speaking to a self-righteous
religious Pharisee. A man named Nicodemus, who came
to him at night, who recognized that Christ was a great teacher
sent from God who performed miracles. The Lord told him, you must be
born again or you cannot see or even understand or know the
kingdom of heaven. Well, Christ went on to teach
him. He says in verse 18 of John 3. Now listen to this. What about
good works and bad works? He wrote in, John writes this
by inspiration of the Spirit and recording the words of Christ.
He says in John 18, 318 rather, he says, He that believeth on
him is not condemned. Now those who come to faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ reveal that they are not under condemnation. You see that? Now, the fact that
they're not under condemnation is not because they believe.
Believing is an evidence. In other words, if you ever come
to faith in Christ, then you can know by that evidence that
you're not under condemnation. That's what salvation is all
about. But he goes on, he says, but he that believeth not is
condemned already. because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God." In other words,
he that never comes to faith in Christ is condemned already. You see, the Bible says in Romans
8 and verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh, that is in unbelief,
but who walk after the Spirit, that is in faith. So there's
no condemnation. Now look at verse 19 of John
3. He says, and this is the condemnation. Now here's how condemnation is
evidenced. He says that light is coming
to the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their
deeds were evil. Now here's light. What is light?
Christ is our light. John chapter 1 speaks of that. John the Baptist told him, he
said, I'm not the light. Christ is the light. He's the
light of the world. The gospel is the light. We read
a few weeks back in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6, For God
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts to give unto us the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There's the gospel light.
You see, anything else is darkness. Every other way of salvation,
but the way of salvation by grace is a way of darkness. But the
light is truth. The light exposes all false refuges,
all hopes in anything as false based on anything but Christ
and Him crucified. The light reveals the glory of
God. What does it say here? It says light's coming to the
world and men love darkness rather than light. Now how in the world
Could it be said that men love darkness rather than light? Well, it tells you in verse 19,
because their deeds were evil. What deeds is he talking about?
Well, most people would read a verse like that and they'd
say, well, surely he's talking about drunkenness and addiction
and whore-mongering and adultery and fornication. Well, those
are certainly evil deeds, sins. And the gospel certainly exposes
those as being evil, but the light of conscience does that
too. The light of the law, even the light of nature sometimes,
Romans chapter 1. But who's he talking to here?
He's talking to Nicodemus, a self-righteous religionist. And he's showing
that the gospel light of God's grace in Christ, by whose righteousness
alone sinners can be saved, exposes the best works, the most sincere
attempts of sinners to keep the law in order to be saved as evil. Do you realize that you can start
right now and say, now I'm going to keep the law to be saved. That's evil. And I'll tell you
why it's evil. It's not because you may not
be sincere and dedicated. It's evil because it denies the
glory of God in salvation by His grace through Christ. It's
evil because it's self-righteous. It lifts up your pride in the
flesh. It's evil because it is a denial
of the blessed work of Christ and Him crucified. And so he
goes on to say, for everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light,
neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. John 3.20. In other words, he
will not come to the light because the light keeps exposing the
evil of his best efforts to save himself. But look at verse 21.
He says, but he that doeth truth cometh to the light. Now what
is it to do truth? It's to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's to rest in Him for all of
salvation. It's to rest in His blood for
the forgiveness of all my sins. It's to rest in his righteousness
for my complete standing before God. It's to forsake any notion
that my works could attain or maintain salvation. So he that
doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest
that they are wrought in God. They're the work of God in me.
Now that's what this judgment is all about. When you come before
God, How will you stand before Him? In Christ or in your own
works? If you stand in Christ, it'll
be declared good. If you stand in your own self,
in your own works, it'll be declared bad. Now, verse 11 says this,
of 2 Corinthians 5. He says, knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we're made manifest
unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
We know the terror of the Lord. What is the terror of the Lord
there? It's the reality of judgment.
That's what this message is all about. The reality of judgment.
The terror of the Lord is simply this. God's wrath will be brought
down on every sinner who comes before Him without Christ. That's the terror of the Lord.
What a terrible thing. The goodness of God is that every
sinner who comes before Him in Christ shall be blessed eternally. I know the terror of the Lord.
You may be doing your best to save yourself by your words,
but my friend, here's the terror of the Lord. You shall be damned
if that's how you appear before God at judgment. And that's why
Paul says we seek to persuade men. Now, Paul couldn't persuade
anybody, but he prays for that God would persuade men to believe
the gospel. Well, I hope this message has
helped you to understand the scriptures. And if you'd like
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give you the details. The title of the message is The
Reality of Judgment. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word.