Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles as I preach this message, I'm going to be preaching
from the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, Paul's epistle to
the church at Corinth. Some say this is his third epistle.
He wrote one in between 1 and 2 Corinthians, but it's not in
the Holy Writ or the Bible. because it wasn't inspired by
the Holy Spirit as these two letters are. But either way,
we'll say the second Corinthians, as it appears in the Bible, is
the second inspired word of God that Paul recorded as inspired
by the Spirit on this second letter. And what I wanna preach
to you today about and I don't you know I may not get through
this message in one message but but I'll try I've got a lot of
scripture that I want to refer you to and if you don't have
time to turn to them just write them down and and read them on
your own but I want to talk to you about this subject judgment
of our works judgment of our works. And what I want to do
is go back here to 2 Corinthians 5. What Paul is talking about
here is the assurance and hope that every true believer has
of immortal glory, living forever. with the Lord in fellowship and
acceptance because of their standing and state in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's this life that we
live here on earth with all of the problems that we have. And
even though as believers, we're not condemned by our sins because
our sins are not imputed to us, charged to us, they were imputed
to Christ, charged to Him, the guilt of those sins, the sin
debt, and that's why He came to keep the law in the stead
of His people as our surety, our substitute, our Redeemer,
and to obey unto the death of the cross, where He satisfied
the justice of God in the place of His people, His sheep, And
I always make it a point to tell people that Christ didn't do
that for everybody without exception, not for those who live and die
in unbelief and end up in condemnation and hell. So Paul is talking
to believers here. those who truly believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ as He is identified and distinguished in the Word
of God and based upon His satisfactory, propitiatory work, His obedience
unto death to put away the sins of His people and to establish
a perfect righteousness whereby God justifies them and from which
they have life from the dead. So he says, he starts off here,
we'll just look at verse eight, we'll just start there. Paul
says, we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent
from the body, that is to leave this physical body, which our
spirits will do at death, and to be present with the Lord.
In other words, when we die, we leave this old tabernacle,
he called it back earlier in 2nd Corinthians 5, and we go
to be with the Lord, our spirits go to be with the Lord. And so
he says in verse 9, wherefore or for this reason we labor,
we endeavor, that's what he's talking about, that whether present
or absent we may be accepted with him. We want to be accepted
with God. And when he says we labor here,
he's not talking about we're trying to work our way into God's
favor and trying to measure everything in that way because salvation
is not by works. Salvation is by grace through
the work of Christ. But the endeavor that he's talking
about is a believer's perseverance. in the faith, endurance, to look
to Christ and rest in him alone for all salvation. Because that's
our only way of being accepted of him. But now look at 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. And so he says in 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. So he says, we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. Now that's the great white throne
judgment that he's talking about after Christ comes back the second
time. to gather his church unto himself,
all those whom God chose before the foundation of the world,
all for whom Christ died and was buried and arose again. He'll
gather his people together and they'll be raised together to
go to glory with him. And it will be at this judgment
now. It's not a judgment that determines
anything. Everything has already been determined.
But it's a judgment that will reveal the reality of the people
of God's, our state before God, our standing in Christ. And those
who appear at that judgment seat without Christ, it will declare
that they're condemned. Justly so. Because God is a God
of judgment and justice, and He must do what is right. But
all who appear before Him in Christ, washed in His blood,
clothed in His righteousness, see, you've got to make sure
that you understand these things. They will be exonerated. They
will be declared that they are the people of God, saved by His
grace. But here it says that we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone
may receive the things done in his body, or in body, that is
here on earth, according to that he hath done, whether it be good
or bad. Now I want you to remember the
title of this message. And it's judgment of our works. It's not judgment by or based
on our works, but it's judgment of our works. And the issue is
God judging our persons and our works as the evidence of whether
or not one is in Christ or whether or not one is on his own. And
the only ones who are gonna be judged by their works are those
who stand before God without Christ. And I'm gonna show you
some scripture that really shows the issues there. And first of
all, what do you mean judgment by our works? Well, what is the
standard of judgment? There's a verse in the book of
Acts Chapter 17, it's Paul preaching to Greek philosophers on Mars
Hill. And he talks to them about God,
the creator of all people. And he is, he's the creator of
life. And then he brings it down to the reality of who God is
as a God of judgment. And he says that God commands
all men everywhere to repent. And in verse 31, this is Acts
31. Now listen to this. He says,
because God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness. Now what that tells us right
now is that the standard of judgment is righteousness. So that tells
us that we need to understand what righteousness really is.
Now a lot of people think righteousness is no more than human morality,
or religiosity, or sincerity, or all three. In other words,
if you're trying to be a good person, and you're sincere about
it, and diligent in it, and sincere in all those things, then you
can attain righteousness by your works. But that's a lie. That's a lie. God's gonna judge
the world by the standard of righteousness. But what is that
standard? Where do we find that standard?
Well, he says it, read back in Acts 17 31, because God hath
appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained. In other words, The righteousness
that God requires is exemplified in a person, a man, that He ordained,
He appointed. And who is that person? It goes
on to say, whereof God hath given assurance unto all men in that
He hath raised him from the dead. That person is Christ. It's Christ. You may look around in your circle
of friends or the people that you know, and you may say, well,
I'm not perfect, but I'm better than this one, or I'm not as
bad as this one. God's not gonna compare you to
any of your friends, any sinful human being. The righteousness
that you must have at judgment is the righteousness of God in
Christ. And you cannot attain that by
your works. even what people call morality
and sincerity and religion. You cannot attain righteousness.
Now, how do we have righteousness? Well, the gospel is the revelation
of that righteousness that can only be found in the perfection
of the law and justice of God in Christ. Romans 1, 16 and 17
says, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, For
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and the Greek or Gentile also. And in verse 17,
he says, for therein, in that gospel, is the righteousness
of God revealed. From faith to faith, as it is
written, the just, the justified, shall live by faith. Now, what
is it to live by faith? It's to live our lives looking
to, resting in, following the Lord Jesus Christ as our only
righteousness before God. He's called the Lord our righteousness.
Romans 10 verse 4 says, Christ is the end of the law, the fulfillment,
perfection, finishing of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. See, it's not what we do that
makes us righteous in God's sight. It's not even our believing.
We do believe that's a gift from God. Ephesians 2, eight and nine,
you know, 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. To live by faith is to live our lives resting
in Christ, taking our assurance in Christ, the glory of his person. the power of His finished work
as our only righteousness before God. God, I have nothing to plead
by which to qualify me or to earn me a place in glory. I have nothing to plead of myself
or my works, my best efforts. I only plead the merits of Christ,
obedience unto death, Christ as my surety, having my sins
charged to Him. coming as my substitute to keep
the law and obey unto death, even the death of the cross,
to put away my sins, to satisfy justice, and who was buried and
arose again the third day, because in His obedience unto death,
He brought forth an everlasting righteousness that answers all
the demands of God's law and justice and fulfills all the
conditions of the salvation of His people. So I stand before
God, not as Paul wrote in Philippians 3, not having a righteousness
of my own, which is of the law, but that which is through the
faith or the faithfulness of Christ. My hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's what I'm saying. So that's
when we talk about standing before God at judgment. Now, what does
that have to do with our works? Well, look over at Romans chapter
two. And in Romans chapter 2, what
Paul does when he introduces the book of Romans, he comes
down talking about how the gospel concerns the person and the work
of Jesus Christ, which is embodied in that phrase, the righteousness
of God. Because Christ, he is man. God's going to judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. That's
Jesus Christ. But he's not only man, he's God-man. So the righteousness that he
accomplished as God-man is called the righteousness of God. And
that's what we need to pass the test at judgment, to be saved,
to be glorified. We need Him. Our works will not
achieve that. So what Paul does is he brings
it down to the gospel, wherein the glory of Christ's person
is God-man, and the power of his finished work, the righteousness
of God, is revealed. And so you might ask the question,
well, why do we need the righteousness of God? And he goes on from verse
18 of chapter one, all the way to chapter three, showing why
we need a righteousness that we can't produce. It's because
we're sinners. We've broken the law. We fell
in Adam. That's the first sin. We fell
in Adam. He's the representative of the
whole human family. Romans 5, 12 says, wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
for all sinned. And that's Romans chapter 5,
verse 12. So think about that now. We're
sinners, and there's no hope for sinners in their works. Now, you can be a sinner who
is religious and moral in the eyes of men, or you can be a
sinner who's just a lawbreaker, a blight on society. And so Paul,
in Romans 1.18, he begins to bring the whole world under sin. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Well, he says, now this includes the religious Jews who
had the law. Now the Jewish unbelievers who
thought they could be righteous and saved by their works, they
looked down on the Gentile idolaters, but they were idolaters too.
And Paul writes here, look at Romans chapter two and verse
14. Or verse 13, rather. He says, for not the hearers
of the law are just, righteous before God, but the doers of
the law shall be justified, declared righteous. So in other words,
the law, you say, well, I'm gonna do my best to do well, to do
good in order to be saved, in order to be judged at judgment
in a way that says you're good. Well, listen, it's not just hearing
the law. You've got to do it all. You've
got to be perfect. See, that's why righteousness
in the Bible refers to the perfection of the law and the justice of
God that can only be found in Christ. You can't find it in
yourselves. If you do, you're self-righteous. That's like the Pharisees. They judged themselves righteous
and despised others. And outwardly, according to outward
appearance, they looked right. He said, do you do indeed appear
righteous unto men? But you're not. And that's why
he said in Matthew 5 20, except your righteousness exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will in
no case, no wise, enter into heaven. You gotta have a perfection. We'll look back at Romans 2 now.
He says in verse 14, he says, when the Gentiles, which have
not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these having not the law are a law unto themselves. Now what
he's talking about, even though the Gentiles didn't have the
law of Moses, they had laws in society and of conscience. And
he says in verse 15 of Romans 2, which show the work of the
law written in their hearts, Their conscience, their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing
or else excusing one another. The Gentile nations, they had
laws of society. And so he says in verse 16, now
listen to this verse. He says, in the day when God
shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to
my gospel. Now, what does the gospel say
about Jesus Christ? It says that Jesus Christ is
the very righteousness of God. And that's the whole issue there. It's not that people are going
to be judged as to whether or not they heard the gospel or
not. It's judged according to the righteousness revealed in
the gospel. which is the revelation of the
righteousness of God. Well, here's the thing. When
you read passages like 2 Corinthians 5, when he says this, let's read
it again, this is our text. Verse 10, 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 had done, whether
it be good or bad. And so the issue there is, will
my works be judged as good or as bad? What's the difference? And he says in verse 11, knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made
manifest unto God, and I trust also are manifest in your consciences. In other words, we wanna persuade
men And I know, listen, we want to persuade men through the preaching
of the gospel that they need a righteousness they cannot produce
that can only be found in Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's talking about.
And we want to, now I can't persuade you. It takes the Holy Spirit
to do that. But when I preach the gospel, it's my prayer that
you will be persuaded. But you see, it's how we stand
in Christ that determines whether our works are good or bad. Now
go to John chapter three. I want you to see this. John
chapter three. And in this verse, he's talking
about the light. And Jesus Christ is the light.
And listen to what he says in verse 18 of John chapter three. He says, he that believeth on
him, that's Christ, is not condemned. If you believe on Christ, what
does that mean? It means you're one of God's
elect. It means you're one whom God has justified. He's forgiven
you of all your sins on a just ground, the blood of Jesus Christ.
He has declared you righteous on a just ground. The righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of His obedience unto
death, as indicated by His resurrection from the dead. So if you believe
on Him, that's the evidence. See, believing is not the cause
of salvation. Believing is not the ground of
justification. Believing merely connects you
spiritually to Christ, giving evidence that you're one of God's
chosen, for whom Christ died and was buried in a rose again,
and you're not condemned. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. And so he says in verse 18, he
that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth
not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Now look at verse 19. And this
is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. This light which is Christ, as
He is declared and revealed in the gospel as the righteousness
of God, exposes the works of men and women, sinners, aimed
at salvation, to be evil. And why are they evil? It's not
because they're not moral in the eyes of men. It's not because
they're not sincere. It's because they think that
their works saves them, makes them righteous. You've heard
of people who talk about the judgment that God's gonna weigh
your good works with your bad works. And if your bad works
outweigh your good works, you're going to hell. That's not true.
If he did that to any of us, we'd go to hell. Some say he's
gonna weigh your good works with your bad works and he's gonna
reward you based upon all the good works you did. That's not
true. The Bible speaks of reward, but that reward is what Christ
has earned for us, not what we earn for ourselves. And he says
here, because their deeds were evil. Why are they evil? Because
they deny the glory of God in salvation by grace. They deny
Christ and His righteousness, which is the only ground and
cause of salvation. They exalt sinners. He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord, not in self. And their works of unbelief. He goes on in verse 20. He says,
for everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds The deeds are religious efforts,
moral efforts, lest his deeds should be reproved, which means
discovered, exposed. You take a person who's doing
their best to live right, thinking that it saves them, the gospel
wherein the righteousness of God is revealed exposes that
to be evil. You see that? And that's what's
going to be exposed at the judgment for those who stand before God
without Christ, not washed in His blood, not clothed in His
righteousness. You'll be judged according to
your deeds. Now I'm going to pick up with this message again,
because I've got some more scripture to show you. But you join us
next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.