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'll be preaching from
the book of John, chapter 5. The Gospel of John, chapter 5,
beginning at verse 24. But what I'm going to talk about
today is this subject, the execution of judgment. That's the title,
the execution of judgment. And here in John chapter 5, the
Lord is speaking concerning the gospel issue of how God saves
sinners. He says in verse 24, he says,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.
Now there he's talking about his word in the gospel concerning
how God saves sinners by his grace through the merits of Christ. The merits of his obedience unto
death, which is referred to in scripture as the blood of Christ,
the death of Christ, the cross of Christ, all rendering down
to the righteousness that God requires. That Christ himself
and by himself worked out on the cross for his people to save
them from their sins. So it's the good news in light
of our sinfulness and our inadequacy and our impotence to do what
is required. We're sinners and that's why
the Bible teaches us that salvation is never by the works of sinners. Salvation is by grace. It's a
free gift. It's not earned. It's not deserved. It's something that God gives
to His people, but He must give it on a just ground, and the
just ground is the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So Christ died on the cross as
the surety, the substitute, the redeemer of his people. And he
ever lives now seated at the right hand of the Father to make
intercession for those people. And the gospel message leads
us to look away from ourselves for salvation and to look to
Christ as the author and finisher of our faith. And so he's saying
here that those who hear his word and believe on him believe
on him that sent me, that is, believe on God who is just to
justify the ungodly based upon the merits of Christ's righteousness
imputed to us. That's a person who has everlasting
life. The evidence that they didn't
gain life and didn't earn life Even their faith didn't earn
or gain life for them. Their faith in God, who saves
sinners by grace through Christ, is the evidence that they have
everlasting life and that they shall not come into condemnation,
but they are passed from death unto life. Now look at verse
25. He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming,
and now is, When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live, for as the Father hath
life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. And verse 27 says, and this is
where I got the title of the message from, and hath given
Him authority, the Father hath given the Son authority to execute
judgment. Also, because He is the Son of
Man. Now what Christ is saying there
is that He earned the right to sit in judgment because He did
the work that the Father gave Him to do as the servant of God.
In other words, it says because He is the Son of Man. God the
Son, the Eternal Son, the second person of the Trinity, very God
of very God, who has no beginning, no end, who is as much deity
as the Father and the Spirit. He was made flesh and dwelt among
us in order to save His people from their sins and bring them
unto God. And by doing that, He also earned
the right of judgment, to execute judgment, because He did the
work. So, verse 28, of John 5, he says,
Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are
in the graves shall hear his voice. Now obviously he's speaking
here of his second coming when all will be raised and we're
not going to talk about the details of that right now because what
I'm concerned with is the execution of judgment here. That others for another topic.
But he's going to come again. He's going to bring those who
have their spirits, those who have died before will be coming
with him, his people and their spirits. And then they'll be
raised out of the grave and they'll be united with glorified bodies.
But also those who died in their sins will be raised for judgment. And he says here, In verse 29,
and shall come forth, and listen to what he says here now. He
says, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life,
they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Now, somebody might look at that
and they say, well, that sounds like they're gonna be judged
by their works. They that have done good, they
that have done evil. And we know the Bible teaches
us that salvation is not by works. You know, a lot of people, they
look at that passage and they'll say, well, we're saved by grace,
but we're going to be judged by our works. Well, that's not
what this passage is teaching at all. And the thing is, what
we have to do, and we can't take one verse, jerk it out of its
context and make it say something that it doesn't say. or set it
in contradiction to other passages of scripture. And so how do we
look at a verse like that? How's it going to be said that
anybody has done good or done evil in what context? And the
key to understanding this is to understand what is God's standard
at the judgment. Now that's the key. Really, you've got more than
one key there. First of all, you've got to understand how
sinners are saved and it's by grace, not by works. Secondly, what is the standard
of judgment at the final judgment in this great resurrection day
that he's talking about? Because he says here, they that
have done good, they'll be resurrected unto life. And they that have
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Well, what is that
talking about? Is that saying that all religious
people, all charitable people, all sincere, dedicated people
who tried to do their best on earth, that they'll be resurrected
unto life? Now, he's not talking about anything
like rewards based on our works here. He says resurrection of
life. as opposed to the resurrection of damnation. Well, is that saying
that all who have been immoral and all who were insincere and
uncharitable, selfish, that they'll be damned because of their, well,
first of all, as I said, we need to understand what is the standard
of judgment. And the standard of judgment
can be found throughout the Bible, but a verse that I often quote
on this program to show you the standard of judgment is in the
book of Acts chapter 17 and verse 31. Now this is not the only
verse in the Bible that tells us the standard of judgment at
the final judgment. Because like I said, all through
the Bible you can find that. But this verse states it in such
clear, plain language that it cannot be denied. Well, obviously,
there are people who read the Bible and do not deny the plain
teachings of Scripture, but you cannot deny it scripturally.
In Acts chapter 17, the Apostle Paul was preaching in Athens
on Mars Hill, which was a place where people met to discuss religion,
politics, philosophy. Sometimes they had gatherings
around, and sometimes each took their turn. And Paul stood up
and he said, you men of Athens, you know, he said, I perceive
that you are too superstitious. And he said, you have many, you've
got monuments to many gods. You know, the Greeks were, they
had, they were polytheistic. They had many gods and it was
just strange tales. You know the Greek mythology
and Roman mythology. And they had monuments to many
gods. And he said, but you've got a
monument here to the unknown God. And he said, let me preach
to you. Let me tell you about that unknown
God. And what Paul did, he went and
from the viewpoint of creation, he spoke of the one true and
living God, the God who is invisible, but who reveals himself in his
creation. And this is the God of the Bible. This is the true God. This is
not mythology. This is not false religion. This is the one true and living
God. And he begins to preach that God. Well, the Bible tells
us that God is known through judgment, even in salvation. Even in His grace and love and
mercy, God still is known through judgment. Because whatever God
does, He must be just when He does it. If God saves a sinner
in grace and in love and mercy, and He does save sinners in grace,
love, and mercy, but He must be just. It must be on a just
ground. It cannot be just arbitrary.
It cannot be just a whim. or an emotion. God must save. He must save sinners, but He
must do it in a just way. He must be a just God and a Savior. He's known by that judgment.
If God damns sinners, He must be just. It must be on a just
ground. Well, in our text it says, they
that have done good, they'll be resurrected unto life. They
that have done evil, they'll be resurrected unto damnation.
What's the standard? Well, Paul brought it down in
Acts 17. He brought it down to the issue
of repentance. He said, God has commanded all
men everywhere to repent. And here's verse 31 of Acts 17. And he says, the reason, and
that repentance is a change of mind, which brings about a change
of life. That's what it is. It's not just
feeling sorry for your sins. Everybody at some point in time
feels sorry for their sins. But repentance is a change of
mind that brings about a whole change of life from the heart.
And he says, God has commanded all men everywhere to repent,
Acts 17 30. But in verse 31, he says, here's
the reason. And he brings forth the standard
of judgment, because God has appointed a day in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness. Now there's your standard. There's
the standard of judgment. But what is righteousness? You
see, by nature, we don't know what righteousness is. We really
don't. We think we do. We look at righteousness
as being some sort of moral character and conduct. A person who is
moral, maybe religious, dedicated, charitable, that's a righteous
person. But righteousness is not moral character and conduct. Righteousness is the legal standard
by which all morality is to be measured. In other words, if
I'm trying to be a moral person, if I'm trying to be good, does
that make me righteous? Well, what is righteousness?
Well, now here comes the standard now. Listen to it, Acts 17 31,
because God has appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whom
he hath appointed in that he hath given assurance unto all
men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Now, who do you
suppose he's talking about there? Obviously, he's talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ. So what we learn is this, that
the Lord Jesus Christ himself is the judge, as we read back
in our text in John chapter five, And verse 27, he hath given him
authority to execute judgment, the execution of judgment. But
not only is Jesus Christ the judge, he himself is the standard
by which all are to be judged. And the standard is righteousness
as it is found in Christ. Now, why is that important? Well,
think about it. Now, we all have our ways of
talking about what we would call good people, bad people, or evil
people. And we have our standard by which
we measure that. We see a person in the community
or in our church. who is dedicated, sincere, who
is faithful to his wife or a wife that's faithful to her husband,
a good father or a good mother, all of these things kind to people.
And we say that's a good person. But we need to understand if
we're going to learn to think biblically and understand these
issues of the execution of judgment and what judgment is all about.
We need to understand that when we talk about goodness, when
we see people here and there in our community, in our families,
in the world, we're judging by a human standard, not God's standard. Now think about that. Now, if
you look over in Romans chapter three, for example, now keep
in mind, that what he said there in the execution of judgment,
that all are going to come forth from the grave, and they that
have done good, they'll be resurrected unto life. They that have done
evil, they'll be resurrected unto damnation. Now remember
that. But look at this passage here,
Romans 3. Look at verse 10. This is the
grand conclusion that Paul has brought everything down to. to
show why we as sinners need salvation by grace, based on the righteousness
of Christ, and why we can't work out our own. And he says in verse
10 of Romans 3, as it is written, there is none righteous, no,
not one. Now think about that. So in other
words, when you look at that person, you say, well, that's
a righteous person. If you're judging based upon
their works, their sincerity, their charity, Their human kindness? Listen, you're judging by a wrong
standard. God says there's none righteous,
no not one. Now what he's talking about is
all of us by nature as we are naturally born, fallen in Adam,
ruined by the fall. How we are born dead in trespasses
and sins. How we have all gone astray in
this thing. There's none righteous. Now he
doesn't say there's none religious. There are a lot of religious
people. He doesn't say there's not none kind and generous, all
of that. No, there's none righteous. What
he's saying is that among human beings, fallen, sinful human
beings, ruined by the fall, born dead in trespasses and sins,
there's not one person, no matter how good they appear to me and
you, there's not one person who has worked their way to the righteousness
that God requires for salvation and eternal life, because that
righteousness can only be found in the glorious person and finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, think about it. No matter how good we try to
be, we will not achieve righteousness by our works. Let's go on in
this passage, Romans 3 in verse 11. There's none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. That is by nature. And then verse 12, they are all
gone out of the way. That's the way of God, God's
way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no not one. Now, how do you reconcile
scriptures like Romans 3.12 that says, there's none that doeth
good, no, not one. And then you go over here in
John 5.29, they that have done good under the resurrection of
life. It says here, none of us have done good. Now, hold on,
there's an answer. There's a great answer. And it's
the good news of the gospel, obviously. But just to further
make this point, think about when Christ confronted a rich
young man in Matthew 19. This man who wanted to know the
way of eternal life. What must I do that I may have
eternal life? Think about that. And he called
Christ the good master. He did not view Christ as the
Messiah, God in human flesh. And Christ confronted him about
that, and here's the way he did it. He said, why do you call
thou me good? There's none good but God. You
see, the goodness that he's talking about is the goodness that only
God has and requires. And that goodness cannot be attained
by our works. He says in Romans 3 and verse
19, listen to this. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. Verse 20, therefore by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified, forgiven. declared
righteous in God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge of
sin. So, what does he mean here when
he says, they that have done good unto the resurrection of
life, and they that have done evil? Well, what is it to do
good? Now that was established way
back in the Garden of Eden. The goodness that God requires
can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious person
of Christ who in himself is good, he's God in human flesh, and
who worked out the only righteousness by which God can justify sinners
like us by his death on the cross. It's called the righteousness
of God. That's what I need. I don't need the righteousness
of man because man has no righteousness. For me to stand before God at
judgment, and to be judged as one who has done good. The only
way that he can say that I have done good is as I stand before
God in Christ, washed in his blood. for the forgiveness of
all my sins and clothed in his righteousness imputed to me.
I am a righteous person, but my righteousness is not by my
works. It's by Christ who worked for
me and who brought me into union with himself. And that leads
us back to John 5 and verse 24, when he says, verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word, well, what is his word?
It's the gospel. wherein the righteousness of
God is revealed, which is the merits of the obedience unto
death of Christ as the surety, the substitute, and the redeemer
of his people. He that believeth on him that
hath sent me hath everlasting life. and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." Those that
have done evil refers to any and every sinner who stands before
God at judgment without Christ, without His blood, without His
righteousness imputed to them. They're on their own. And no
matter what they've done in this life, no matter how good they've
tried to be, they will fall short of righteousness because God
has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained in that he hath given assurance
unto all men and that he hath raised him from the dead. You
see, Christ's resurrection from the dead shows that he alone
established righteousness and the forgiveness of sins by his
death. And so our only hope to be raised
again and appear at judgment and it be declared that we have
done good is by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and resting
in Him for all salvation, all righteousness, all eternal life
and glory. There's no other way. Any other
way is a way of death. Those that have done evil, the
evil that they do is they don't believe God. They don't hear
his word, and that means hear it in a way of obedience. It
doesn't mean just hear it audibly. There are many people who hear
my voice as I preach the gospel, and you may hear what I'm saying,
but you don't believe it. And then there are some who do
believe it by the power of God. Even that is of God. That's why
Christ told his disciples, blessed are your ears for they hear,
so he that heareth my word. You see, the execution of judgment
is based upon how we stand with God in Christ or not in Christ. If I stand before God in Christ,
it'll be declared I've done good and I'll be resurrected unto
life because Christ is my life. Christ earned my life. Christ
has given me life. He is my life. If I stand before
God on my own, no matter what I've done, it will not be good
enough because God, the standard of judgment, the execution of
judgment is by the standard of Christ. You say, well, I've done
my best to love God. Well, does your love equal Christ's
love? And the answer is no. You say,
I've done my best to be sincere and try to be charitable and
try to treat everybody right. Well, is your works in all those
areas, do they equal the work of Christ who was the perfect
God-man who never sinned? He never had a thought of sin,
never had a sinful motive or desire or goal. He's the perfect
God-man. And when he went to the cross,
he satisfied the justice of God as the surety, the substitute,
and the redeemer of his people. See, you've never done anything
like that. I don't care what you've done. Even if you've died
for your friends, even if you're a martyr, even if you give your
life for a good cause, you still have not equaled the righteousness
that only Christ himself, as the surety, substitute, and redeemer
of his people accomplished on Calvary. That's the standard. That's the execution of judgment.
If you're raised from the dead and stand on your own, you've
done evil and you'll be resurrected unto damnation. But my friend,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Christ
as he's identified and distinguished in this word as the righteousness
of God for his people. Christ is the end of the law,
Romans 10.4. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. I hope you'll
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. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.