Well, good morning, and it's
good to be back with you once again. Good to have all of you
here. We're here to worship God in
spirit and in truth and to study and to preach his word, to lift
up Christ, and that's just what I'm going to do. I suppose that
in both messages, this one and the one in the next hour, the
theme is going to be the same, and that is the theme of final
judgment. We're going to talk about the
final judgment. Scripture teaches some things
that we know by nature, but some things have to be revealed. and
that which has to be revealed are the things of salvation,
the things and issues of life and death, especially final judgment. We all have a life to live, we
all have a death to die, we all have a judgment to face, and
we all have an eternity to spend. So with that in mind, turn to
2 Corinthians chapter 5. Now, what I'm going to deal with
this morning to start off with is our works and final judgment. our works and final judgment. And really, this is the shorter
message of the two. So if you think about it, you
might wonder after I finish today, you might wonder, well, why didn't
he preach this message second? Because really what I'm going
to deal with in the next hour is just the final judgment itself.
But this will sort of provide a background and a ground for
the next message but in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 on this issue of our
works and final judgment the Apostle Paul is talking about
the death of this body this physical body he starts out in verse 1
he says for we know that if our earthly house that's this physical
body of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building
of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens
and That's a passage of scripture you might have heard read at
funerals quite a bit, especially in the interment of the body.
And that's what Paul's talking about. This physical body is
dead because of sin. The scripture teaches in Romans
chapter 8 and verse, I believe it's verse 10. This is why we
see the consequences of sin in this physical body, in the aging
process, in the diseases and the sicknesses that we're all
subject to. And I know people talk about
faith healing today. And most of the time, you know,
when I hear about, I know God heals, don't get me wrong. I
mean, He heals miraculously. He also heals through means.
through doctors and nurses and medicines and all of that but
there comes a point time it is appointed and a man wants to
die and after that the judgment the judgment to be faced but
what we see in these physical bodies is the consequences of
sin now if we're in Christ if we know Christ and we're believers
if we've been born again by the spirit we still see the consequences
of sin but we don't see the condemnation of sin We don't see it because
that's been removed, that's been taken away by Christ at the cross. That's when he died for our sins
and established righteousness whereby we're accepted before
God, we're justified before God and we can stand before God now
and at the judgment in a justified way that we are accepted of God.
But as we have been brought to a saving knowledge of Christ,
The Holy Spirit in the new birth gives a believer a desire to
honor God. to live for the glory of god
that desire has to be has to grow it it doesn't come it's
not just magical is not just mystical we have to we have to
cultivate that desire even by the means that god has given
the study of his word the fellowship of his people prayer and all
these things worship this that's what we did and we continue to
keep our our minds and our eyes in the word of god to to allow
us to know what we're to do and this is what Paul's talking about
look at verse 9 we'll read the whole chapter here he says wherefore
now he's talking about how we're confident that that were this
this corruptible as he called in first Corinthians 15 this
corruptible body is going to put on in corruption a spiritual
body and he says for this reason we labor or we endeavor we persevere
that whether present or absent, whether we're here on this earth
or with the Lord, we may be accepted of him. And what he's saying
here is we labor to be accepted of God. Now the acceptance here
being accepted of him does not refer to our justification before
God. It's not laboring in order to
work our way into God's favor. Because that's evil in the sight
of God. That's forbidden. That's what
Cain did. That's why Cain was rejected. He was laboring to
be saved by his works. It's not laboring to be justified
before God. Our justification before God,
our being declared not guilty and righteous before God is not
by our labor, not by our works. The Bible says that plainly over
and over again. It's established from the beginning.
But just to quote one verse, Ephesians 2 and verse 8, for
by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
not of works. It's the gift of God, lest any
man should boast. And so this is not laboring and
endeavoring to be saved by our works, because that's unbelief.
That's a denial of Christ. If you're working to be saved,
you're denying Christ, who worked to work out all of his sheep's
salvation. It's not laboring to make yourself
righteous before God, because man at his best state is altogether
vanity. We're made righteous, not by
works of our hands, but by what Christ did on the cross in his
obedience unto death. The acceptance here, we labor
to be accepted of him just simply means this. It means we labor
to honor the God who saved us by his grace. We want to thank
him. It's a labor of grace, not a
labor of law. You say, it's a labor because
it's a debt of love, not a debt of law. We're not laboring because
we owe a debt. Christ paid our sin debt on the
cross. We're laboring because we love
him. And again, that has to be cultivated. Now, even a believer
can get loose side of this and get away from it. We're laboring
because we want to honor God. We want to worship God. We want
to thank God. It's a labor of grace and gratitude
and love. And that's what he's talking
about. And it involves the good works of a believer. Randy preached
on good works a couple of weeks ago. Uh, there were a people
zealous of good works. That's the same thing that Paul's
saying right here to be accepted of him, to do what's right. We're
not serving God to see what we can get out of him. We're serving
God because he's given us freely all things in Christ. We're blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Now look at the next verse, verse 10. He says, for we must
all appear at the judgment seat of Christ. There's the final
judgment. And he says that everyone may receive the things done in
his body. And he's talking about this laboring,
these good works. According to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad. Now I want you to notice something
here. Listen to this very carefully. This is not teaching judgment
for or based on our works. Not at all. This is not teaching
what our works can earn for us at judgment. You understand? This is not a situation where
you're going to stand before God at judgment and He's going
to weigh your good works with your bad works and whichever
one tips the scale then that determines whether you go to
heaven or hell. That's not what this is teaching. This is not
judgment for our works. This is the judgment of our works. What are your works? Now you
take an unbeliever who is religious, all right, who is zealous. And
now let me tell you something, if you don't believe there are
unbelievers who are religious and jealous, you're just denying
the obvious, because there are. One of the most famous philanthropists
of our past age was Armand Hammer. You ever heard of Armand Hammer?
Gave away millions of dollars to charities. He was an atheist. So don't tell me unbelievers
can't do acts of charity. They can. But here's the question. How will that charity of Armon
Hammer be judged at the judgment? Was it good or bad? You see,
that's the issue. The judgment of the works, not
by works. All right? So he says, it's going
to be judged. It's going to be declared. And
this is a declarative judgment here. It's going to be declared
before the whole universe whether our endeavors are good or bad. Now what's the standard there?
What determines it? Well, look at verse 11. He says,
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. Now let me tell
you exactly what the terror of the Lord is. The terror of the
Lord is the wrath of God against all sin. That's what the terror
of the Lord is. The wrath of God against all
sin. The Lord Jesus Christ experienced
in his own body and the cross the full terror of the Lord,
the wrath of God, for all the sins of all God's elect, all
his sheep. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. And you know why he did that? He did it so his sheep
wouldn't have to experience this terror. But this terror is still
real. Here's the terror of the Lord.
It's the terror of a person standing before God at judgment without
Christ. That's the terror of the Lord.
Could you imagine that? Think about those false preachers
in Matthew chapter 7. They said, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name? Matthew 7 verse 21, I think,
is where it starts. Have we not prophesied? And we
preach sermons. Haven't we cast out demons, they
said? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? And he said, depart from me,
ye that worketh iniquity, I never knew you. What was their problem?
I've heard a lot of sermons on that, and you probably have too. Most preachers would tell you
this. They'd say, well, they weren't sincere enough. And that's
bull. First of all, all you know is
what the scripture tells you right there. What had Christ
been talking about there in Matthew 7? He said, enter ye in at the
straight gate. Straight is the gate and narrow
is the way, and few there be that find it. Broad is the road
that lead destruction, and many there be that go in there at.
What is the straight gate and narrow way? That's the way of
salvation by God's grace in Christ, the one way. I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. We have one righteousness we can plead at the judgment,
and that's the righteousness of Christ. freely charged to
our account. The righteousness of Christ in
Peter. That's the only righteousness we can. There's not another.
If you bring in your baggage, your works, your goodness, that's
not the narrow way. You see, this way is the way
that only a sinner must come through one way. The broad road
is any other way. The way of works. And then he
says, beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing. You'll know them by their fruits.
Nobody can be saved under their message. The fruit of a false
gospel is lostness. The fruit of the true gospel,
when God the Holy Spirit is pleased to bring a sinner to Christ,
is salvation. And then he says, these false
preachers stood and said, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied?
What was their problem? They weren't pleading Christ.
They were pleading what they thought God had enabled them
to do. That's the problem. And then he says, then he talks
about how the wise man builds his house upon the rock. And
who's that rock? That rock is Christ. You see,
this is the issue. It's not judgment by our works,
but it's the judgment of our works. And so the terror of the
Lord is the wrath of God for any sinner who stands before
God not having been washed in the blood of Christ. My friend,
are your sins washed away by the blood of Christ? That means
he died for the penalty of those sins and drank damnation dry. Do you stand before God in the
righteousness of Christ, or do you stand there in your own works?
Now, if you stand before God in Christ, then it's going to
be declared that your endeavors to honor him were good, not because
of any merit in them, not because they earn you any rewards in
heaven, but because they redound to his glory, because they're
the evidence of his grace and his power. They're the evidence
of your faith and love in him. And that's what the issue of
good works are. Now look at verse 11 again. He says, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. What does that? We preach
the gospel. We're pointing centers to Christ
for salvation. Don't look to yourself. Don't
look within yourself. It's not how you feel. It's not
how you even think it's Christ and him crucified and risen again.
Don't look to your past. Don't look to your experience.
Don't look to your dreams. Don't look to your visions. Don't
look to your church membership, your baptism, your tithing, your
attendance, anything. Look to Christ and his righteousness
alone. That's it. That's how we persuade
men. Don't bring the works of your hands to God. He'll spew
them out of his mouth. look to Christ and his merits
alone I have I have one plea Christ died for me that means
my righteousness is in him my forgiveness is by his blood the
Bible says in Ephesians chapter 1 in verse 6 were accepted before
God in the beloved so my striving to be accepted here is not to
be accepted before God for my salvation I'm accepted in Christ
but my striving and endeavoring to honor God here is just my
thanksgiving. It's the fruit. Over there I
quoted Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. For by grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works
lest any man should boast. Well, you remember verse 10,
what it says? For we are his workmanship. That means a sinner saved by
grace is the work of God, not the work of his own hands. You
see, if you're a sinner saved by grace, you're not a self-made
person. Your one is as Hannah prayed back over in first Samuel
chapter two, you were a beggar on the dung heap and God reached
down and lifted you off the dung heap. He didn't, he didn't say
now I'll reach down 98% of the way and you jump up the other
2%. Did he, he reached down and he picked this up off the dung
heap. Paul called that the dung heap
of religion in Philippians chapter 3. He took me out of my false
self-righteous works free will religion and put me in his kingdom
by his grace and his power through Christ. So, for we are His workmanship,
Ephesians 2.10, created in Christ Jesus, not created by anything
we do, or anything we are, or anything we plan to do. Created
in Christ Jesus, and then it says unto good works. Now notice
there it doesn't say because of good works. We don't have
any. It's unto good works which God
hath before ordained. Now, when did God ordain anything?
Before the foundation of the world. Which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them, not by them, but in
them. You see, the good works are not
the cause of our salvation. they're not our plea at final
judgment the good works are the fruit of salvation the results
of salvation you see the difference and that's let me tell you something
now that's that's the issue here about whether your works will
be declared good or bad i thought about this up preached on this
last week of the national and i said you know when you and
when somebody is asked are you say you've been asked that question
are you say or are you a christian You know the first thing people
start talking about when, usually, when somebody asks them that,
it falls into one of three categories. They either talk about what they
have done. Well, I walked an aisle when
I was 12 and I got baptized. Now does that prove you're saved?
Not according to this word. I made a profession of faith
when I was 16. They either start talking about
what they've done, Or they start talking about what they're going
to do. Well, I plan to start going to church. I'm going to
join the church. I'm going to get baptized. I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do that. I'm going to turn my heart over to Jesus.
Or they talk about what they've experienced. Well, when I was
a teenager, I got in a car wreck, and I was dead, and I saw a light,
and God raised me from the dead. None of that fits with the, or
I had a dream or a vision. You see, hear that a lot of time.
Now, you know what they're doing when they do all that? Talking
about what they've done, what they will do or what they've
experienced. They're talking about their qualifications. This
is what qualifies me to say I'm saved, or this is what qualifies
me to say I'm a Christian. Well, let me tell you something.
None of those things will qualify anybody, any sinner to be saved
or to be called a Christian. Now, if you want to prove you're
saved, I'll tell you exactly what you do. Don't start talking
about your own qualifications. Talk about the qualifications
of your Savior. That's the key. Well, I tell
you, am I saved? Well, the one who saved me is
God and man in one person. I can tell you that right now.
Is he able? His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. His name shall be called Emmanuel,
which being interpreted as God with us. I know my Savior is
able to save me. I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto the Father by Him. He's my great high priest.
He's the Lord my righteousness. Am I saved? Well, I have one
righteousness in which to stand before God. It's the righteousness
of Jesus Christ imputed to me. Am I saved? He's the author and
the finisher of my faith. He began it and He'll complete
it. He that began the good work in me will fulfill it, perfect
it until the end. Let me tell you about my Savior,
what he did. His blood washes away all my
sins, past, present, and future. His righteousness gives me an
everlasting, eternal, unbreakable standing before a holy God as
a justified person. He died, was buried, and He arose
from the dead. He conquered death. Let me tell
you about the qualifications of my Savior, because He is all
my salvation and all my desire. Don't talk about what you've
done, what you've experienced, what you plan to do. Talk about
Christ. That's what this thing, that's
what the Bible does. That's what this thing is all
about. And I'll tell you something, that'll stand at the judgment.
Now, let me give you these three things briefly about these works
and the judgment. First of all, here's the question
about our works. Turn to Matthew chapter 5. Turn to Matthew chapter 5. You
know, that's why John the Baptist, you remember, when they asked
him, you know, about, are you the Messiah? And he said, no,
I'm not the Messiah. I'm not the light. I can baptize
you in water, but there's one coming after me who can baptize
you with fire. That's the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. That's the new birth. Christ can give life. You see,
let me tell you about the qualifications of my Savior. He is life and
He gives life. See what I'm saying? He conquered
death. He must increase. I must decrease. That's what John the Baptist
said. Because He's my salvation. And look here in Matthew chapter
5, look at verse 16. Now, here's the question about
our works at judgment. Were they aimed towards the glory
of God in Christ as a testimony to His goodness, His power in
our salvation by grace? Were they aimed towards the glory
of God in Christ as a testimony not of how good we are, not of
how great I am, not of how much I've done for the Lord, But how
much he's done for me. Is that what my work say? When
somebody asked me about some good work I've done, what do
I do? Do I point them to Christ or do I say, well, you know,
I just did my best. Yeah. Well, God's just enabled
me to do so many great things. No, no. Well, let me tell you
about my great savior. Look at verse 16. He says, let
your light so shine before men. that they may see your good works."
Now, let me tell you a common misunderstanding about this verse.
A lot of people will say the light here, let your light so
shine, is your works. Not so. The light is not your
works. You see, it's not what men can
see with the natural eye. The light here is the gospel.
The light here is Christ. The good works is those are those
endeavors to honor him that come from his grace. And what he's
saying here is that light shines on those works to show them to
what look at it, that they may see your good works and what
glorify your father, which is in heaven. They point to the
glory of God. You see, it's not the good works.
That is your light. It's Christ. my at my endeavors
to honor him are to lead sinners to christ not said not that they
can look at me and give me the key to the city are give me the
sunday school pnr a certificate or name a building after me my
endeavors to honor him are to point centers to him and away
from me i don't know uh... all preacher once said he said
you know the best the best preacher of the gospel is the one who
can point centers to christ and then get out of the way And I believe that's true. That's
why Paul was so grieved at the church at Corinth when they divided
over preachers. It's not about preachers. It's
about Christ. Some were going with Paul. Some
were going with Peter. Some were going with Apollos.
And he said, no, he said, did Paul save you? No. Did Paul die
for you? No. Were you baptized in the
name of Paul? No. It's Christ and him crucified
and risen again. So were they aimed towards the
glory of God? Here's the second thing. Look
at Romans 7. Turn to Romans 7. Works and the final judgment.
When we stand before God and He judges our works, this is
the issue. Did they glorify Him? Did they point sinners to Christ?
Or did they give us bragging rights before men? Because if
they gave you bragging rights before men, I'm going to tell
you something, they're going to be judged bad. If you think they're going to
earn your rewards in heaven, they're going to be judged bad.
That's right. You see, we're not mercenaries
trying to earn our way into heaven and earn our position in heaven.
We're bond slaves of Christ. That's what the scripture calls
us. Serving out of love. Paul said, the love of Christ
constrains me. His love for me and my love for
him. So here's the second thing now. Were our works the product,
the fruit, and result of God's grace and power in Christ? Evidencing
His goodness, not ours. Evidencing His power, not ours,
by our bringing forth fruit unto God. Now look at Romans 7 and
verse 4. He says here, Wherefore, my brethren, you are become dead
to the law by the body of Christ. Now what is it to be dead to
the law? It means the law of God has nothing against you.
The law of God cannot condemn you. The law of God cannot accuse
you. That's what that means. If you
commit a crime in this town and they catch you and you go before
the judge and you're guilty of the crime, the law has a matter
against you. The law says here's the crime,
here's the penalty. And the judge is to make a judgment
based on that. Now, we're dead to the law of
God. We who are in Christ, that's what he's talking about. The
law of God cannot condemn us for our sins. It cannot accuse
us of our sins. It has no matter against us. The law of God, we're dead to
the law. See, the law, if there's sin
charged, the law demands what? Death. The soul that sinneth
must surely die. The wages of sin is death. But
we're already dead to the law. Now, how did we get that way?
That's the question. How did I become dead to the
law? Well, I joined the church. No. I've worked hard or I plan
to work hard. I had a dream or a vision and
it was real. You'll hear that all the time.
How did you become dead to the law? Look at it. By the body
of Christ. Now, what's that talking about?
It's talking about his crucifixion. talking about Christ on the cross
of Calvary, having the sins of his sheep charged to him, imputed
to him, and where he was made sin and he died for those sins,
he suffered the penalty, suffered the punishment, was buried and
rose again the third day for our or because of our justification.
He was made sin, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. Our sins imputed to him, his
righteousness imputed to us. And that's where that took place.
And so he says now that all that took place on the cross by the
body of Christ for what purpose? Just say, well, it's over now.
Y'all go out and do what you want to do. Live, live like what
you want. No, look at that. You should be married to another. You're United to Christ. That's
a wedding. You're married to Christ. And
if you're married to somebody, what do you do? You love them.
You seek to honor them. You seek to serve them. And he
says, even to him who's raised from the dead that we should
what? Look at that. Bring forth what? Fruit unto God. Not that we should earn our way
into his favor or work our way into his love. No, he, we're
already in his favor. We're already in his, he loved
us with an everlasting love. The scripture says, and it's
a love we didn't deserve and didn't earn hearing his love.
Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation, the sin bearing sacrifice who brought
satisfaction for our sins. We didn't deserve any of salvation.
We can't earn any of salvation. It's an unconditional love towards
us. He loved us when we were enemies,
Romans 5 says. For what purpose? That we should
bring forth fruit unto God. We're not fruit producers. We're
fruit bearers. Christ is the vine. We're the
branches, John 15. You see that? Now look at verse
5, for when we were in the flesh, that's when we were unbelievers.
The motions or passions of sins which were by the law, now that
works one of two ways. How would the law work passions
of sins? Well, you either have one of
two ways. You either have a sinner who's an abject rebel and who
just in his rebelliousness wants to break every law, and you know
there are people like that. Or you have a self-righteous
sinner who wants to work their way into heaven by their religion.
Paul the Apostle. Saul of Tarsus. Read Philippians
3 sometime. Trying to establish a righteousness
of his own. Romans 10. You see, those religious efforts
aimed at attaining or maintaining salvation or making yourself
righteous are just as much passions of sins as the drug dealer out
here who's trying to break every law. In the book. In fact, if
you want to get technical in the Bible, the religious efforts
are worse in God's sight. That's an eye opener, isn't it?
You know why? Because they, they strike at
every, every glory that God has everything about his glory and
they deny Christ. So he says, the passions of sins
which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth
fruit unto death. That's all an unbeliever can bring forth,
fruit unto death. It may be religious fruit. It may be irreligious,
but it's unto death because if you don't have Christ, all you've
got is death. And you see, sin demands death.
Righteousness demands life. And if you don't have Christ,
you don't have righteousness no matter how religious you are.
And so he says, but now we're delivered from the law, verse
six, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should
serve in newness of life, newness of spirit, rather, and not in
oldness of the letter. The newness of the life is serving God because
we love him, because he's given us freely all that we don't deserve
and cannot earn in salvation, because we're thankful to God.
That oldness of the letter is legalism. One more, look at James
chapter two, and then I'll quit. What about this judgment in the
works, our works in the judgment? Now, were the, here's the third
one, were they evidence and proof of our faith and love, faith
in and love for Christ? And our total dependence upon
his work in saving us, in making us righteous, giving us spiritual
life, making us fit for heaven, bringing us to glory. Is that
what my endeavors to honor him say? Are they evidence of my
faith in him, or are they evidence of my self-righteousness? See
the difference? Are they evidence of my total
dependence on him, or am I trying to earn my way into God's favor? This is what James is talking
about in James chapter 2 and verse 23. He says, And the scripture
was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God. He's talking about
when Abraham took Isaac up on the mount to slay him. And he
says, Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness
for he was called the friend of God. You see then how that
by works a man is justified and not by faith only. James is not
talking about being justified before God. He's talking about
being justified before men. How do you know that I believe
what I believe? Say I believe. That's what he's
talking about. Well do I live a life that is
consistent with what I claim? What I profess? That's what James
is talking about. He's not talking about how a sinner is justified
before God. Abraham was justified before God long before he took
Isaac upon that mount. Abraham was born again by the
Spirit before he took Isaac upon that mount. But Abraham claimed
to believe in God. He claimed to be a believer.
He claimed to love Christ. Now, what was it about his life
that proved that, gave evidence of that? Well, it's the fact
that he believed God and he acted upon God's word. All right.