Would you turn back with me to
2 Corinthians chapter 5? Tonight, I'm going to be preaching
upon this subject of biblical marriage out of Ephesians chapter
5. And this is not a how to have
a happy marriage. It's what does the Bible actually
teach regarding this subject of marriage. And also, we will
be having a preacher's class this Saturday. Covet your prayers because I
enter this message with fear and trembling. I don't want to
misrepresent anything in the Word of God. And I covet your
prayer. Pray for me and pray for yourselves
that you'll be enabled to hear this particular message. I've entitled this message, The
Reality of justification, the reality of justification.
Now, I'm going to say some things to try to introduce this message
that I realize I don't know much about. I'm not talking about
the scriptures now, but I'm using this to illustrate what I'm going
to try to say. Now, I've never played Xbox or
PlayStation. Anybody surprised by that? I
don't even know what they are, really, but I know they're have
something to do with computer-generated games. The closest I've come
is Pac-Man. I've never played a computer
game, but I've seen commercials where they have those big battles.
You've all seen those commercials where these big battles are taking
place and dragons flying around. Everything looks real, real,
real, real, doesn't it? It's called virtual reality. It looks real. It appears to
be real, but it's not. It's been generated by software,
looks real, it appears real, but it is not real. The word virtual is an adjective
that means almost or nearly as described but not complete or
according to strict definition. Looks real. Now I have to say
this, most people, perhaps some of you in this room, most people
believe in a virtual justification. I hope you'll know what I mean
by that by the end of this message. Most people view justification
as a good legal standing before God, but not something done in
my body. Back to 2 Corinthians 5. Verse
1, or verse 10. For we must, me and you, this
is absolutely necessary. This is going to happen. We must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Everybody is going to appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, I don't have any doubt that
men know intuitively that God is and that He's going to reward
the righteous and punish the wicked. Even in Acts chapter
28, those barbarous people, remember they were called barbarous, they
were not believers. They didn't even believe in the
God of the Bible, because they'd never heard of the God of the
Bible. But they believed in some. They said, when Paul had the
snake bite him, and they said, no doubt vengeance is going to
cause this man to be punished, because he must have been a murderer.
Everybody thinks God is, and that he's going to reward the
righteous and punish the wicked. And that's true. That's true. You know it. I know it. We must. all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ. This is an appointment you're
going to keep. You will keep this appointment. You can throw it off. You can
say, no, I won't. You can pretend like this won't
happen, but it will. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. Look what he says next. that
everyone may receive the things done in his body. According to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad. Now this verse is used by many as a verse that supports a judgment
that takes place after the final judgment. You're going to have
the final judgment. And then after that, you're going
to have the judgment of believers where they will be judged for
their works according to what they've done so they can find
out what kind of position they're going to have in heaven, whether
it's going to be high or whether it's going to be low. There are,
these men say, And these women say, rewards in heaven. Yes, you're justified by grace,
but your position in glory, the degree and glory of what you
will experience will be dependent upon the things which you have
done in your body. John MacArthur calls this the
Bhima judgment, the Bhima judgment. It's called that by a lot of
other people, but it's the judgment of believers works where they
will be judged for the things done in their body. Some have
been more faithful, some have been better Christians than others,
and they will be given a higher reward and a better degree of
glory. Do you want anything in your
body to be judged? Is that what you want? God will oblige you if that's
what you want. He'll meet you on those grounds. Now there are degrees of punishment. Scripture teaches that. Remember
when the Lord says the people in Sodom and Gomorrah are going
to have it better on judgment than those people who rejected
him and his gospel. Now, you know how darkly immoral
those people were, and yet Christ says they're going to have it
better on the day of judgment than you who have heard my gospel
and have not believed me. Now, that's a very sobering thought. We read of the servant who didn't
know the Lord's will and will be beaten with few stripes, and
the one who knew his Lord's will and will be beaten with many.
There's no question. There's no question. that there
are degrees of punishment because punishment is according to your
works. But salvation is by grace, not
works. And believers have the same righteousness,
his. And they have the same reward.
He said to Abraham, I am thy shield. and thy exceeding great
reward. And we have an Old Testament
and a New Testament story that illustrates that there are not
degrees of glory in heaven. In the Old Testament, you can
read about this in 1 Samuel chapter 30, where the Amalekites had
raided Ziklag and carried off David and his men's wives and
goods, and David went after them. He had 600 men, and while he
was going after them in order to recover the spoils, 200 of
those men were so faint that they couldn't go out to battle.
And they stayed by the brook. They couldn't even get over the
brook. They didn't have the strength to go fight for their lives.
And so 400 men come, you can read this in 1 Samuel 30, and
they defeat the Amalekites, and they get back their wives and
their goods, and they come back to Ziklag. And when they get
there, the scripture says, all of the wicked men that were with
David. Notice they're deemed wicked men. All of the wicked
men with David said, these fellows that did not come, They don't
get the spoils. They didn't work the way we did.
They didn't put their lives on the line the way we did. They
don't get anything. They shouldn't get anything.
David said, not so. Everybody gets the exact same
thing. And it was a rule, an eternal
rule in Israel. And then we have the parable
of the workers in the vineyard, the ones who worked 12 hours,
the ones who worked one hour. They were all given the precise
same thing. The reason men teach such things
as rewards in heaven is to motivate people to live good lives. Hey,
don't you want to have a better place in glory? Live better. That's mercenary. That's mercenary. That's not serving the Lord out
of love. That's serving the Lord out of a hope for some kind of
reward. And do you have that high and
self inflated view of your works that you think that somehow you
can add those to Christ and end up giving you a higher position
in glory? That's really not understanding
justification. That's not understanding Justification. I've heard this said and I'm
afraid I've said it in the past. Justification is just as if I
never sinned. There's a real problem with that.
I have sinned. That is a virtual, justification,
like the things in play box, whatever, whatever I call it.
I forgot already. That's how much I care about
stuff like that. But the point is, that's no more than a virtual
justification. If it's just as if I've never
seen, I've still seen. Just as if does not cut it. If I'm justified, I have kept
God's law perfectly. I have never sinned in thought,
word, or deed. I've always done that which is
right. And I've never done that which
is wrong. I don't have anything to feel
guilty about if I'm justified because I never did anything
wrong. I stand perfect in God's sight, perfect in God's presence
without sin. That's what justification means.
Justification means you haven't sinned. Now, what I'm saying
does appeal to your conscience. You know that's true. If I've
sinned, I can't be justified. Turn with me for a moment to
Luke chapter 18, the reality of justification. Verse nine, and he spake this
parable unto certain which trusted in themselves, that they were
righteous. Now that's what self-righteousness
is. That's a good, simple definition of self-righteousness. If you
have any righteousness in yourself, you are a self-righteous person. And here's what always accompanies
self-righteousness. They despised others. They looked down their nose at
others. They thought they were morally
superior. to others, they were able to
judge others. Verse 10, two men went up into
the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men
are. Extortors, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican, I fast twice in the week, and I give
tithes of all that I possess. What a resume. And the publican,
standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto
heaven, but he smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful
to me, thee sinner. Now look at the Lord's assessment
of this. I tell you that this man went down to his house forgiven. Pardoned. Doesn't say that, does
it? It says this man who confessed
his guilt went down to his house, what's the word? Justified. That means not guilty. Having never sinned. Now how
can that be? I'm interested, aren't you? How
can that be? Now let's go back to our text
in 2 Corinthians chapter five. Let's start in verse one. 2 Corinthians 5, 1, for we know. that if our earthly house of
this tabernacle, this tent, were dissolved, and that's what we're
living in right now, temporary tents. Temporary tents. We're going to die soon. Everybody
in this room, you're going to die soon. I mean, we put so much
stock in this life, it ain't going to last. Your life, James
says, is a vapor that appears for a little while and passes
away. We know that if this earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have, and this
is talking about believers, this is not talking about an unbeliever,
this is talking about the believer. We have a building of God, and
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Now, when our
bodies die and we're resurrected, we're going to have a new body,
eternal. Somebody says, well, this is
a temporary dwelling until the resurrection takes place. Well,
I don't know that. Maybe it is, but it does say
eternal, doesn't it? It says eternal. And I think this is
talking about the glorified bodies that every believer will experience
for eternity. A sinless body. We just heard
that song, waiting for my body that'll never sin. I'm waiting
for that body, aren't you? That body that will never sin. Verse 2, for in this, in this
body, in this tabernacle that we're in right now, we groan,
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is
from heaven. Now, this physical body, this
aging body, this disease-filled body, whatever is going to kill
you is already in you. That's a sobering thought, isn't
it? It may not have developed itself yet, but you're going
to die. And in this body, we groan earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. Now, we groan because of the
physical problems, no doubt. But the believer groans because
he's in this body of sin. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who should deliver me from the
body of this death, this sinful being I'm housed in? Verse three, if so that being
clothed, we shall not be found naked. Being clothed by Christ
inside and out like the ark pitched inside and out with pitch, we
shall not be found naked and exposed to the wrath of God.
Verse four, for we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being
burdened, the burden of a sinful nature. In this tabernacle, this
tent, this temporary dwelling place, we groan, being burdened,
not for that we should be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality
might be swallowed up of life. I don't simply want to get out
of my troubles. I want to not have to brood anymore. Mortality
swallows up at life, and I've reached the great end of predestination,
perfect conformity to the image of Christ. Verse five. Now he that hath wrought us for
the selfsame thing is God. Salvation's of the Lord. The
reason we feel this way is because God made us to feel this way.
He's the one who's wrought this. We're not different from other
people and think that we're better than other people. We know that
salvation is of the Lord. He that hath wrought us for the
self, same thing as God, who also has given unto us the earnest,
the pledge, the guarantee, the down payment of the spirit. Now,
every believer possesses the spirit of God. Now, somebody
says, how can I know if I possess the spirit of God? Whoso believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Do you believe? that he is God's prophet, the
very word of God? Do you believe that he's God's
priest? The one who brings you into God's
presence and you're accepted because of him only? Do you believe
he's God's king? The one whose will is done, who
causes his will to be done, who causes you to believe? You need
him to be God's prophet, God's priest, and God's king, and you
believe he is. You're born of God. That's the earnest of the
spirit in you. That is God's work in you. Let's go on reading. Verse six,
therefore, we are always confident knowing that whilst we're at
home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. Now, while I'm
in this body, I'm absent from the Lord. I have his presence,
but I'm not. in his presence though I will
be, in my experience. I'm in his presence though I
will be in Christ, but not in my experience. But in my experience,
while I'm in this body, I'm absent from the Lord. That's why Paul
said, I long to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. That's what Paul said. And then
he said in verse seven, and I'm so thankful for this statement,
for we walk by faith and not by sight. Now, I can't see that
I have a body that doesn't sin. I can't see my justification
before God. I can't look at my own personal
subjective experience and see, yep, I'm justified. I'm perfectly
righteous, I'm without sin. I can't see that. Nor can anybody
else. But I believe I am. Why? Because I look to Christ only
as the only righteousness I have. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. That's what the Bible says, Hebrews
11, 1. We walk by faith, not by sight. I can't see that I'm justified,
that I believe I am, because I walk by faith. Verse 8. For we are confident, I say,
and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present
with the Lord. Do you have that willingness?
Would you be fine with being absent from this temporary tent
and being present in the very presence of the Lord? Verse 9, wherefore, we labor
This is our aim, that whether present or absent, we may be
accepted of him. That's what we want, is to be
accepted of him. Now, look at verse 10. Four,
this is our text, and this is so important. Four, we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, everybody knows
this. Everybody knows this. We all
must, this is an appearance we must make. We must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. And the all refers to all men.
It's not talking about just unbelievers or talking about just believers. It refers to all men. Me and you. And all men are going
to receive the things done in their body. according to what
they have done, whether it be good or bad. Now, that's what
the text says, isn't it? You see, all men are divided into
two groups, the righteous and the wicked. One of the things that I constantly
amaze thinking about is that all the righteous, without exception,
believe themselves to be wicked. And all of the wicked, without
exception, believe themselves to be righteous, or at least
have the potential to be righteous if they do the right thing. But Paul says everybody's going
to stand before Christ in judgment to receive the things done in
the body. Now, like I've already alluded
to, some people, as a matter of fact, a lot of people think
that this verse is a judgment after the great white throne
judgment. What's the great white throne judgment? We'll turn to
Revelation chapter 20. Verse 11. And I saw a great white throne. And him that sat on it from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found
no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and
great, famous and people nobody ever knew, 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 the 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. And death 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. That's the great white throne
judgment. And let me say this, that's the
only judgment there is. There's no second judgment. There's
not a second judgment where believers will be judged according to the
things done in their body, according to what they've done, whether
good or bad. This is talking about judgment. But as I said,
many interpret this as a judgment that will determine your position
in glory. You know, I actually heard a
local preacher say this to his congregation. He said, some of
you will be shining my shoes in heaven. Heard that? That's evil. That's contrary
to love. If I love you, do I want your
shine in my shoes? The Bible doesn't teach anything
like that and to think something that you can do can improve your
justification before God. Something's wrong with that picture. I've got the righteousness of
Christ and something I do put on top of that makes me a little
higher. That's offensive. That's offensive to God. It's
offensive to Christ. It's not true. You really have
that high opinion of yourself? If you deserve a high reward,
I hope you get one. But do you now? This judgment is a judgment of
perfect impartial justice. It's me getting rewarded for
the things done in my body. This is the reality of justification. I am being rewarded for the things
done in my body. Now, do you remember reading
from Revelation chapter 20? There's gonna be books opened.
Books are gonna be opened. Every single sin you've committed
is gonna be recorded in that book. Now, somebody thinks, well,
how could you sit and read all the sins you've ever committed? I don't know. You know, I mean,
but every sin, every bad motive, every sinful thought that anybody
has ever committed is recorded in that book. And most of your
sins, you don't know what they are anyway. You really don't. You
have no idea. I have no idea how bad we are.
But every sin will be recorded in that book and people will
be rewarded according to their works. impartial, perfect justice. You will be getting exactly,
I will be getting exactly what I deserve. And with God, the punishment
always fits the crime. That's why there is a place called
hell, where eternal retribution, impartial justice will take place. Everybody will be getting what
they have earned. They're going to be judged according
to the things done in their bodies. But look at our text in 2 Corinthians
5.10. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things
done in his body. according that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad. Now, there's another group that
are going to be judged according to the things done in their body. And they're going to have God
himself say to them, well done, thou good and faithful servant,
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. They're going to hear Christ
Himself say, Come, ye blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now, how is it
that I'm going to hear God say that to me? You know, God said In Exodus
chapter 34, I will by no means clear the guilty. Now, do you
hear the magnitude of that statement? I will by no means, under no
circumstance whatsoever, will I ever clear someone who is guilty. And yet we read of that who cried out, God, be merciful,
be propitious, be gracious to me, thee, sinner. By his own
confession, he was a sinner. Would that be you? By his own
confession, he was a sinner. And yet Christ said to him, I
say to you, that man went down to his house justified. All the things done in his body
were good. He never did anything wrong.
He always did that which is right. He is perfect, well-pleasing
in my sight. We looked at this in Sunday school,
but look with me for a moment to Revelation 19. Verse eight, and to her, the
lamb's wife, to her was granted, freely bestowed, given. To her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. This is the righteousness that
every saint has. Fine linen, perfect, clean and
white. Now, I think it's regrettable
that in so many of these different other translations, they call
it the fine linen, the righteous deeds of the saints or the righteous
works of the saints. You know, I mean, do you look
at any of your works? It's fine linen, clean and white. Well, you're deceived if you
do. This righteousness of Jesus Christ is the personal righteousness
of the saints. And every saint stands before
God in fine linen, clean and white, perfect. Everything done in his body is
clean and white. How can that be? Well, turn with
me to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. I love the way the writer to
the Hebrews begins his book, God. Don't you like that? God. who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins. You know what that means? That means
He made them not to be. That's exactly what that means.
He made them not to be. John put it this way in 1 John
chapter 3 verses 4 and 5. Sin is the transgression of the
law and he was manifested that he might take away our sins. Removed so I don't have any.
In him is no sin. In him everything I've done in
my body is good. And notice the text says when
he had by himself purged our sins. I'm so thankful for that
because it lets me know that there's nothing I need to do
to activate what he did for me. He did it by himself with no
help from any creature. He did it by himself. When he had by himself purged
our sins. That's what took place on Calvary's
tree. Now I'm talking about things
that I believe my sin became his sin. The scripture says he bore our
sins in his own body on the tree. He didn't simply bear the punishment
of my sin. He bore the sin itself, and He
became guilty of the commission of my sin. And God, who is just, who would
never let sin go unpunished, killed His Son. And just as truly as my sin literally,
not virtually, but literally became His. His righteousness
literally becomes mine. I bear His righteousness in my
own body. And when I stand before God,
everything done in my body is perfectly utterly righteous. That's why I can stand before
the judgment of God in boldness. This is true of every believer. They're going to receive the
things done in their body. Now let me close with a passage
of scripture in 2 Peter chapter 2. Now, before I read this passage
of Scripture, let me remind you of some things about Lot. You
remember Lot, Brother Lot? In Genesis 13, he's the one who
chose the well-watered plain and let Abraham have the leftovers.
He didn't show deference to Abraham the way he should have. And then
he's the one who pitched his tent towards Sodom. And he's
the one who lingered in Sodom even after God said, get out.
He lingered there, didn't want to leave, And the angels had
to yank him, grab him by the hand and pull him out. You remember
Lot. You remember how he didn't want to flee. He said, let me stay in this
one little city, Zohar. You remember how he hid in a
cave and his daughters got him drunk and committed incest with
him. And he had children. You remember
Lot. I mean, it's embarrassing even talking about Lot. Look what the Bible says about
Lot. 2 Peter 2, verse 7. He delivered just Lot. Justified Lot. Righteous Lot. Now, would you, if you didn't
have this, what would you think about Lott? You'd think he wasn't saved.
That's exactly what you'd think, and that's exactly what I'd think.
How could that man be saved if he did things like that? You know, anytime somebody says
something like that, How could they be saved if they did something
like that? You're showing a great ignorance of yourself. There
isn't anything you wouldn't do apart from the grace of God.
But here we have Lot. He delivered just Lot. Vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked for that righteous man. That's what God calls him. And
if God calls him a righteous man, you know what? He's a righteous
man. That righteous man dwelling among
them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to
day with their unlawful deeds. Now, this is God's testimony
of Lot. Everything done in his body was
good. And that is what justification
is. It's not virtual. It's not something that appears
to be. It's something that is. Every
believer stands before God having never done anything wrong and
having always done that which is right. Now go back to our
text. I mean 2 Corinthians 5. 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. Knowing therefore, now look at
this word, the terror of the Lord. The terror of the Lord. We persuade
men, oh, don't try to come to God on your own. You look to
Christ only. You see Christ as the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. You
look to His righteousness only as your only personal righteousness
before God. If you don't, you're going to
experience the terror of the Lord. You're going to experience
the wrath of God. Don't do that. Look to Christ. Now listen to me, everybody in
this room, everybody, young, old, men, women, boys, girls,
You, right now, look to Christ as your only righteousness before
God. You do that, on the day of judgment,
you're going to receive the things done in your body. And it's all
good. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
gospel. Lord, how we thank you that we
can stand before you on judgment day with boldness because the
righteousness of thy son is our very righteousness. Lord, create A new heart and saving faith
in Thy Son. In each heart here, according
to Your will. In Christ's name we pray.