Would you turn back to 2 Corinthians,
chapter 5? I've entitled this message, The
Judgment Seat of Christ. Now, in the context, Paul was
talking about death. He said in verse 1 of chapter
5, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. And he talks about what's going
to happen after death, 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 hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Now, the word appear, we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, is generally
translated made manifest. We're going to be made manifest. at the judgment seat of Christ.
That's where you're going to find out what type of person
I really am. That's when I'm going to find
out what type of person you really are. I love what is written on
George Whitfield's tombstone. If I ever had an epitaph, this
is what I'd want. Probably I don't even want one.
I just put my name there. But remember that, Len. I want an epitaph. And I like
what Whitfield said. He said, Here lies George Whitfield.
What manner of man he was, that great day will tell. Turn with me for a moment to
1 Corinthians chapter 4. Verse 5. Therefore, judge nothing
before the time. until the Lord come, who both
will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will
make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every
man have praise of God. What manner of men we are will
be made manifest on judgment day. Now, the passage of scripture
that I just read, 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 has done, whether it be good
and bad. This is one of the main scriptures used to teach differing
rewards in heaven. Now, is that what this passage
of Scripture is teaching? That's the way many view this
passage. You will not be judged for your sins. That was taken
care of. But you will be given different
degrees of rewards by what you've done here in the body, whether
it be good or bad. Now, if you deserve a reward,
I hope you get one. I do. If you deserve one, I hope
you get one. But is that what Paul's teaching
here? Now, let's look at a couple of passages before we get into
what this does mean. Let's look at a couple of passages
where Paul deals or the Bible deals or the Lord deals with
this subject of rewards in heaven based upon personal obedience
here on earth. I never will forget one time
a fellow said to me, he was a preacher. He said, I believe my enjoyment
in heaven. I remember the way he talked. I believe my enjoyment in heaven
will be in direct proportion to my personal obedience here
on earth. I remember he said that to me. And I said, man,
if I believed that, I'd have a nervous breakdown. And he looked
at me real silent and put his head down and come to find out
he had one and had to spend eight months away from the ministry.
If you're going to be honest, you would have a nervous breakdown,
believing God. Is this the day I'm going to mess everything
up? Turn with me to Matthew, chapter 19. Now, here's where
this subject is actually being dealt with. Matthew, chapter
19. Verse 27. Then answered Peter and said
unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. Now what
shall we have there for? What's in it for us? How are
we going to be rewarded? Now, they did more than other
fellows. They left everything and followed
the Lord Jesus Christ. What's in it for us? And Jesus
said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have
followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit
in the throne of his glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone that have
forsaken houses or brethren or sister or father or mother or
wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive
a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. Oh, what benefit
we enjoy following the Lord Jesus Christ. What blessing there is
in obedience to him. But many that are first should
be last and the last should be first for. Here it is. Remember,
Peter said, what's in it for us? Here's how the Lord answers
that. For the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning
to our labors in his vineyard. And when he agreed with the labors
for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went
out about the third hour, nine o'clock in the morning, and saw
others standing idle in the marketplace. And he said unto them, Go ye
into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I'll give you. And they
went their way, and again he went out about the sixth hour,
noon, the ninth hour, three, and did likewise. And about the
eleventh hour, five p.m., an hour before quitting time, he
went out and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why
stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no
man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard,
and whatsoever is right, that shall you receive. So when even
was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto the steward, Call
the labors, and give them their hire, but giving from the last
into the first. And when they came to were hired
about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But
when the first came, they supposed that they should have received
more. Now, would you make that supposition? I work 12 hours. Somebody else
works one hour and we get the same thing. I would have made the same supposition.
This ain't right. I've done more. This is not right. Verse 10, but when the first
came, they supposed that they should have received more and
they likewise received every man a pity. They all got the
precise same thing. Before I go on reading. I'm saved by the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my righteousness before
God. His obedience is my obedience
before God. Christ's righteousness. Now,
am I going to add something I do to his righteousness and improve
on it? That's repugnant to think that
I could add my works to what he's done and make it better.
Verse 11, And when they received it, they murmured against the
good man of the house, saying, These that are brought but one
hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne
the burden and the heat of the day. They say by that what they
really think of their master service. It's a burden. It's not enjoyable. But he answered one of them and
said, friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me
for a penny? Take that thyme as and go thy way. I will give
unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me
to do what I will with my own? is nigh evil, because I am good.
So the last shall be first, and the first shall last. For many
shall be called, but few chosen. Now there the subject is dealt
with in the scriptures. Turn to 1 Samuel 30. Let me show
you one other passage of scripture. 1 Samuel chapter 30. Now, this is after David has
returned with the spoil that had been robbed from Ziklag,
and he had 600 men and 200 men were too faint to go to the battle.
And the 400 men went, recovered the spoils, and they come back.
Now, let's begin reading in verse 21. And David came to the 200
men, which were so faint that they could not follow David,
whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor. And they
went forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with
him. And when David came near to the people, he saluted them.
Then answered all the, who? All the wicked men, and men of
Belial, men of the wicked one, of those that went with David,
and said, now remember who is wanting this thing of rewards
right now, the wicked. The wicked. Because they went
not with us, We will not give them out of the squalor that
we have recovered, save that every man, his wife and his children,
that they may leave them away and depart. They're not going
to get what we got because we did more than they did. We're
the ones that risked our lives. We're the ones that were out
doing the battle. These guys have been just laid
here by the creek. We ought to get more." Then said David, You shall not
do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us,
who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against
us into our hand. For who will hearken unto you
in this matter? But as his part is that goeth down to the battle,
so shall his part be that teareth by the stuff they shall part
alike. Everybody got the same thing,
and it was so from that day forward that he made it a statute and
an ordinance in Israel unto this day. So, so much for higher rewards
in heaven based upon personal service here upon earth. What could you do to add to the
righteousness of Christ that would enhance your place in heaven? Back to our text. Notice what it says in verse
11. Knowing, therefore, the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. Does that mean that the Lord
is going to deal harshly on Judgment Day to believers who do not have
enough good works and they're going to feel his terror? Is
that what that's saying? Does that mean the ones that
have been more obedient? And you can look at believers
lives and there's some lives that glorify the Lord more than
others. There's some who walk in a way that honors the Lord
more than others. There's no doubt about that.
There's some who enjoy more of his presence. There's some who
are more gracious. There's some who are more Christlike.
And you see that in their conduct, in their character, in the way
they act. And they're blessed. They're blessed. I want to be
that. I want to be that one who the
Lord has blessed in that sense. But is that person now going
to get a higher award in heaven over the person who didn't? Is
he going to get like a big mansion and the other guy is going to
live in an outhouse? Knowing the terror of the Lord? I mean, that's
the way people can take that. What is being said there? Knowing
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. He's talking about the terror
of what's going to happen to unbelievers. Knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Now, Turn to 1 John chapter 4. There's
nothing that is going to be in terror regarding the judgment
of the believer. I mean, to think of... Can you
imagine standing in judgment, being scared to death and terrified
of what's going to happen to me? What's going to be exposed
about me? And I'm going to have all my...
I remember one time a guy said, on judgment day, a believer's
sins will be brought out, but it won't bother him. And I thought,
it wouldn't bother me. I mean, that would totally bother
me. I can't imagine somebody feeling that way. Does that mean
we're going to be terrified on Judgment Day to find out what
position we're going to have in glory, whether way up here
with a big mansion or way down here in the slums of heaven?
Is that what that's talking about? You know better than that. That
doesn't even make sense. How are we saved? By grace alone. What's our righteousness before
God? Who's our righteousness before God? The Lord Jesus Christ. He is my righteousness before
God. My righteousness is not based
upon His righteousness. My righteousness is His righteousness. That's my obedience before God.
The terror of the Lord is for those who do not believe the
gospel. Now turn with me for a second to 1 John chapter 4.
1 John chapter 4. Verse 17, Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have, look at that statement, boldness
in the day of judgment. Now, how in the world is somebody
going to have boldness on the day of judgment? Well, here's
the answer. Because as he is, how is he? Righteous. holy, perfect before
God. As He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear, not this slavish
dread. There is no fear in love. But
perfect love, His perfect saving love to us, casteth out fear. And that's the same word translated
terror, because terror hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love." Well, what about where he says, let's deal with this
passage of scripture honestly, he does say that we're going
to receive the things done in the body. What's that all about? Because that's what it says. We're going to receive the things
done in this body according to whatever it is we've done, whether
good or bad. Explain that to me. This can be understood in two
ways, and I believe both of them are true, although I think that
this passage of scripture is only referring to one of them.
But let me give you these two ways this can be understood.
First of all, if I'm in Christ, whatever he did in his body,
I did. Jesus Christ kept God's law perfectly. He never sinned in His body. And that perfect obedience of
the Lord Jesus Christ is my obedience before God. That fine linen,
clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints,
is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when I received
the things done in my body, whatever the Lord did, I did, because
He did it Let me show you this. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
3. Matthew chapter 3. Verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. Now, I want you to put
yourself in John's shoes. What if the Lord Jesus Christ
came to you? and said, I want you to baptize
me. How do you feel about that? Would you feel like that's probably
something you're not qualified to do? John felt that way, John
the Baptist. But John forbade him, saying,
I need to be baptized to thee and comeeth out of me. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Suffer to be so now, for thus it becometh
us. to fulfill all righteousness. Now listen to me. Everything
the Lord Jesus Christ did, he did as an us. When he fulfilled all righteousness,
every believer did too. Because what he did, he did as
a representative. He did it for us. The reason I know that is because
he truly take it. Our sin became his. And just
as truly as our sin became his, his righteousness becomes ours. So that when I receive the things
done in my body, everything's good. Because I am saved by the
righteousness and merits of Christ. And if somebody receives the
things done bad in their bodies because they don't have the Lord
Jesus Christ and they're judged according to their works, look
in Revelation chapter 20. Verse 11. And I saw and I think this is
exactly what Paul's talking about in 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 10,
I saw a great white throne. And him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heavens led away, and there was
found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God. The books were opened, and another
book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books, plural,
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." Now,
what I said is certainly true. If I'm accepted, it's because
I have the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't have
any sins to pay for. Christ wiped them out. They're
gone. I stand perfect before God. And if I've judged in the
things done in my body according to what's bad, it's because it's
going to be because I'm not a believer and I'm judged according to my
works. Now, what I just said is certainly
true. It's certainly true. It's the gospel. And it's not
inconsistent with this passage of Scripture, but I don't really
think this is what Paul is talking about. When he says that we're
supposed to be judged according to the things done in the body. Now, it's been said that the
best commentary on Scripture is Scripture. And I believe that
we're given a passage of Scripture that tells us exactly what this
passage of Scripture means. And it's found in Matthew chapter
25. There we're given a look at Judgment Day. Matthew chapter
25. Then. Then. On Judgment Day. Shall the kingdom
of heaven be likened unto Now he gives us three different looks
at Judgment Day. We're going to look at all three
of them. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten
virgins which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that
were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But
the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. When the bridegroom
tarried, they all slumbered and slept. Now they looked alike,
didn't they? They were all virgins, they all
had their lamps, and they were all asleep. And at midnight, there was a
cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes! Go ye out to meet him!
Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And
the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our
lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying,
Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather
to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went
in to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went
in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut." The difference was something
you couldn't see. The difference was the oil, the
grace of God. Afterward came also the other
virgins, saying, Lord, Lord opened us, but he answered and said,
Barely I say unto you, I know you not. What's therefore for,
you know, not neither the day nor the hour when the Son of
man comes. And there's the first look at
judgment. What is the difference? The oil, the grace of God, something
you could not see. But now we're going to talk about
something that you can see. Look in verse 14, for the kingdom
of heaven. This is a man traveling into
a far country who called his own servants and delivered unto
them his goods. And unto the one he gave five talents, to
another two, and to another one, to every man according to the
several ability, and straightway took his journey. Then he that
had received the five talents went and traded with the same,
and made them other five talents. Likewise also, he that received
two, he also gathered the other two. But he that received one
went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. After
a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth
within. This time of reckoning. And so he that received five
talents came and brought another five talents, saying, Lord, thou
deliverest them to be five talents. Behold, I have gained beside
thee five talents more. His Lord said unto him, Well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful
over a few things. I'll make thee ruler over many things.
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. He also that received two
talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents.
Behold, I have gained two other talents besides them. His Lord
said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast
been faithful over a few things. I'll make thee ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Then he which had
received the one talent came and said, Lord, now look what
he really thinks of his Lord. I knew thee, that thou art an
hard man, reaping where you've not sown and gathering where
you've not strawed. I knew you're sovereign and I
knew you'd do whatever you want to. You'll take here and you'll
leave there. I knew that. So I was afraid.
And I went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, here thou hast
that desire.' His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked
and slothful servant. He meet him on the ground, he
came. You knew that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where
I have not strawed, that thou mightest therefore to have put
my money to the exchangers, that at my coming I should have received
mine own usury. Take, therefore, the talent from
him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every
one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance.
But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which
he hath, and cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness."
That's not the lowest place in heaven. That's hell. Cast that man into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. part of Matthew chapter 25, I believe, is what tells
us exactly what is meant by receiving the things done in the body. So listen real carefully. When
the Son of Man shall come, verse 31, in His glory, and all the
holy angels with Him, then shall He set upon the throne of His
glory, and what a sight that will be And before him shall
be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on his left." Who are the sheep? the people Christ died for. God's elect. He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. He said to that group of Pharisees,
you believe not because you're not my sheep. As I said to you,
they're sheep and they're goats. A sheep will never be a goat
and a goat will never be a sheep. The Lord said, I lay down my
life for the sheep, his elect. Now let's go on reading. Verse
33, And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats
on the left. Verse 34, Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come, don't go away. Not depart, like he's going to
say to that other crowd. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. He's not going to say that to
these people. He says, come, ye blessed of my Father. Oh, if you're a sheep, how blessed
you are of God. He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh, how blessed
you are. How blessed Lazarus was, even
when he was sitting there with the dogs licking his sores. Who
would you want to be, Lazarus or the rich man who went to hell?
Oh, how blessed. Come ye blessed of my Father. Inherit. I love the word here. Inherit. How many times have
you seen people who got a bunch of money just because of what
family they were in? They didn't work for it, didn't
deserve it, but they got it anyway because it was in inheritance.
You see, salvation is inheritance. Because of who you're connected
with, the Lord Jesus Christ. Join heirs with Christ. Now look
at the language next. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you. From when? The foundation of
the world. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, According
as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him.
II Timothy 1-9 says He saved us and He called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace, which were given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. That's when. Hebrews 4.3 says the works were
finished from the foundation of the world. Now what this shows
us is how much of salvation is by grace. If it was all given
to us in Christ Jesus before time began, it's all of grace. I'm glad it's that way. I said,
I think it was last week, I read this in a Spurgeon sermon and
we talked about a lady who said, Said, I sure am thankful that
the Lord gave me what I had before I was born, because if He would
have waited till after I was born, He wouldn't have given
it to me. And that's so, isn't it? That's so. Thank God for
these, you know, everything the Lord does is eternal. He's eternal. There's no time with Him. There's
no yesterday and today and tomorrow. It's all the great now with Him,
all the present and what we have was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Do I understand that? No. Do
I believe it? Absolutely. If God be for you,
who can be against you? Now, let's go on reading. Then
shall the king say unto them, verse 34, on his right hand,
Come ye, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. And he gives as the
evidence what they did in this body. And here's how I know this kingdom
was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For
I was hungry, and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you
gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came
unto me." Now, you did these things. In your
body, you did these things. Verse 37, then shall the righteous,
I love the way the shepherd called the righteous, that's who they
are, every believer righteous before God. Then shall the righteous
answer him saying, yeah, we did do a real good job. I, yeah,
I did all those things. Yeah, sure, I see your point. Not like that at all, is it? Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered and fed thee, or
thirsty and gave thee to drink? When saw we thee a stranger and
took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick
or in prison and came unto thee? We didn't know we did any of
these things. We weren't even aware of it. Now, let me tell
you something. If you think, yeah, I have had
a real good, obedient life, or I've at least done my best, I've
done better than a lot of people. You sound like that crowd that
said, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in your name? In your
name, have we not cast out demons? And in your name, have we not
done many wonderful works? Look at their opinion of their
own works, many and wonderful. And what's the Lord say to them?
Depart from me. ye that work iniquity, I never
knew you. Never knew you. He knew who they
were. He knew exactly who they were.
But he didn't know them. He never knew them to be his. Verse 40, And the king shall
answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you
have done it to one of these, The least of these, my brethren,
you done it to me. There's two things I see in that.
First, I see the glory of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord tells us, if you did it to the least one of them, you
did it to me. Because I'm one with them, both
he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of one. And how you treat me, listen,
be careful the way you treat me. How you treat me is how you
treat the Lord Jesus Christ himself, because I am united to him. And that's the teaching of scripture.
As he is, so are we in this world, united to him. And there will
be evidence. There will be evidence. In the way you treat his people. In as much as you've done it
to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. Turn with me for a second to
Revelation chapter 14. Hold your finger there in Matthew
25. We're going to come back to there and close in just a
minute. But look in Revelation 14. Verse 13. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, Write, I'm so thankful this was written, Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith
the Spirit, that they may have rest from their labors and their
works. The things they did in this body
do follow them. No, they don't come out front
as the cause of salvation. They don't come along the side
as a reason for some different position. They follow them as
evidence of the reality of the work of grace in their heart.
The things they did in this body. Remember the Lord said, inasmuch
as you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it
to me. Now look back in Matthew chapter
25, verse 41. Then shall he say also unto them
on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels four. And he talks about the things
done in the body. I was hungry, and you gave me
no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me not in. Naked, you clothed me not. Sick, and in prison,
and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer and
say, Lord, when? When did we not do this? When
did we see you hungry? And we didn't give you something
to eat, or thirst, or stranger, naked, or sick, or in prison,
didn't minister thee. We didn't know we didn't do these
things. Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily, I say unto
you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these,
you did it not to me, and these shall go away into everlasting
punishment. You know, it's popular to, in
this day, by a lot of preachers, really, to say that hell doesn't
last forever. Well, the Lord says it does.
Everlasting. And the reason it lasts forever
is because no one can ever make sufficient payment for their
sins. That's why it's eternal. God's justice is never satisfied. They'll go into everlasting punishment. but the righteous into life eternal. Go back to our text in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. Now I want you to remember, here's
another way to put this. Faith without works is what? Dead. Being alone. James said, you show me your
faith without your works. I'll show you my faith by my
works. And there will be evidence in
this body, whether you or whether you were not a true disciple,
an out and out follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. There will
be evidence in your body. Now, I repeat, somebody's thinking,
oh, I start looking for evidence. Don't do that. Look to Christ
and the evidence will come. It'll be there. You look to Christ.
Now, here's my last point in our text. 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, just the way Matthew 25 sets it forth. Knowing, therefore, the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. Now, knowing the terror of being
found outside of Christ and being judged according to your works,
I want to persuade you to look only to the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what I want to do with you right now. That's what I
want to do with myself. I want to persuade you there's no safety,
there's no standing before God in judgment unless I am in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how do I know if I'm in
the Lord Jesus Christ? Here's the evidence of being
in Christ. You look to Him only as everything
in your salvation. You don't look anywhere else.
You look to Him only. Plus nothing, minus nothing. You look to Him only as everything. That means you're in Christ. And I know this. Anybody who
does look to Him only There will be evidence of the things done
in this body that they really did love the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, all that thrills my soul
is Jesus. Can you say that? All that thrills
my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me and
the fairest of 10,000. in my blessed Lord I say. Let's pray.