How can I be ready for the judgment seat of Christ?
Hi.
Welcome to today's little lesson.
Thank you so much for joining me.
This is going to be a continuation of the four previous little lessons in which we began
to talk about scriptures referenced to two future judgments at which Christians will
be present.
We've covered the first of those two.
The future judgment of the sheep and the goats of which Jesus talked about in Matthew 25:31-46.
We've gone to that in great detail.
The sheep and the goats were judged by their deeds.
They were repaid according to their deeds.
That's a theme that is just inescapable regarding any future judgment because God is fair.
God is just.
Things that people think they got away with during their earthly life, they're going to
discover that they didn't get away with it at all.
Those who realize that you can't get away with anything before God, hopefully most,
if not all of those people, repented of their sins and turned away from sin and started
serving Jesus.
Because they believed, truly believed in him.
The Bible makes it very clear that their sins are forgiven.
They will not have to suffer receiving what they deserve but they will still be judged
according to their deeds.
That's the theme we want to explore on this little lesson and perhaps one or two others
that will follow it.
I'm going to start off today in a passage of scripture near the end of the Paul's epistle
to the Romans.
He's talking about Christians have different views on various issues.
Is it okay to eat meats that are sacrificed to idols or not?
That was a big deal in the early church.
Should we practice Sabbath keeping and following the festivals and feast days found in the
Mosaic law as new covenant believer?
These are things that the early church wrestled with.
You'll find those themes surfacing in the epistles.
We're breaking in the middle of something.
I'm not going to go into all that because we want to talk about the future judgment
that you'll be standing at and that I'll be standing at.
Paul wrote in Romans 14:10.
"But you, why do you judge your brothers?"
See, because someone's saying, "They're wrong.
"No.
You're wrong.
We're doing the right thing."
"No.
You're doing the wrong thing."
These are issues of personal conviction and not necessarily clear biblical revelation.
Why do you judge your brother?
Again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?
We will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
Paul's point is you don't need to be judging anybody.
It's not your thing.
We're all going to be judged by God.
He knows everything unlike us.
He'll do a good job.
Don't worry.
Paul quotes from the Old Testament.
He says, "For it is written."
In the New American Standard Bible from which I'm reading this, this is in all caps.
Making it clear to us that this is a quotation from the Old Testament.
"As I live," says the Lord.
"Every knee shall bow to me.
Every tongue shall give praise to God."
Everyone's going to bow one day.
Hopefully, you've already bowed willingly.
In the future, you won't be bowing unwillingly.
Paul then derives from that.
"So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God."
He doesn't see that promise of every niche abound, every tongue give praise to God as
being simply a time where you say, "I praise you, God.
I bow my knee before you."
That is going to be much more elaborate than that.
We actually have to give an account of ourselves to God.
That's pretty sobering.
One day, I'll stand in front of God and give an account.
Based on what?
The opportunities that he gave me, the gifts, the talents, the time he gave me.
What did I do with it as a steward of his manifold grace?
All right.
Looking at another scripture and this one is actually in 2 Corinthians 5:9.
Similarly, Paul also wrote, "Therefore we also have as our ambitions."
This is what they're all about.
We have as our ambition, whether at home or absent.
If you read the context, it's not talking about being in your physical house, your residence
or out on a trip somewhere, on a vacation.
Whether you're at home, that is spiritually you're living in your body or you're dead
or you're out of your body.
Either way, we have as our ambition.
Whether in our body or out of body to be pleasing to him.
That's the definition of a true Christian.
Okay.
Because we must all appear before his judgment seat.
Rather before the judgment seat of Christ.
Now, listen closely.
So that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body.
You're going to be judged when you're out of the body but you're going to be judged.
It doesn't just get erased.
Okay.
I'm out of my body now so that has no relevancy.
No.
What you did in your body will have relevancy what you receive when you're out of your body.
Okay?
Each one may be recompensed or repaid for his deeds in the body according to what he
has done.
He goes on to say, "Whether good or bad."
All right.
Food for thought there.
Right?
Again, the theme surfaces is that God is a righteous judge.
People reap what they sow.
God repays them according to their deeds we read in Romans 14 and now again in 2 Corinthians
Chapter Five.
A lot of interesting rabbit trails we could follow here.
Let's try to stay on the main trail.
Everything that we did prior to our repentance and belief in Christ, we are forgiven that.
You don't have to worry about those deeds being brought up.
Things that you've done as a Christian that you're ashamed of since you believed in Christ,
if you've confessed those sins, the Bible makes it very clear.
God forgives you of those sins.
Those things are not going to be brought up.
Okay.
You may realize and if you don't, I hope I can help you realize that Christians go through
their lives.
They're not always 100% devoted.
They're not always 100% on track.
Their motives aren't always 100% pure.
They're not dealing with it the way that they should.
Because if we dealt with it correct, be forgiven and that wouldn't be an issue when we are
judged.
So many of us, we're not dealing with everything.
There are unresolved spiritual issues, motives, sins of omission as well as commission that
we're not confessing and not making it right.
I'm not pointing the finger.
I know that I'm in that same category.
Okay.
It doesn't just get erased when we die.
It's still an issue.
We're going to hear what God has to say about it all.
We're going to be repaid.
There's rewards.
You say, "Are there punishments?"
Well, yes and no.
The punishments are the loss of the reward.
That's often how God works.
Okay.
I could go into more detail on that.
I'll stop.
I'll resist that rather.
This is a judgment seat where God's going to deal with us.
Things that are hidden are going to come to light.
We're going to make it right.
We're going to miss out on things that we could have been blessed with, whatever the
rewards are in heaven.
There's obviously different degrees of authority given to believers who are faithful in the
future.
Different levels of authority, different rewards.
Those who have made greater sacrifices are going to receive greater rewards.
Because God repays everybody according to their deeds.
Okay.
If you don't get anything else out of it, get this.
Your deeds, what you're doing.
Every prayer, every act of kindness, every act of obedience, every resistance of temptation,
every cup of cold water given.
As Jesus said to even a little one, all that.
God's keeping track of it and he's going to reward it.
By the same token, neglected responsibilities, wasted opportunities is over.
God's keeping track of that, too.
All right.
This is so important.
Good for me to hear myself say this stuff.
It's just good for me to hear it, too.
Okay.
Hey.
If you've never been to davidservant.org, that's a website that we've had for many years
now.
Goodness.
I guess about almost 20 years.
We had a different name for it at one time.
We did switch names but regardless, it's full of good stuff.
There's a book I wrote there that you could read it for free called The Great Gospel Deception:
Exposing the False Promise of Heaven Without Holiness.
Okay.
It's a look at the modern gospel that has unfortunately tricked so many people to thinking
that they're okay.
When according to the Bible, they're not okay.
Okay?
Until next time, may the Lord bless you.