Series: Our Great Hope - Message # 5

Review –

Prophecy has two functions - to warn, and to encourage! Jesus Christ will come again. If you are not living in fellowship with Him, if you love this present world and are a captive of its pleasures and illusions, then the prophecy is a source of fear for you. But, it need not be. Rather the promise should encourage you, should give you reason to live sacrificially with great devotion.

Judgment - The Divine Appointment that Awaits All

I'm currently reading a book titled, Collapse, How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.
It is not a 'Christian' book. The author, Dr. Jared Diamond, does not address spiritual issues as a factor in a civilization's success or failure. None the less, he makes a fascinating case for the power of our choices and the inevitable long term consequences of actions. Writing about his studies of great civilizations such as the Maya in Central America, he shows how certain faulty assumptions about weather and/or abuses of the environment eventually brought about unintended consequences and the eventual collapse of these societies. Often the process of collapse spanned several generations and could have been reversed if the society has been willing to make radical changes in their way of life. However, because of the time between cause and consequence, the need to change was either missed or ignored until things were too desperate to bring about a stop in the rapid slide to oblivion!

Do you know that there are spiritual laws, principles that govern outcomes we experience in life?

The principle of 'sowing and reaping' is one of those that we can count on. The Word teaches us saying,

"Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!— harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life."

(Galatians 6:7-8, The Message)

The 'judgment of God' is a recurrent theme of the Scripture. Indeed, it is the focus of the End Time doctrines of the Scripture. The Bible assures us that all people, of every age, will be summoned to stand before the Great Judge to give an account for the way they used the opportunities of life. We’ll get to that in a moment.

First, however, let me emphasize to you that judgment does not have to wait for eternity, nor does it always require direct act of Divine intervention. Judgment often happens right here, right now. We are 'judged' in that we receive the consequence of our choices in much the same way as we benefit or suffer in the physical world because of Newtonian laws of physics.

Those laws 'judge' me all the time, for example, as I drive my car. When I step on the brakes, I am assured, because of those laws, that my car will decelerate and stop; a very good thing. I am also assured that if I exceed safe driving speeds on a curvy road, my tires will lose their traction and my car will end up in the woods. Judgment will have occurred!

In a similar way, God's principles 'judge' us everyday. If we are loving, we will find love. If we are selfish, we will find loneliness. If we live only for today, we will not have rich resources for tomorrow.

Our focus today however is the Final Judgment, the Moment when God will summon all to stand before Him.

TEXT- Revelation 20:11-25

This is a sobering passage. My imagination has quite a work-out trying to create a mental picture of the billions that will be gathered before God! Both Believers and unbelievers will be there. The ‘books’ will be opened and each person standing there will be faced with the summary of his life!

I know what some of you are thinking- “Pastor Jerry, are you implying that a person can be saved from destruction by a record of sufficient good deeds?” NO! And I will qualify that in a moment. For now, hang with the text and with me.

The purpose of the Final Judgment is not to determine whether any person will enter God’s Presence. That determination is already made when life ends and is based entirely on that person’s relationship to Jesus Christ. The Great White Throne Judgment is a place for displaying God’s glory, in a final act, where He demonstrates the depth of His grace by receiving those who are in Christ, and the terror of His holiness by forever removing from His Presence those who did not live by faith, responding to the revelation of His majesty and His invitation of Grace!

The Judgement serves a need for justice, as well.

The illustration is faulty, but hopefully helps us. Back in 2004, when American troops pulled Saddam Hussein from a hole in the ground, the fact of his guilt or innocence in terms of gross violation of human rights was not in question. A trial was held, not as much to determine his guilt, as to create a case, to build an historical record that justified his removal from power and his eventual execution. An attempt was made, albeit in most of our eyes flawed, at justice!

A. Judgment lets us serve faithfully and at great cost!

Down through history, there is a long record of the good guys losing! It appears, too many times, that evil wins, that those who are most cruel, most cunning, who are willing to hurt others- come out on top of the heap. John tells of those who are martyred for their faith crying out to the Lord - “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge the people who belong to this world for what they have done to us? When will you avenge our blood against these people?” (Revelation 6:10, NLT)

The judgment is a time when accounts are finally settled in perfect justice, which can only be provided by an omniscient God! Knowing this, we are able to serve Him in submission, even when our service appears to be folly, even when we die, an apparent loser in the game of life.

One of my favorite passages is taken from Psalm 73. (PB 910) The Psalmist speaks of his despair in living righteously when he just considers the score here on earth. Too often it looks like the wicked are the smart ones! Take a look at what he comes to realize. READ vv. 13-19; 24-28

B. Judgment lets us forgive unconditionally!

Jesus command that we forgive others, that we turn the other cheek, defies human logic unless we live in the promise of the Final Judgment. How often I’ve counseled those who have been terribly damaged by someone and urged them to forgive the offender. The response is often, “I can’t! They must pay.” I agree with them. God has placed a sense of fairness and justice in us. Then I explain God’s kind of forgiveness. God does not say that we must take the offenses of others and just forget them, dismissing them with a wave and saying, “It doesn’t matter. No big deal!” (Yes, sometimes we are petty and that is exactly the response needed!) Try telling a woman who was sexually molested and abused by her father for years, who still has nightmares and who finds intimacy with her husband difficult, “Just forget it!” That is not right, at all. Forgiveness is based in God’s perfect justice. When we forgive, we release the debt, handing it over to God, with the sure knowledge that He will judge - PERFECTLY!

Now, let’s take a look at the special circumstances of the Believer’s Judgment.

First, I want to emphasize this. Do not let anyone convince you that Believers are exempt from Judgment!

Paul writes - " we will all stand before God’s judgment seat ... So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God." (Romans 14:10, 12, NIV)

Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." (John 5:24, NKJV)

At first glance, these words of Jesus seem contradictory. And that is why many Believers get it wrong. Some think they need have no concern for judgment. Others live in fear, wondering if they will be found acceptable for Heaven by God.

So, are we to face judgment or not?

The answer is found in understanding the different ways that we are judged. Paul’s passage talks about giving an accounting for the way that we lived, the way we used the spiritual gifts that God invested in us. Jesus’ words speak of the judgment of salvation, our acceptance by God into eternal life. The glorious central truth of Christianity is that those who belong to Christ Jesus have full assurance of eternal life. The Word powerfully and wonderfully and unequivocably says, "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2, NIV)

The issue of our acceptance by God, the Father, is a settled one. Jesus Christ died to forgive our sins, to bear our judgment and to take away our guilt! Once and done, the Bible says. No more sacrifice for sin, no way to add to the perfect work of the Cross! We need not fear Hell, anymore. If the Enemy torments you with the fear of being eternally separate from God, two possibilities exist -

a. You have not received Christ, fully and by faith, as your Savior, and you are still

trusting in your own goodness which cannot save you, or

b. You are misinformed and need to believe the full testimony of the Scripture about the full, free, and

wonderful gift of salvation in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

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Now, what about the judgement that Believers do face?

Turn with me to two key texts - (READ both.)

2 Corinthians 5:9-10

1 Corinthians 3: 10-15

Those are sobering texts, as well they should be. Ever had a review? The boss evaluates what you’ve done for the company, the job description that you were hired to fill, and then gives you a raise or a pink slip! Reviews are not always fair, are they? Sometimes the boss just personally does not care for you and no matter what you do it’s not good enough. Sometimes you work with a glory hound who takes all the credit for your hard work. The review does not generally take into consideration what’s happening in your personal life, either. So we generally dread them, and those of us who do them, do not usually like doing them either. But we have to, for where there is no accountability, productivity inevitably declines. My Dad is fond of saying, “You never get what you expect, unless you’re willing to inspect!”

The Bible says that the Final Judgment for Believers is the ultimate Review!

Everything we’ve done following our second birth, when we became a child of God, will be scrutinized by our Lord Jesus Christ! Unlike our bosses, He will perfectly fair - and that is both comforting and alarming.

∙ We won’t be able to use excuses that worked with people, for He’ll see right through them.

When He says, “what did you do with the time, the money, the gifts, the opportunities I gave to you,

we won’t be able to hide behind any of those things we even came to believe because

we said them so often.

The Bible clearly says – "For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are." (Hebrews 4:12, NLT)

∙ The things we did that impressed others, but which were done for all the wrong reasons, will disappear under His fiery gaze. There will be a lot of regret at the Judgment Seat of Christ!

∙ Those prayers we prayed alone in the wee hours of the morning will be revealed as the moments of power they are. The gifts we gave in secret will be connected to the work they accomplished, that no one ever knew. There will be a lot of trophy moments at the Judgement Seat of Christ!

∙ Some that we considered of little account will emerge as great heroes and some we thought were wonderfully gifted will be exposed for their selfish misuse of God’s gifts.

The Bible also teaches us that there will be rewards for the faithful.

I come to a firm conclusion that there will be degrees of reward for Believers. I do not know exactly what form they will take, for the things we use as rewards will have no value in Heaven. Status, wealth, and even privilege mean nothing in a perfect paradise, do they?

Yes, the Bible talks about crowns and thrones, but I believe that this is simply a way of expressing to us that God will hand out rewards, using language we can grasp. There is no clearer expression of this than in Jesus’ own teaching. A primary example is where he tells the story of the talents. Remember it? A king readies himself to travel to a far country, leaving his subjects in charge of his wealth. To one he gives $5million, to another $2million, to the third a $million. When he finally returns and reclaims his throne he asks for an accounting and rewards each servant according to his return!

A truth that is of both great comfort and sober warning is that God requires FAITHFULNESS of each one of us, not comparing us to another, but in His perfect wisdom, knowing exactly what we are capable of doing!

I want to have lived in such a way that I find His commendation without reservation and a full reward waiting, whatever, however He chooses to reward us.

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Believer, the day of His coming is nearer today than yesterday. And with His coming, there is a Final Judgment. I want each of you to be standing with Christ Jesus, accepted to eternal life and saved from God’s wrath.

The doctrine of the Final Judgment is of great comfort and motivates me to share the Gospel. I cannot ponder long the horrors of eternal separation from God, which is the essence of Hell and the Second Death! It is simply too horrible a fate to think of for anything more than a moment. God has entrusted the Gospel to us, dear friend. No, we cannot save anyone, but we can share the Good News that because of the grace of Jesus Christ - no one need perish under His wrath!

Let me close with this fantastic passage of hope."God’s secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago.

God’s purpose was that we who were the first to trust in Christ should praise our glorious God. And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.

The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God." (Ephesians 1:9-14, NLT)

Amen.