Judgment

Judgment

A couple of weeks ago we had a discussion about the judgment. Specifically, we discussed what judgment, or judgments, believers should expect after death. It was clear that there are a number of differing understandings of God’s judgment within our church, so this morning I want to present what I find in Scripture on this topic.

The gospel is very simple. I think simplicity is to be expected with regard to any doctrine we study. God knows who He’s dealing with. He fully understands the limitations of our finite minds. He knows that many of the concepts He presents in Scripture are beyond our ability to understand.

Isaiah 55:9 (NASB)

9  "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

This is very good because if I could understand God, He wouldn’t be much of a god, and I might begin to think I was god.

I strongly encourage each of you to be like the Berean believers mentioned in Acts 17, who “received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” To make it easier for you to remember the passages I’ll use today I have listed them on the handout I provided you.

Judgement, like salvation, is part of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. As I always say, there is no bad news in the good news. Anyone who receives the gracious free gift of Jesus Christ can expect every good and perfect gift from above.

Romans 8:32-34a (NASB)

32  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

33  Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;

34  who is the one who condemns?…

The word translated “condemns” here is katakrino (2632) and it means “to give judgment against, to judge worthy of punishment.” The next verse tells us that Jesus intercedes for us, which implies that no one can give judgment against us. Paul then goes on to tell us that nothing, including death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, can separate us from the love of God. Listen to the love Jesus has for you when he says in Luke 12:32 (KJV) “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

So, right at the outset, I want to reassure you that you do not need to fear judgment day; just as we read in First John.

1 John 4:16-17 (NASB)

16  We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

17  By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.

The great day of the Lord is going to be just great. Now let’s get started looking into what the Bible says about judgment. John 3:16-21 will provide the groundwork for our discussion of judgment.

John 3:16-21 (NASB)

16  "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

17  "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge (krino—judge, or to condemn—which is the result of judgment) the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

18  "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19  "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

20  "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

21  "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

John says that those who believe are not judged, or condemned, but those who do not believe are judged already because of their unbelief. Unbelief is always the core issue. In Hebrews, unbelief is called disobedience, and the two terms are nearly interchangeable in Scripture. One of the clearest examples is found in Hebrews 3:17-19 (NASB)

17  And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

18  And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?

19  So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

John goes on to talk about deeds. Those doing evil deeds are those who hate the Light (Jesus) and do not come to the Light (Jesus). These are contrasted with believers—those who come to Jesus. They come to the Light so that it is clear that their deeds were done in Christ. John says they are manifested as having been wrought in God. It’s these deeds that stand the test of time, so to speak. These deeds are the ones that come through the fire Paul talks about in First Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (KJV)

11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

The fire tries our works to see what sort they are. Works done in reliance on God (or as John says, wrought in God), trusting Him to cause the fruit, remain when tried by the refining fire. Works done in self-reliance are refined out by the fire. What comes out of the fire is pure. In First Peter 1, Peter talks about the value of faith using the same picture.

1 Peter 1:7 (NASB)

7  so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

Paul tells us in Romans 14:23, “…whatever is not from faith is sin.”

Now we need to look at Second Corinthians 5:10 (NASB)

10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

The Greek word rendered recompensed here is also used in Ephesians 6:8 (NASB), where it is rendered “receive back.”

8  knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

We know that are saved by grace through faith and we can walk by faith or by sight. We have obtained righteousness and reconciliation to God as God’s gift to us and not because of anything we did. All these passages are connected and tell a consistent story.

Those who do not believe, do things only in self-reliance. None of their works are from faith. Therefore, all their works are worthless and get consumed by the refining fire.

Believers have been forgiven for all their sins—whatever is not of faith—and God says in several places including Hebrews 10:17 (NASB)

17  "AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."

Therefore, all that will remain and come with us through the fire is those things done in faith and in Christ.

Now let’s look at what Jesus taught about the final judgment.

Matthew 25:31-46 (NASB)

31  "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

32  "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

33  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

34  "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

35  'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;

36  naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'

37  "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?

38  'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?

39  'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

40  "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

41  "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

42  for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;

43  I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'

44  "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'

45  "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

46  "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

So we see nothing in Jesus teaching about Him weighing out our actions, works, or deeds. He simply says, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Notice that the righteous (that’s us) are somewhat baffled by what they could have done. I take great comfort in this because it shows me that when we are simply trusting in the Lord and walking by the Spirit we bear fruit—often without even realizing it.

Jesus is even more clear in John’s Gospel.

John 5:24 & 28-29 (NASB)

24  "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

28  "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,

29  and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

Judgment for the believer is just that; judgment for the believer. Believers are ushered into the kingdom they have inherited by virtue of their new spiritual birth. This is what the gospel means when it says that Jesus takes away the sins of the world. Those who accept what Jesus did, get to take advantage of the fact that their sins are completely gone—and God not only removes them; He chooses to forget them completely.

We usually think of judgment as the reason Jesus will return at the end of days, but judgment is only part of the story. Hebrews 9:27-28 (NASB) puts it this way:

27  And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

28  so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

So the other reason He is coming back is for salvation without reference to sin. Sin won’t even enter the picture when Jesus returns. This is true because those who place their trust in His finished work on their behalf have already died with Him. Consequently when Jesus returns, He will do so without reference to sin as far as we as believers are concerned. It’s the only just action. Our sin was already judged and condemned. The sentence was death, and Jesus served the sentence in full. God would be unjust to punish our sins again, judge them a second time, or ever bring them up again at all. Therefore, just as He says, our sins are taken away, removed as far as the east is from the west, and He will remember them no more.

James 2:12(NASB)

12  So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.

The law of liberty is that we should trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. We are free to rest in Him and watch Him direct our paths. That’s the heart of judgment for the believer. The believer believed.

We’ve seen in our recent study of Colossians chapter one that we are saints and holy ones. In the revelation given to John the Holy Spirit says that judgment is made for us and against “Babylon”, or the power that rules the world.

Revelation 18:20 (NASB)

20  "Rejoice over her [Babylon], O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her."

Revelation 20:4-6 (NASB)

4  Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

5  The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

6  Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

This part is talking about believers; those whose names are written in the Book of Life. Next we’ll skip down to verse eleven to see what has come to be called “the white throne judgment.”

Revelation 20:11-15 (NASB)

11  Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

12  And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.

13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

14  Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

15  And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

The dead, those who remain in Adam, those who do not accept the gift of God are judged according to their deeds and condemned. This is because their deeds are the result of self-effort rather than trust in the Lord and whatever is not of faith is sin.

Daniel foresaw the way God would treat His children as well.

Daniel 7:21-22 (NASB)

21  "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them

22  until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

Because there is no bad news in the good news we need not worry about judgment day.

Judgment is simple. The Bible teaches about one judgment. It teaches that because of God’s grace the saints are already adjudged righteous and will take possession of the kingdom they have inherited.

Resting in Jesus’ work at the cross frees us from concern about whether we have done enough work, or the right kind of work. It’s not about what we’ve done. It’s about what He did. It’s about the fruit borne as we walk by faith, trusting that Jesus works through us.

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.