Eternal Judgement

Brethren, we are blessed by God to have a wonderful and unbelievable destiny laid out for us through Jesus Christ. Let me just show a scripture that addresses that in Ephesians 1.3-6. And it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, Yah is Paul giving God thanks for the blessing that God is actually giving us.

But God is giving us thanks. Who has blessed us? He has really blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. And in other words, through Christ. In other words, we have blessings for us that you and I cannot begin to comprehend through Christ. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, God has chosen there would be some people that would be selected. He predetermined that that would be so. So He's giving us that opportunity. There was His predetermination. There was His desire.

That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. As we are in the sermon, that we become clean, that we have absolute love, that we are not living in a world of suspicion, but that we are holy and without blame. Verse 5, having predestined, having predetermined us, you and I, to the sonship, as it should have been translated, as sons through Jesus Christ. So we are to be the sons of God, obviously through the begetting power of God's Holy Spirit, but through the work of Jesus Christ. We delegated everything to Jesus Christ to execute.

In other words, think about it in a large corporation. You've got the owner of the company, but then you have an executive director, the one that is the chief executive officer, the one that does all the things there for the execution of the goal of that company. And in a sense, Jesus Christ, in that simple comparison, is the executive officer that the Father is delegated to all the responsibility to fulfill this mission. So he is predestined to sonship as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, you know, as sons of the Father, according to the good pleasure of his will, according to his will.

That is God's will to the ultimate, to the praise of the glory of his grace, because of the graciousness of what he's doing to us, by which he made us accepted in the beloved, which is Christ. He made us accepted through Jesus Christ. So all things have been delegated to Christ in this great plan of salvation. Look at Matthew 11, verse 26. We did cover the Scripture a few months ago in our Bible study going through Matthew.

So in Matthew 11, verse 26 and 27, we read Matthew 11, verse 26. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. Yeah, we have Christ and praying to God and saying, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. In other words, this is your will, this is your desire, according to God's will. And what was it good in his sight? That all things have been delivered to me by my Father. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, as it has in the English Standard Version.

The Amplified Version says, all things have been entrusted and delivered to me. In other words, everything's been delegated to Jesus Christ. So God has a plan to realize. And that plan and that purpose is for you and I to be children of God.

And that plan requires a being to drive it and to make it happen. And the Father delegated that to Jesus Christ to make it happen. The ultimate end result is for you and I to be the children of God. And to be children of God, you and I got to be like God. And to be like God, that means we're going to be perfect like God is.

So our goal is perfection. Now, as human beings, that is an awesome goal. Because we can go up to a point and then God will do the rest. But we got to aim towards that goal. And so, in Hebrews 6, Paul writes it in a slightly different way. And he says in Hebrews 6, starting in verse 1, Hebrews 6, verse 1, Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary or principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection.

So, let us talk about what you and I need to do to be perfect. And in fact, the rest of Hebrews is basically about that, of us working towards perfection through that high priest that is atoning us through a new and living way. So that the discussion of Paul and the rest of Hebrews is about that goal to go to perfection. And he says, we have laid out by God a way to salvation, which you and I know is through repentance, through faith in Christ, through baptism, through the laying on of hands, receiving God's Holy Spirit, and therefore, through that, there'll be a resurrection, and therefore, there'll be an eternal judgment.

And that's what he says. That is the foundational way to salvation. And that's what he says. Let us go on to perfection, not laying again that foundation. Why? Because that foundation is laid, and you and I can't change it. It's solid, it's rock, rock solid, and therefore, let us walk down that towards perfection. And therefore, he says, not laying again the foundation of repentance from the Edwards and of faith towards God.

In fact, if you think about it, it's three pairs. The first pair is repentance from the Edwards and faith towards God, which parallels the first step in God's Holy Day seasons, which is the Passover and 11 bread, which imply, basically, repentance from the Edwards and faith towards God that we commit and go. And these are the lights that we have faith through the days of 11 bread. Move forwards! Granted, they were not such a good example of it, but that is less than that. Then we get to the second pair, which is the doctrine of baptisms and laying on our vans, which again parallels the second season of God's Holy Days, which is Pentecost.

And so there is the giving off of the Holy Spirit, therefore, the baptisms and the commitment we make, and receiving God's Holy Spirit through the laying on our vans. And then we get to the third and final pair, which is the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment, which parallels the third season of God's Holy Days, which is the fall Holy Days, which include trumpets, atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Lost Great Day.

All of those parallel. These two principles here, or these two foundational principles, are on the way to eternal life, which is through the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

In previous sermons, I have covered all these sections up to and including resurrection of the dead. Today, my intent is to cover you, or to focus on this section of eternal judgment.

And I want to add a little bit of a positive look at it, because it actually, eternal judgment, quite often, by nature, the human mind thinks of eternal judgment as, ooh, I'm going to be judged and I'm going to be criticized.

But I want to add a positive approach to it as well, because the other one is true. But it actually, judgment is when you will be rewarded or judged according to your works, and therefore you're going to be rewarded according to your works. So, judgment is a time, a positive time, to look forward of receiving our positive rewards for our good works.

Now, the world has this little bit, as usual, because that's Satan's trick. Satan is to take a little bit of truth and, ever so slightly, just twist it a bit, to just have a little bit of a wrong twist to it so people go in the wrong direction. And the world obviously takes the approach correctly that God is merciful. But the little twist that Satan puts into it is the thinking that says, well, therefore, people will never be rejected. So you can do as you are, just accept Jesus and you'll not be rejected. And you are saved. You see, people forget that there will be a debt of judgment, a reward of good and bad, of both, of good and bad. And judgment is a major theme throughout the Bible, and particularly in the New Testament.

Let's just start a few points here, first in the New Testament, and look at it here. God will judge everyone. Look at Romans 2, verse 16. Romans 2, verse 16.

Romans 2, verse 16.

And it says, in the day, and stalking the outside, breaking into the context here, but it says, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, God will judge the secrets of men.

So it means things that we say or do that we think other people don't know.

And he will do so, it says, yeah, by Jesus Christ.

So the judgment, God's judgment, will be executed by Jesus Christ. So everything, you look at it, Jesus Christ was the Word, and through Him everything was created. Jesus Christ died for us. Jesus Christ is going to judge us. The whole plan of execution and completion of you and I to be children of God is centered around this executive. He is the one that is being delegated a responsibility to do it.

Obviously, the owner and the person that finally is responsible for it is the Father. So they're both involved. But Christ is the one that is going to do it, because the Father will judge. He says, God will judge, but He will judge by Jesus Christ.

So there is going to be a judgment.

And so the question is, who will judge? Jesus Christ. But let's look a little bit more about that. Let's look a little bit more about that. Look at John 5.

Because we want to cover that very carefully. There it is Jesus Christ that will do the judgment. John 5, verse 26 and 27. He says, what is the Father? Has life in Himself?

You know, you and I don't have lives in ourselves. We have life, but you know, after it's like a clock running down. And as the years go by, it feels like that clock is running down quicker and quicker. We don't have life in ourselves. If we had life in ourselves, we would never get old.

So just as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. God gave to the Son after He was resurrected to have life in Himself. Of course, the Word had life in Himself, but He emptied Himself. He emptied Himself, as we read in Philippians 2, verse 6. He emptied Himself, and then He became a human being. So upon His death, the Father resurrected Him and gave Him back. He had! And so the Father granted the Son to have life in Himself. And, verse 27, He has given Him, as given Christ, the Father has given Christ authority to execute judgment. The Father has given Christ authority to execute judgment. Also, because He is the Son of Man.

So judgment has been delegated to Jesus Christ. And then continue, do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all, all, who are in the grass, so whether He is a very good person, or whether He is the most wicked person you could ever think of. And you can think, well, that person was terrible. He says, all, which includes that terrible person, all, who are in the grass, will hear His voice. Everyone that is dead will be resurrected. That's what it's saying. Everyone, good and bad. Everyone!

As I say in the Frickons, alles, alles, that means everyone, everything, everything. It's all comprehensive. Verse 29, and come forth, in other words, will be resurrected. Those who have done good, those that have deemed to be good by the time they die, in other words, that they are in Christ, to the resurrection of life. In other words, to the first resurrection, which is a resurrection direct to eternal life.

And those who have done evil, in other words, they have not been forgiven yet. They have not been washed by Christ's blood. They are not in Christ. So, because every man has done evil, but they haven't been washed yet. Those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. Or maybe your Bible says condemnation, but the Greek word is krinos, which means judgment. It's a bad translation. Some translations have the resurrection of judgment. Others translations put condemnation. It's not a resurrection of being condemned. It's a resurrection to be judged. It was a time of probation. Probation, a time of probation. It's not a snap judgment. It's a time of probation. So, they'll be resurrected to a time of judgment. So, you and I are either going through the time of probation now, in this life, or we'll go through the time of probation later in the resurrection of judgment. The final outcome is a judgment which has an eternal decision will be made. It was an eternal judgment. It was a judgment or a decision that as an eternal end result will be made. Whether you're going through that process now or whether you'll go through that process later.

And the judgment outcome of that decision will be either eternal life or eternal death.

That'll be the outcome of it. Look at John 5, verse 21, which is just a few verses earlier. Verse 21. It says, For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them.

And the Father is the one that raised the dead. The Father raised Jesus Christ. And even so, the Son gives life to whom the Son will.

Why? Because he's got the authority through the Father. So the Father raises, but it will be the Son that will be executing it. The only one that the Father did directly without going through Christ was Christ's resurrection, because obviously he was dead. But the others, he is now delegating it to the Son. So yes, the Father is resurrecting, but through the Son. And the Son gives life to whom he will.

That means the Father gave the decision-making process of who will be resurrected to the Son. What I mean resurrected means on the first resurrection, of course, because they all will be resurrected. And that is the judgment of the dead, isn't it?

Because if you are dead, and you are resurrected on the first resurrection, that means God, through Christ, or in other words, Christ, because it says, yes, he will give life to whom he will. So Christ will give you the honor to be part of the first resurrection, which is a resurrection to life. And it says, the Son will give life to whom he wishes, or whom he will. So the Son will make that decision, which means the Son has the right to judge.

Simple as that.

For the Father, verse 22, judges no one.

Well, we just read the Father judges through Christ. But what he's saying is literally, specifically, the Father is not involved in actual details of the judgment of Mr. A, or Mrs. B, or whatever.

It's the Son that's doing that, according to the will of the Father, according to the precepts and the outlining principles that the Father gave him. Because the Son does everything according to the Father's will.

For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son. I don't think it can be any clearer. Sure, God judges everyone, but literally, he's not involved in the actual judgment process. He delegated that to the Son. So that all, all should honor the Son.

Not just some, all.

So if you honor the Son, does not mean you being disrespectful to the Father. Think about it. Because some have said, oh, if you're honoring the Son, you're putting the Father in a corner. No, you're not. Because that's what he says. That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father, who sent him, who delegated him that responsibility. So in fact, Yah is saying, you better honor the Son. And the real fact that you're honoring the Son is no disrespect to the Father. In fact, it is respectful to the Father because that's what the Father wants you and I to do.

So God judges through Jesus Christ, or by Jesus Christ. Look at Acts 17, verse 30 and 31.

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked. You see, when you and I, when people are ignorant, and they do something wrong, and they don't know better, God will show mercy.

But now, but now, commands all men everywhere to repent. Once you're not ignorant, once God has removed the veil from your mind, and you get it, then we better repent. Because He has appointed a day in which God will judge the world in righteousness. God will judge the world. God the Father will judge the world in righteousness. Through whom? Or by whom? By the man whom God the Father has ordained. God has ordained that Jesus Christ will be the one that actually do the judgment for the Father.

He has assurance of this, He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.

So it's very clear that judgment will be done by Jesus Christ. But some may ask, but then what about what Christ said He are in John 8?

Now let's look at John 8. John 8.

Now we've seen very clearly that the Father will judge through Christ. We've seen that He's be delegated to Christ. Then how do we read in John 8, verse 15 and 16? Turn with me to verse 15 and 16 of John 8, where Christ says, You human beings, you Jews, you human beings, we all human beings, we heard even in the semanette, you know, people make judgments and become suspicious. People are making judgments. How are people making judgments? Because we're judging according to the flesh. Because we're judging according to what we hear, or hear say, or whatever it is, or the news that we hear, we're making those conclusions. In other words, we're making it in the flesh because we don't really know the real fact. And the real fact in the end is the heart. And you and I, in the flesh, do not know the real facts.

So therefore Christ says, I judge no one. Now you've got to understand the context. The context is saying, as you are judging in the flesh, I judge no one in the flesh. It says, and if I do judge, which I will, as we've seen, my judgment is true. Why will Jesus Christ's judgment be true? Because He's not going to judge in the flesh. He says, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. And He says, as it is written in your law, that the destiny of two men is true. So He is going to judge, according to God's principles, according to God's instructions, the way to please the Father, which is righteous judgment.

It's not judgment in the flesh. I judge according to God's will. That's what Christ is saying. I judge according to what God wants me to do. And that's why it says God judges, but He judges by the man that is appointed to do so, which is Christ. So let's look at that in Old Testament. Because we know a couple of things. We know that Christ is going to be coming. He is the Lord of Lords. He is the King of Kings. So He is going to be the King in a world tomorrow, ruling on earth. We know that He is going to judge. So with that context, let's read Psalm 98.

Psalm 98. Psalm 98.

Let's read straight down to verse 5 and 6. In other words, this is a psalm giving praise to God, to the Lord. As it's got a little heading there, psalm of praise to the Lord for His salvation and judgment. And then it says, the Lord is made known. His salvation is righteous and He has revealed the sight of the nations. He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel. And look at verse 5. He is made known to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a psalm, with trumpets and the sound of a horn. Shout joyfully before the Lord.

Y-H-W-H, Yahweh, or Jehovah, or whichever way you want to say it. The King. Who is going to be the King, the King in a world tomorrow, reigning on earth? The King of Kings. That is Y-H-W-H. The word Lord, Y-H-W-H, can apply to the Father, can apply to the Son. And you've got to read the context to determine which one it is. Now look a bit further. In verse 9. For He is coming to judge the earth. Who is coming to judge the earth? It's Christ's second coming, and He's going to judge the earth. And it all has been delegated to Him. So who is He? It's Christ. With righteousness you shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity. So we see that this is also clearly reflected in the Old Testament. But, you know the Scripture, for instance, about when Moses was in the desert, and he had all these people coming to Him to ask questions and make decisions, make judgmental decisions about different issues, and he was overloaded. And he just couldn't handle it all. And then his father-in-law said, Look Moses, you need to delegate, and you need to have judges over 10, and judges over 50, and judges over 100. So likewise, just like the Father delegated to Jesus Christ, judgment, Christ will also delegate that further down to you and I in the Kingdom of God. Look at 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 2.

Do you not know that the saints that you and I God willing resurrected as spirit beings, the saints will judge the world? Obviously, under the direction according to the world of Christ, and under the direction according to the world of the Father. You see, there is that delegated chain of authority.

It's like, for instance, let's say there are people working at a home office, and you can say, well, so-and-so is my manager, and therefore I work for that person at the home office of the church. But you know, in the end, that person is working for Christ. So our boss is Christ. And in fact, we're working for God, doing God's work. But you know, that's been delegated down. It's the same thing, provided those judges are righteous judges, specifically and carefully chosen and picked and prepared to judge.

And that's what it will be. You read in Revelation 20, and it says, they will also, Revelation 20, I think it's verse 4, where it says, our soul, the small and great, judging with crowns, judging, judging the people. Who are those? The saints, you and I, God willing, assisting Christ. And if the world will be judged by you, I come now, you're not learning, you're not going through that exercise in making right decisions and right judgment. Because in the end, it even says, you'll even judge the angels. You will even judge the angels.

So we need to learn now to judge. So who will judge? Obviously, it's the Father, but He delegated the execution to the Son, and the Son will further delegate down to the saints. So that's who we'll judge. But what will we, God willing, if it's you and I, and I hope it's us, that we're going to be there and under Christ, what will we judge from or according to or by? Look at Ecclesiastes 12. Ecclesiastes 12 is the end section of Ecclesiastes. And there it's talking to young people.

And I remember once I was in South Africa, and Mr. Faye used to say, he quoted the Scripture. There was a man that was 40 years old in that Scripture, and he says, that man was young and tender. So he said, well, if he's 40 years old, he's still young. So I'll never forget that. But anyway, let's go to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 12, writing to the young people. And therefore, young could be even 40 years old. Not 12, or not only 12. So let's look at Ecclesiastes 12. And he says, remember now the Creator in the days of your youth.

While you're young, before the difficult days come and years draw near, when you say, I have no pleasure in them. Why? Because I've got the spine, I've got my back is sore, my side is sore, and oh, my knee is sore, and oh, and my gout is bothering me, and I don't know what else.

So before those days, remember the Lord. He says, remember your Creator. And then a bit further, it concludes that section, as you can see in verse 13 and 14, it says, Let us hear the conclusion of all matter. Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is man's all. For God will bring, I was going to bring the judgment God, but understand, He does it, it delegates it through Christ and through the saints. God will bring what? Every work. Every work.

So what will be judged by? According to the Bible, the law, the testimony, that's what. And against what we've done. Every work. He says, every work into judgment, including every secret thing. As we saw earlier on, He says, the secret things, good and bad, whether good or evil, whether good or evil.

So therefore, time will come for judgment. And judgment is a time, not just of sorrow, but of rejoicing. A time of great excitement. Think about it. A time to be enthusiastic about it. Because if you are thriving and doing and exercising to do and striving to do what is right, judgment, it's exciting. Why? Because it's the time when God is going to inform you and I His decision of what job you're going to have, in other words, He's going to give you a job description for eternity.

And you know, when you get a new job, are you excited? I've got this new job. Wow! I'm excited! I've got this new job. Well, God is going to give you the ideal job for you. Perfectly suited for you. And it's so perfectly suited for you that you'll always be happy with that job for eternity. You'll never get bored. Wow! That's going to be exciting. That's the day of judgment. That'll be the greatest moment of your life! Think about it. And you read about scriptures like there'll be a marriage supper and there'll be a time when decisions will be made and you'll be rewarded according to your works.

And then you think even beyond the millennium, there'll be a new heaven and new earth and a magnificent, magnificent, magnificent reality of beyond that, that you and I don't even know because God isn't Paulist. But it's going to be great. But you and I just cannot comprehend because our physical minds just cannot grasp it. And that's why I also says, I go and my father says there are many mansions and I go and prepare a place for you. Because Jesus Christ, as your and my I priest, is intervening for you now and helping you and I to grow for that job. And so he's preparing that job for us.

And look at Revelation chapter 20, verse 11 and 12. Revelation 20, verse 11 and 12. He says, Then I saw a great white throne and he was sat on it.

And there was no place found on them. And I saw the great and small standing before God and the books were open. What books? The Bible. These books. These books were open. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. So there will be a time of resurrection, a resurrection of judgment. And these people will be resurrected. We saw earlier on that the people have done evil. So they now will have to be taught the truth. You've learned that in more detail on probably in a sermon during the last great day of the feast. And you'll be taught the truth. And you would come to repent. And then you'll be baptized. And then you'll have to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh over a time period of probation. And you'll be next to the people that you've offended. Or some of the people will be next to the people that they cheated the inheritance from. And their parents will be right there, and they're going to have to make peace and reconcile. It's not going to be an easy time to reconcile, but you know it's a time to eat humble pie and be prepared to eat humble pie. And all those people, everyone has to eat humble pie and repent and reconcile and come to that point and overcome. And then it says, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. As they overcome, as they make this, their name is written in the Book of Life. In other words, they will then be given in due time eternal life.

And the dead were judged, in other words, these dead, which are now resurrected, will be judged according to their works. Their works in the past, and works during that period as well, by the things were written in these books in the Bible.

So what will we be judged according to the Bible and against our deeds? And so works, good and bad, open and secret. So we've seen who's going to do the judgment. We've seen what will be judged by. Now the question is, when is the judgment? When is that judgment? Is it a snap decision? Well, we mentioned already that it's not. But what about you and I? Look at 1 Peter 4, verse 17. 1 Peter 4, verse 17. 1 Peter 4, verse 17. He says, For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. So this judgment, this time of probation, this time of valuation, is now on the church of God. Those few that have been selected and are being prepared to rule in the world tomorrow, they've been judged now.

When Christ comes at the 7th Trump, the last Trump, He will then make a decision. And that decision is, do I leave this person sleeping in the grave for another thousand years, or do I resurrect him and her now? So we now have been through this judgment process, which is the probation period. And when Christ comes back, it will be the time of the judgment of the dead. In other words, if you are dead, and Christ is coming, you'll make a judgment of the dead, says, You dead, you're going to stay dead for another thousand years, or you dead, you're going to resurrect now into the first resurrection. So that is a judgment of the dead.

But for us now, this period of judgment of probation is starting now, and there will be a decision made at that resurrection. Which probably, knowing God, it would have been made already by the time you die, and God has already decided He's made it. That's it. Many of us see the fruits of people and say, well, they've definitely made it. But it's not our decision, it's God's. But there it is. It's the time of the judgment of the dead. Therefore, we are told in Luke 21, verse 34-36, Luke 21, Luke 21, Luke 21, verse 34. He says, take heed to yourselves, and that's to us. That's an instruction to us. Seeing that we are being judged now, in fact, even the ones that are being judged later, or will be judged later, all the words will be taken into consideration, so they better also take heed. But particularly us, now, it says, take heed to yourselves, let your heart, lest your hearts be weighed down with different things of this life. Whatever they are, whatever it is that is pulling you and pulling me down.

Let's be careful that we analyze ourselves, because you and I are being judged now, because we are in the Church of God. And so we've got to look at ourselves, and say, what is bringing me down individually, and make a commitment to strive to overcome? And if you and I are struggling with it, on our knees, go to Christ, and say, please help me with more of your spirit to help me overcome. Because I am struggling. And you know what? We will give you the help, but you and I have to do our part, too.

So it says, do that, otherwise you're going to get caught with the weight down of the cares of this life, and the day come on you unexpectedly. You see, we are being evaluated now. How do you know when your day comes, or my day comes?

I could die tomorrow, and my day's coming. You don't know. I don't know. So, you know, people start saying, oh well, we've got this time, and accounting, and so many years, and this is going to happen, and that's going to happen. You're fine. So what? And what if your scenario is wrong?

The important thing is, what are we doing about it now? Are we living the right way now? Take heed. Therefore, it says, well, verse 36, for it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the earth. It will come on those that are on the face of the earth. Now, some people say, oh, but it will not be a snare to us, because we in the church. And I say to that individual, let me read right verse 35. It says, for it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the earth, except those in the church. Well, it doesn't say that. So don't put that exception in there. It says to every one of us, so each one of us has to take heed and be careful. Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass. Or quite often people think, oh, well, escape the tribulation. It doesn't say just tribulations. It says all these things could be the things that are because of your life that are pulling you down, that you overcome. So that you can stand before the Son of Man. But that means when that day of judgment comes, you and I can look Christ in the face and you and I are not embarrassed.

Can we say that? Well, we still got a long way to go. I got a long way to go. We all have a long way to go. But we got to take heed. You know the scripture in Matthew 25 where it says there's ten virgins. Five were wise and five were unwise. Remember that's talking to the church. It's talking to the church. There's also scripture that says all men ought to die once and then the judgment. So once you're dead, when you're resurrected, that is the day of judgment. If you're going to be in the first resurrection, that judgment has happened. Bang! It's done. After you're dead, you've been judged, you're resurrected in the first resurrection. If you're in the second resurrection, then you've got further probation, further working. What does the point will be that you've been all these years in the church and maybe you just haven't quite finished it and God maybe feels that you need to be in the second resurrection? I don't know. I make no decisions and then you're going to say, oh, I still got to prove myself further.

We don't know. We don't know. But the point is there'll be a judgment. So there will be and we've seen when is there a judgment? The judgment will be at that resurrection. There will be a time of judgment. All will be judged.

Think about people. Think about people that you don't know. For instance, before the flood, there were millions of people that lived there. You and I don't even know who they were. You don't even know their names. They'll be judged. They'll be resurrected. People during the time of the black death in Europe during the 1400s. You don't know those people. They'll be raised up to judge. People that died in Hiroshima. They'll be judged. That newborn baby that died will come up there as well and will have an opportunity to grow and learn the truth. The first resurrection will be for the saints. The first resurrection will be for the saints. Look in Revelation 20. We quoted that a little earlier or briefly mentioned, but we didn't turn to it. Revelation 20. Verse 4 says, and I saw thrones and the judgment was given to them. And then at the end of verse 4 says, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. So during the millennium. So the first resurrection is for the saints. And then it says, and the rest of the dead did not live again till after a thousand years. That's the second resurrection. And then they will be judged. And then you read scriptures like Matthew 11 and Matthew 12, where Christ said it will be more horrible to those people that were in Sodom and Gomorrah. Then to you that are living here at the time of Christ, because had they seen what you are seeing, they would have repented. And look at the people of Nineveh. They repented. And was somebody a lot lower than me, just Jonah, and they repented. They will point fingers at you and say, come on, we repented. Why didn't you repent during the time of Christ? So they all will be resurrected on that day of judgment.

And they all will be together. So now, let's look at the court case. Now you've got a court. Think about judgment in a court. A court situation. First, who is the prosecutor? When you've got a court case, there's a prosecutor, there's a defense attorney, there are witnesses. So let's look at those. Who is the prosecutor? Who is the person that institutes legal proceedings against someone?

Look at Revelation 12, verse 9 and 10. Revelation 12, verse 9 and 10. And the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. Deceives the whole world. I think it's important to just take a moment here and think about the word deception. Satan's and the demons are restrained.

In other words, they can't just come here and cause havoc, like a mob coming out and invading, because they are restrained. They don't like to, but they can't. But they're only allowed to do one thing. Deceive. Lie. Chief. Now, deception. For it to be deception. If I tell you, for instance, something, whatever it is, I can't think of it in an example now. But if I tell you something, say for instance, this water is good for you to drink.

And I give you a glass of filthy, dirty water. And it stinks. Are you going to be deceived to drink it? No. So, for somebody to deceive you to drink a water, which is bad, is going to be the water that looks good, that looks drinkable, doesn't stink, smells good, it's got a good odor. Oh, it's full of chlorine. I don't want to drink. Or whatever. Sometimes you drink water, and it's just drinking chlorine. I don't know if this happens to you, but sometimes they pour it from the tap, and that's what it tastes like. But anyway, for you to be deceived that this water is good water, it's got to look good. Right? Otherwise you're not going to be deceived. So, it's got to be a lot of good with a little bit of bad in it. Now, if you are not very afraid of certain things, then just a little bit of bad, some bad, any bit of bad, you'll accept it because you're not peculiar. But if you're one person that you're very peculiar for health, then you're going to read the label, and you're going to read the small print, and you're going to read all these things, and making sure in the small print that, yeah, it looks good, but now you don't want to be deceived that this is GMO, whatever, whatever, whatever. You're not, you don't want to do so. You're going to look very carefully. And even then, you could be taking the thing, and you think it's good, and a few years later you realize, oh, there's something in the eye that is not good. I didn't know that that was not good. You see, this is how Satan works in deception. Deception must be full of good, and just a tiny little bit, just a tiny little bit, a little twist, ever so slight, a little twist, and that is enough. Because that little twist, imagine if he's sending a rocket to the moon, and it's just a little micron of an inch off the right position. By the time he gets to the moon, it will miss the target by miles. By miles. But it was only a micron out. And so that's why you and I have to continuously make adjustments in our life and continuously evaluate ourselves. But Satan's role is to deceive the whole world. And that's what's happening today. The whole world, not just a few, not just the majority, not just 51%, it's probably 99.999999%. That's a lot. So that's his target. And he is the one that wants to condemn you. Because he's the one that is out there and accusing the brethren. Look at first standing. And he says, for the accuser of our brethren will accuse them before our God day and night.

Day and night. He's nagging God. Look at what so-and-so has done. Oh, look at what so-and-so has done again. Look at what so-and-so has done again. Ding, ding, ding, ding. Day and night. He's deceiving you and I, and he's accusing us. So who's the prosecutor? Satan and he's cloning, let's call it that. Now, who's the defense attorney? Look at 1 John chapter 2 verse 1. 1 John chapter 2 verse 1. My little children, these things are right to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate, a defense attorney with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Our attorney, our advocate, is Jesus Christ. That's who's acting for us. And look at Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7.

Hebrews chapter 7 verse 21. Just the last part of verse 21. It says that He's a priest according to all of Malchis' attack. And then in verse 24 it says, but He, because He continues forever as an unchangeable priesthood, and He's able to say to the utmost those who come to God through Him, since He always makes intercession for them. He is interceding. He is our advocate. He is our defense attorney, always backing us up. So now we have a court situation. He has a prosecutor. He has a defense attorney, crushed himself. Now, we're the witnesses. Look at 1 Samuel 12 verse 5. 1 Samuel 12 verse 5.

1 Samuel 12 verse 5. This is Samuel's address at Saul's coronation. In verse 5 he says, Then He said to them, The LORD is witness against you. And He is anointed. He is witness this day. It was the Father and He is anointed, which is Jesus Christ. Our witnesses. Then you can see it. Look at Romans 1 verse 9. Romans 1 verse 9. Romans 1 verse 9. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son. So God is our witness.

But we all are witnesses as well. We can witness for you our brothers. Did you know that? 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 10. It says, You are witnesses and God also. So He's writing out to the brethren. He says, You are witnesses. That we have behaved correctly. So you can vouch for other people. So there are other witnesses. You know, you can bring other people into court as witnesses. But there's something else. What they bring into court as witness sometimes is physical evidence, right? You know, they bring all this physical evidence. Whatever it is, there's a witness. In other words, our works are also witnesses. Look at Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2 and 3. There's the seven letters to the seven churches. And in each one of those letters at the beginning, it says, for instance, verse 2, I know your works. In verse 9, I know your works. In verse 13, I know your works. In verse 19, I know your works. In every single one of them, Christ says, I know your works. In other words, the works are a witness. Your witness and my witness. Let's look at two examples. In chapter 3, verse 8, it's talking about the faithful church, the church in Philadelphia. And it says, I know your works. And I've set the open door for you to do the works. So yeah, it's the witness, the works, and God has opened the door for us to do a work. Look at, for instance, the other church, the church of Laodicea, in verse 15. I know your works. That you are not a cold, no hot. The works, in one case, is giving him or her or those people the green light, think about it. And the works in the other case is giving them a red light. It's just basically the works of witnesses. So now we've got, as I mentioned, yeah, it's the situation. You've got a court case. You've got a prosecutor. You've got a defense attorney. And you've got witnesses. And now you've got a court case. Think about it. Yeah, Satan coming before God's throne. Look at what he has done! Or look at what she's done again! And Christ says, fine, but he or she, he's repentant. Look at that. He's come on his knees and he's repented. And he's been baptized and therefore he's repented. But Satan says, ha! But look, this is after his baptism, after her baptism. He's still done this. Now I want to ask you a question. How much ammunition are you giving Satan to accuse you? How much ammunition are you giving Satan to accuse you?

Are we repentant? Yeah, well, Paul said, you know, not in Romans 7, nothing dwells good in me. But then in Romans 8 he says, now there's no condemnation. In Romans 8, verse 1, so, and we're reading John, he says he's fightful to forgive us if we confess that we admit. So we've got our part to do and we're going to repent and confess to him. But again, he also says in Hebrews, it's a fearful thing to count before the judgment throne of God. Because the people in Old Testament, they were punished to death by stone, and it says in Hebrews 10, if you have done something wrong and you've done it against Christ, not against some whatever, but against Christ, how big of that punishment will be? So we've got to be careful. And that's why it says, overcome, overcome. How many times do we read in the Bible, overcome, overcome? And he that overcomes will inherit eternal life. You see, he that overcomes will receive the final outcome. So the other question that I ask you, because I ask you a question, how much ammunition are you giving Satan? The opposite side of the coin of that question is, are you giving Christ the ammunition for him to fight for you? Are you giving Christ the ammunition for him to fight for you?

By being repentant, by having good works, yes, occasionally you slip up, like it says, you know, I'm in the light, but you slip up. And I said, we all do, but we are trying, we go back, we confess, and we keep going and we overcome, and we're really trying to get better and better as we go along. Look at 1 Corinthians 11. This is a scripture normally read around the time of the Passover, but I want to bring a point here in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 31. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 31. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 31.

I was talking about the Passover, that we need to examine ourselves, and we need to make sure that we take the Passover in a worthy manner, because if we're doing it in an unworthy manner, we're not discerning the Lord's body. But then he says, verse 31, for if we would judge ourselves, in other words, if we examine ourselves, if we discern and look at ourselves and make that judgment ourselves, and therefore we come to Christ and we confess, and we are judging ourselves, and we're giving Christ a munition to fight for us, then he says we will not be judged, because our judgment will actually be a reward. A reward. So, brethren, judgment, eternal judgment, is a fact of life. It will happen. It's a foundational doctrine of the Church of God. Yes, it is. And we know it is required for us to be sons and daughters of God. Yes, eternal judgment can be looked at, that yes, for the bad, it will be a terrible time. But for the good, it will be an exciting time. And so you and I want to be on the good side. So that eternal judgment is something that we look forward to, because finally there's justice on the earth. Finally there's judgment and justice on the earth, everything that is good. And man, we can do things and can be rewarded for our works, and everything will be done right. What a happy time! That's why it says it's the time of the Jubilee, when it will be free. Free from the bad ones. And therefore, being a basic doctrine of the Church, it's a foundation that is laid. Let us go on to perfection.