Judging Ourselves

You see a description in several different verses here in the New Testament of something that I want to talk about, some today. I'll read this to begin with in 2 Corinthians 5.

And actually, I'll back up into chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4.

Paul is talking here about how it is that we are physical, we are in this life, we are pretty limited, we are quite temporary, and we yearn for a more permanent existence. We yearn for eternal life. And that's really what God says He holds out before us. But He says here in chapter 4, I'll read a few verses before we get into chapter 5. Chapter 4 verse 16, it says, so we don't lose heart, even though our outer nature, our outer man is wasting away, our inner man is being renewed. When? Day by day by day. That's what He tells us. He wants us to realize that even though as human beings we age and we may be declining some, and certainly Paul not only had, I don't know how much of an age deficit he had, but he had tribulation difficulties, many different types of things that he endured.

But He says even though we might physically be troubled with different things, our inner man needs to be renewed day by day. That's an important thing to keep in mind. And He describes verse 18, because we look not at what can be seen, but at what can't be seen, for what can be seen as temporary, but what cannot be seen as eternal. So that's what He was making a point about. But here in chapter 5, in verse 6, He says, So we are always confident, even though we know that while we're at home in the body, while we're still here in this physical form, we're away from the Lord. And we're not together. Some people try to make this say something about going to heaven, but it's just talking about the difference between physical existence and ultimately eternal existence, eternal life. He says we're always confident because, in verse 7, we walk by faith and not by sight. And that's what we are in the process of doing. We're learning to walk by faith. Yes, we do have confidence that we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we're at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. And so again, it's not talking about going to heaven, but it is talking about, in this physical existence, we are yearning for a future existence that is permanent and will be with the Lord at that time. For, he says in verse 10, For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what He has done in the body, whether good or bad, good or evil.

The point that I'm wanting to focus on here is that all of us will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That means everybody. Me? You? Each one of us ultimately are going to answer to God. It's interesting. One of the billboards, I see a number of billboards going to Fulton every Sabbath. A lot of them are very positive. A number of them are church-related. Many of them are dealing with miraculous power of God to create life. One of them says, I think it says, what does it say? God does exist. And then it just has a picture of a baby there. The miracle of what God creates through even their limited human form. But another one also says, of course, some of them are pretty out there, but one of them says, when you die, you will meet God. One way or the other, you will meet God. It doesn't say anymore. And see, this reference for all of us are going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

What does that mean? What does that mean to each of us? Actually, when? When is that going to occur? When are you going to be before the judgment seat of Christ? Is that going to be at Christ's return? Is that going to be at the resurrection of the dead in Christ? Is that going to be for those who are still alive and changed? Is that going to be when what we've read about on trumpets about Christ's returning? And how can we properly prepare for that judgment? And maybe more importantly, how can we know and know that we know that we are ready to stand before the judgment seat of Christ? See, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Paul Holy Days, actually, prophetically, the return of Christ, the binding of Satan, the beginning of the millennium, ultimately, the rule of God over the earth and then beyond in the white throne judgment. Now, those are all prophetically pictured in the Paul Holy Days, and they all deal. Actually, leading up to that intervention from God, it deals with a judgment from God upon the whole earth, upon all the inhabitants of the earth, the wrath of God is going to come upon this obedient mankind. Now, the Holy Days outlined for us the overview of God's design of dealing with people, dealing with men. And you could certainly say that God clearly has that prerogative. He has that right. He has the authority to judge His creation. Now, I want to point out a couple of verses here. In Psalm 96, you see a very positive chapter. This is one of the chapters here from about 90-95 to 100 that all appear to be dealing with, prophetically, the kingdom of God, the rule of Christ, Christ coming as the King. But what does it tell us here in Psalm 96? Verse 1, I sing, O sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth, sing to the Lord, bless His name. Tell of His salvation. From day to day, declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all people. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. He is to be revered above all gods, for all the gods of the people are idols. But God is the Creator God. He's the one who made the heavens and the earth. And down in verse 10, so say among the nations, the Lord is King. The world is firmly established. It shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad, let the earth rejoice, let the sea roar, let the field exult, and in verse 13, before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth. And He will judge the world with righteousness and people with His truth. See, this is a chapter that is talking about the preeminence of God, about His prerogative, His authority, to judge His creation.

I want to also point out, if we turn over to Daniel 9, and this is a very good chapter to read, maybe prior to the Day of Atonement, because it's a marvelous example of Daniel humbling himself before God, fasting, praying, beseeching God, asking that God would favor Him, that He would help Him. And yet, where was Daniel when he was writing this? He doesn't directly say exactly where he was, but we know he was in captivity in Babylon. Now, whenever you read about Daniel, you see he was certainly given a lot of favor from God. He was given miraculous things that there was no way to know. He could help the king know what his dream meant. He could rescue all the others, because he actually could give the right information. But see, here in chapter 9, you see Daniel realizing, you know, we're here in this captivity, because God has given us exactly what we deserve. He's going to say that. We're here in captivity because we're disobedient. We're delinquent. We don't care what God says. We spurn the prophets. We just don't pay attention. Verse 11, he says, all of Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And so the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, the curses have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against you. God has actually confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a calamity so great that what has been done against Jerusalem has never been done under the whole heaven. Just as it is written in the law of Moses in verse 13, all this calamity has come upon us. And we didn't entreat the favor of the Lord our God turning from our iniquities and reflecting on his fidelity. So the Lord kept watch over this calamity and he brought it upon us indeed. Indeed, the Lord our God is right in everything that he has done, for we have disobeyed his voice.

See, what was Daniel talking about? He said we knew better. We had actually been given some instructions and God will carry through with what he says. His word is true. So what I want to point out about this is, first of all, God gave Israel information. And with that information, with the knowledge from God of who they were, of what he was doing, of how it was he wanted them to be a special people, of how it was he wanted them to be aware of the law and to keep it.

With that knowledge from God, that required accountability. It required accountability of all of them and since they ignored it, they didn't care, they didn't obey, well then they reaped the outcome, which was in this case a punishment of going into captivity for 70 years. Now, did Daniel know that they were going to be in captivity for 70 years?

Well, it says here in chapter 9 that when he was reading the book of Jeremiah, he figured out we're going to be here for 70 years. That's what God has predicted. If we look in verse 2, I'm not going to read through that. You can read it if you want. Jeremiah 25, 11, 29, 10. Jeremiah 25, 11, and 29, 10 is where Jeremiah writes about what it was that God predicted. I'm going to send my people, the people of Judah, into captivity in Babylon, and they're going to be there for 70 years.

And so what Daniel, in captivity, realized, maybe he hadn't read that part before, maybe hadn't focused on it, but he now knew we're going to be here for 70 years. I'm probably going to die here. I don't know how long I might live, and certainly I don't know what kind of calamities I might run into.

Lions den and fiery furnaces happen around here all the time. At least that was what his awareness was. But this chapter, if you read this chapter, you see that Daniel is fasting, he is praying, he is beseeching God, and admitting we're wrong and we need to change. We need to ask you to look upon us with mercy. So clearly, God has an authority to bring to pass his judgment.

I want us to look at how it was that God explained the terms of his judgment to Israel. I think most of us are familiar with Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Leviticus 26, of course, the entirety of the bulk of, I guess I should say, because prior to that, there was no children of Israel before Abraham. But in Leviticus 26 and in Deuteronomy 28, you have a listing.

You would call them blessing and cursing chapters. And yet, what we read there is just simply what God explained about the terms of his judgment. Here in Leviticus 26, verse 3, I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. That was the positive part of this. That was the blessings part. If you respond to me and obey and serve me as I ask and tell you to, then I can bless you beyond all belief. But, of course, in verse 14, he says, If you don't obey me and do not observe all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes and abhor my ordinances, so that you will not observe all my commandments and break my covenant in turn, I will in turn do this to you.

I will bring terror upon you, consumption and fever. Your foes, in verse 17, will rule over you. In verse 18, I will continue to punish you, seven pole, for your sins I will break your proud glory. I will make your sky like iron and earth like copper. I won't send a rain. My judgment is that if you disobey, then you will be punished. Now, Israel and Judah, I know that you're familiar with what it is, the whole story, and the Old Testament regards the people of God, the people from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob's sons, ultimately the tribes, then the nation of Israel, at one point altogether called Israel, later called the house of Israel and the house of Judah, as it kind of divided.

But see, God allowed both Israel and then later Judah to go into captivity. First of all, he said that that would be done. The king of Assyria would overthrow his people, the people of Israel. And later he said that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, let's see here in Jeremiah 50, Jeremiah chapter 50, this is a very quick review of what we know, but Jeremiah chapter 50 verse 17, he said, Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions.

First, the king of Assyria will devour Israel, and now at the end, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has gnawed at its bones. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I'm going to punish the king of Babylon, and I'm going to punish the king of Assyria.

God allowed Assyria to overthrow Israel, and he allowed Babylon to overthrow the house of Judah. But he also said, and then I will punish them, because they, thinking that they are mighty and powerful and filled full of pride and arrogance, I will punish them. And so both Assyria and Babylon later would fall to other kingdoms. And God says, I predict that. He says, I can bring that to pass. And so what we find in studying this is just simply that God is able to back up his word. His judgment comes from having some knowledge, and then deciding whether or not people obey, he can then bless, or he allows them to be cursed.

Now, when you read chapter 14 and 15 and 16 in Revelation, you find an entire series in the book of Revelation of seals and trumpets and then plagues. And what are ultimately those plagues which are devastating for the people on earth? You know, what are those? Well, they are judgment from God. He calls it my judgment. He also calls it the wrath of God. Let's turn over to Revelation 14. Revelation 14 is kind of breaking in the middle of this. We don't have time to go over all of the book of Revelation today. But Revelation 14 and 15 are kind of in the middle. And I will just point out here, in chapter 14, he says, in verse 6, I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, the internal gospel, who proclaimed to those who live on the earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. He said in a loud voice, he said, fear God. Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him, who made heaven and earth a sea in the springs of water.

See, that's what this pronouncement was right here in the middle of chapter 14. And you see who that's upon. He names the language and people and nations and tribes. That's all the people on the earth. And then he says, verse 9, those who worship the beast in its image, they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the Lamb. In verse 10. See, this is describing a punishment from God, a judgment from God, because of disobedience. And so, in a sense, some of the same things are also written about, not just about Israel and about Judah, the people who were a special people to God in the past. But he says, ultimately, the whole world will enter into judgment. And he even says here in chapter 15, I saw another portent in heaven, great and amazing seven angels with seven plagues, which were the last, the last seven plagues, for with them the wrath of God is ended.

And so, when you read much of what you read in the latter part of the book of Revelation, you realize that, well, this is talking about God's judgment on disobedient man and actually bringing them to a point. Many will die, but many will also live into the time of the coming of Jesus Christ and into the glorious future kingdom of God. So I'd like for us to think about what it is that all of us have been given.

See, we want to be the people of God, and we are. We want to be a people that God has especially hauled, but he has. He tells us that. He tells us that the church is actually set apart in that way. But I want to point out that we have been extended an incredible knowledge from God about what he's doing, about what his plan is, what his purpose is.

See, I know that many of you have been around the Church of God for a long time. Some of you, longer than me, although Pat and I can think back 50 years ago, was kind of the time when we were 16 or 18. And we know now, I don't know how much we knew then, we understood a little bit of the fact that God was revealing to us information that is incredibly precious. We could conclude, and each one of us were challenged at that time, not only us but many others, and certainly perhaps many of you, wherever you might have lived at the time, and then, at any time, since then to now, God does exist.

If we prove that God does exist, well then, there's something we need to do about what he says. See, I know that God blessed us with an understanding, even 50 years ago, of the purpose of life. What is God's purpose? Why were you born to come to know that, well, God wants us to be his sons and his daughters in his family.

Now, how well I understood that 50 years ago, I don't know. I could understand the words. I understand more so how he's actually doing that, and the fact that he is certainly doing that. And the purpose of human life is to grow in a relationship with God that is based on his terms, not mine. He also taught us at that time what the gospel is. It wasn't just something about church or something about Jesus. It was the gospel of the kingdom of God. It had everything to do with the coming kingdom, the coming rule, the coming government that God is going to install on earth.

Now, that again was a great blessing. We also were taught what's the purpose of the church. What's the purpose of having a group of people that God has called and drawn together to do a job, to do a work? Well, the purpose of the church, the reason for the existence of the church is to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of the world.

That's the mission that Jesus gave to the church of God. And certainly, at that point in our lives, being 20 or 22 as we left college, having an understanding of God's ordained divine institution of marriage and its purpose, the value, the benefit of oneness, of unity, of harmony, of learning about God's family. Now, that was amazing information to have very young in life. But I only point this out, and I use Pat and me as an example. All of you could apply this to whatever your situation was, whenever it was.

It might have been around that time. It might have been sometime later. But I bring up the same thing that I mentioned to you about Israel with knowledge from God. Also comes responsibility. Also comes accountability. And so, what does God expect of us? Well, He wants us to understand one thing about the judgment seat of Christ.

He wants us to know what that is. He wants us to know when that is. He wants us to know how to be prepared. I want us to go to 1 Peter 4, because Peter, I guess that's a few pages back from where we were. 1 Peter 4 is Peter's summary of the church and the latter part of the first century, 40 years after the church began, 30 years probably. He had a lot to say to Christians.

Peter is writing generally, not just to a group like in Corinth or Colossae, but he's writing in a general epistle here. And in chapter 4, verse 12, he says, Beloved, don't be surprised at the fiery ordeal that's taking place among you to test you as though something strange has happened to you. Here he's telling them, don't be unaware that some trials might come, and that you're going to have to face those trials and that you're possibly going to suffer.

That's something he wanted them to be familiar with at that time. But he says here in verse 16, Yet if any of you suffer as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear His name.

He said, if suffering, if you end up suffering in the line of service to God, well then, that shouldn't be a bad thing. That's a good thing because, he goes ahead here in verse 17, For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God.

And if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who obey, not the gospel of God? He says, I've given you... It's getting closer. Probably my phone. I think I turned it off. Anyway, what Peter points out is, judgment is upon the house of God now. Now, he was saying that 2,000 years ago. He was saying judgment was upon the people of God throughout their lifetime. See, judgment is not just a sentence at the end. It is a period of time where we have been given information from God, where we are accountable, and where we are to be appreciating the fact that God has every prerogative to deal with us and to judge us according to His direction. I want us to look as well. There's another point, or another verse here in Romans, where we also... You see in this whole chapter, in Romans 14, you see an entire chapter that deals with judging one another or learning to be cooperative, learning to be loving, learning to be kind. And I'll point out, between this and the next verse I'm going to go to, a contrast. Here in Romans 14, he says in verse 7, We don't live to ourselves, we don't die to ourselves. If we live, we need to live with the Lord. If we die, we die with the Lord. So either way, live or die, we're the Lords. So we need to be focused on Jesus Christ as our head and as our Savior and our Redeemer. But he asks a question in verse 10, and of course, I'm not going through all the information you have in this chapter, which is quite a bit. But he says, Why do you pass judgment on your brethren, on your brother or sister? Or why do you despise, not just pass judgment, but why do you despise, or why are you angry with your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And as it is written, as I live, says, Lord, every knee is going to bend to me, and every tongue is going to give praise to God, so that each of us are going to be accountable to God. Now, that's what I said about Israel. God gave them information because God is faithful, and He does what He says. They were accountable, and they suffered because of their disobedience. Here, this is talking about the Church of God. It's talking about those who are blessed with the incredible knowledge of salvation, the incredible knowledge of the truth of God, the incredible knowledge of the kingdom of God, and of God's purpose for our lives. What does He say? He says, We're all going to be judged by Jesus Christ. Now, I want us to look in 1 Corinthians 11. This is a chapter and a few verses that we're very familiar with, because we go over these every Passover. See, instead of judging one another, as Romans 14 says, don't do, who should we judge? Well, 1 Corinthians 11, verse 28 says, Examine yourself.

Examine yourself, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For in verse 31, if we judge ourselves, instead of judging each other, if we judge ourselves, then we will not be judged.

But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. See, that puts an entirely different focus on judgment. Instead of judging others, just judge ourselves. Ask God to judge us. Ask Jesus Christ to judge us. Because ultimately, we're going to look at John 5 here. This is what it says. This actually is about the judgment seat of Christ. Here in John 5, Jesus was teaching a lot of things here in the first part of the book of John. But in John 5, it says in verse 19, Jesus says, Rarely, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on His own, but only what He sees the Father doing.

For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. And He would repeat down in verse 30, I can do nothing of myself. I am simply doing what the Father says for me to do.

And so back up in verse 20, the Father loves the Son. He shows Him all that He is doing, and He will show Him greater works than these, so that you'll be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raised the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever He wishes. And not only the Father, because obviously He is clearly in charge, but the Son is also in charge and also doing exactly what the Father wants. Because in verse 22, the Father judges no one but gives all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. See, this is stating who our judge is, Jesus Christ. Now, do we have access to God the Father and to Jesus Christ every morning, every evening, at any other time that we need to cry out to them for guidance or for direction? I think reading this or realizing what it is that God tells us, it's really important for us to realize the significance of the fact that if judgment is upon the house of God today, then we should be developing a close and loving and intimate relationship with our judge.

We should be developing a unique love for and an appreciation of and devotion to the Son of God, and of course to God, but here He says, I'm letting the Son take care of the family. I'm letting Him take care. He's going to help those children that I beget. He's going to help them grow. He's going to help them develop. And so we have to ask ourselves, how close are we to our judge? How much do we desire to be like Him? Again, male or female, that doesn't matter, because being like Him has to do with attitude, has to do with outlook, has to do with perception.

It has to do with how it is that He approaches the Father. He loves the Father. He is in sync with the Father. He is completely united. He is one with the Father, even as He says in John 17. He says, the Father and I are one. He says, I want these others, these members of the Church to be one with us, with me, with you.

You know, whenever we're told to seek the mind of Christ, that's seeking the mind of the judge. You're seeking the mind of the one who holds life, and even eternal life, and death in His hand. See, that's important for every one of us to realize. It's not a threat, it's an encouragement from God to know that we can develop a closeness, and we can desire His mind, we can desire His life.

When Paul says, I'm crucified with Christ, I think that's Galatians 2.20, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, the life that I live in the flesh, not I, but Christ lives in me, the life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.

See, he wanted Christ to live in Him. He wanted the mind that Jesus had. And whenever Jesus describes Himself, He doesn't describe Himself in terror and threats. He describes Himself as meek, as poor in spirit, as humble, as gentle, as kind. He also says, I'm not rude, I'm not jealous, I'm not arrogant, and I'm not filled with hatred. And I don't really demand my own way, because that's the way Jesus is. So if we want to be like the judge, if we want to understand the judgment seat of Christ and how that we may approach that seat at any time, we can approach that, and we should.

Every day, every morning, every evening, throughout the day, we can approach the judgment seat of Christ. See, at one point in time, in the past, at least when we were baptized, there was one split second in our lives when we were completely sinless and forgiven. That was when God extended His mercy and forgiveness to us at our baptism.

He gave us His Holy Spirit. And yet, as little time went by, well, we sinned again. So what do we have to do? Well, we have to come to God to ask for His forgiveness, to ask for His mercy. Don't you think we ought to be doing that every day at all times? If we want to be able to feel cleansed, if we want to know that we are forgiven and that we are gladly looking forward to not only Christ's return and His judgment on the world, but we're willing to be judged now because we have a close and loving relationship with our big brother, and His job is to help us overcome, help us change.

He knows we're not perfect, we're not sinless. That's something to shoot for, but that's not what we are. He knows that. But knowing or understanding the judgment seat of Christ, realizing that I can come before the throne of God, and not just me, any of us come before the throne of God at any time, beseech His mercy, thank Him for His grace and mercy and forgiveness, and He can cleanse us. That's what it is to be aware of the judgment seat of Christ. The other question is, do we have the repentant, loving relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ that He requires of us?

To even back, I'm going to go back here to Leviticus 26. We read several verses here, and of course this is, in a sense, kind of an amazing rundown of what He told Israel. The information that gives Israel is that you need to obey and I will bless you. And on the other hand, if you don't, you will bring upon yourself punishment.

But if you would later appeal to them, I want you to choose life. I want you to choose blessing. I want you to choose, don't choose death, choose life. And even here in Leviticus where we read the blessing and we read the cursing, it says in verse 40, But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors, in that they had committed treachery against Me, and moreover that they continue to be hostile to Me, so that I am turned, continued hostile to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies, if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they can make amends for their iniquity.

See, what kind of attitude did God expect us to have? Well, one of repentance, one of yieldedness, one of submission. God goes ahead in describing to Israel that He would, you know, if they turned back to Him, what did you see? You know, when you read the history of Israel and Judah, you know, they'd get far off, and then they'd kind of come back a little bit, and they'd get far away again and come back.

The other number of times when they did kind of show some effort to try to repent, but they didn't really have the heart to be able to truly repent. But God says, if you do, if you turn to Me in that way, verse 44, yet for all that, when they're in the land of their enemy, I will not sperm them, I will not abhor them, so as to destroy them utterly and break My covenant, for I'm the Lord.

But I will, and verse 45, remember in their favor the covenant that their ancestors had made, whom I brought out of the land in the silent nations, to be their God, I am the eternal. And if they really turn to God in repentance and in desire to obey, see, that's what we can do today, because we have not only the help of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of that Spirit, but we have a relationship with Jesus Christ that is extraordinary. We don't ever want to neglect that, brethren.

We don't want to forget that. Here, in dealing with the fall Holy Days, we deal with a time leading up to a time of judgment on the world, and then ultimately the replacement of the government of the world, with Jesus establishing the righteous rule that He will lead and that others will follow, and that we will also follow, even at that time, because if we're going to teach, we're going to teach what He says. We're not going to teach what I happen to think. I'm going to teach what the Lord, the King Almighty, says we're going to be teaching. And so, it's really important for us to understand that if you repent, God will be merciful and He will forgive.

That's why whenever Jesus gave a model, we're familiar with the model prayer in Matthew 6, and He talked about praying, thy kingdom come and thy will be done, but He also said to pray this way, forgive me, forgive me of my sins and help me to be forgiving to others who sin against me. See, that's the attitude, the outlook He wants us to thrive in. And see, I would say, if I tried to think of that in terms of appearing before the judgment seat of Christ, perhaps the best way to view that is do I come before God and make excuses for why I didn't do what I should have been doing all along?

I don't think that's going to work. I don't even think God's going to be impressed with any explanation, although we can explain all we want to God in our prayers. I don't think He wants to hear excuses. I don't think He wants to know, well, why I did this or why I did that. I think He wants us to simply be repentant. That's an incredible key, an incredible key that we need to be mindful of.

And even here in the vedicus, it talks about if they turn back, well, then I'm big enough to help them. I'm big enough to encourage them.

And so, as I was thinking, I think the right approach—let's go back to Romans 14 again— the right approach to the judgment seat of Christ, He says in Romans 14.10, For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, As it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.

It's able to appear to me that the only really effective way to appear before the judgment seat of Christ is to kneel before the judgment seat of Christ.

God's not going to be impressed with my excuses. He's not going to be impressed with the fact that I was lazy. He's not going to be impressed with the fact that, well, I was too busy or I was something else. What He wants is, as David describes it, a humble and repentant heart. He said, you will never—a broken spirit and a contrite heart—you will never despise.

And so the proper position to appear before the judgment seat of Christ would be to kneel before the judgment seat of Christ.

And I'll close this today just by going back to what we read here in 1 Peter 2.

In 1 Peter 2, Peter makes the contrast between the people of God of the Old Testament, people who were a physical nation, people who really didn't have, for the most part, access to the Holy Spirit. And yet God worked with them. He gave them information. He told them what would happen. They ended up being punished. But as far as the people of God today, how does He look at us? Well, here in 1 Peter 2, as we appear before God, growing, He says in verse 1, You rid yourself of malice and guile and insincerity and envy and slander. And like newborn babes long for the pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow into salvation. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. He wants us to be a part of His family. It's a matter that we want to be repentant before Him, and we want to be able to know how much we need His mercy. In verse 9, He says, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. You are God's own people.

In order that you can proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. That's the people of God today. That was the people of God then. That was what had happened in their lives. They had been granted the truth of God and had brought out of darkness into the light.

In describing this, He uses in verse 10 two different descriptions, and they are both extremely significant. The first one is verse 10. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.

What do we have in common? The fact that God has drawn us together. He has drawn us to Jesus Christ. Even though we were scattered, God has drawn us together, and He says, You are my people.

He also says, Once you have not received mercy, but now you have received the mercy of God.

Why He describes it that way, I think is significant. It's important.

Because if we are going to be pleasing to God, if we are going to feel close to God, if we are going to grow in our service to God and in our doing the work that God has called us to do, then we are going to have to understand that the mercy of God has been extended. His grace and His forgiveness has been extended to us.

Because of that, we can kneel before the judgment seat of Christ.

See, when you think about it, that judgment is occurring now.

It's occurring now while we are alive and while we are aware.

I hope that as I am resurrected, if I die before Christ returns, I certainly hope I rise in the first resurrection. That's the only one I want to be a part of. I don't want to be a part of anything else. I want to be a part of that first resurrection. I think that that is something that all of us want if we understand what it is that God is doing.

If we understand what it is that God is doing, then we know that with that knowledge comes accountability.

I hope all of us can greatly prepare for all of the holy days that we are going to enjoy here in the next couple of weeks.

But that we can appreciate the fact that we can approach the throne of God, we can approach the judgment seat of Christ with confidence, knowing that if we approach it in mercy, if we approach it repentantly, if we approach it on our knees, He will certainly accept us.