Kneel Before the Judgment Seat of Christ

Well, good morning, brethren, again. As I've said many times, it's always a blessing to be able to come up here and be able to talk about the Word of God. I want to begin in 2 Corinthians 5 and focus on a particular verse here that I hope that we can come to understand. I'm thinking I understand at least some. I hope that I continue to grow in understanding. And I would hope that that would be the case for all of us, that we would grow in understanding. But here in 2 Corinthians 5, actually in chapter 4, it says in verse 16, Don't lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. As we get older, we realize that we kind of don't have the same type of energy, the same type of abilities that we had one time in our youth. But this is talking about aging, outer nature, or outer physical body just kind of declining a little. But our inner nature is to be renewed, being our spiritual perception, our understanding, our desire to honor God with our lives. And here in chapter 5, he continues this thought. I started back there a few verses before, but he continues this thought, and he talks about, you know, ultimately we could die. But I want to begin here in verse 6. He says, We are always confident. Chapter 5, verse 6, even though we know that while we're at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. And so he's not talking about going to heaven, as again many misapply this section. But he says, we know that while we're still physical, we're still pretty limited. You know, we are not united with God in eternal life yet. We still have things to do. And so he says, we're always confident because in verse 7 we walk by faith and not by sight. And that, of course, is what we want to do. It's what we need to do. It's what we want to grow in. And yes, we do have confidence. And we would rather be away from the body and home with the Lord. And so whether we're at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. So that should be our motivation, our desire. For, he says in verse 10, and this is what I want to focus on, 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. Whether good or evil. And so, the question that I pose is, what does it mean? What is this description here? Standing appearing before the judgment seat of Christ. When is that going to happen? As I think about the understanding that we have of the descriptions that were given of the return of Jesus and at that time, the resurrection of those who are the dead in Christ and the change of those who are still alive, that appears to be something that happens when Christ is returning. And the fact is, I just simply want to be in no other resurrection than that one, because it's called the first resurrection. It's called a better resurrection. Let's see, if you rise in the first resurrection, what do you have? You have eternal life. Now, when is this judgment seat of Christ? Because often, even the way that's stated, you think of something, you know, well, where you're going to have to stand before God or stand before Christ and explain whatever I tried to do. I don't really think that's what it's talking about, and maybe I don't, you know, if I'm missing something, I'm sure we're going to have to answer for what we do. But I think it's good for us to think about when will we stand before or appear before the judgment seat of Christ?

How can we be properly prepared for that type of judgment? How can we know?

That we're ready to stand before Christ.

Now, these fall Holy Days, of course, prophetically picture, ultimately, the return of Jesus, but in a sense, the judgment of the inhabitants on the earth, the wrath of God on disobedient mankind. That's what we read about in the book of Revelation. We read about it in other verses that you can see in the Old Testament, but ultimately it's going to come as it's described with, you know, these series. You know, we have an outline, an overview of God's design of dealing with man, and God clearly has the prerogative and the authority to judge all of mankind. He has the prerogative and the authority to judge all of us. Here in Psalm 96, I'm going to reference a few verses here. Just as we think about this, we've had this mentioned even in the sermonette, and I think perhaps on the Eastern trumpets, we went over certain things that are dealing with the judgment of God on the earth. The judgment of God, that's going to come, the wrath of God, that's going to come on mankind. Here in Psalm 96, it's actually a pretty positive psalm because it's talking about how it is that ultimately Christ will come in verse 1, oh, 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 and His marvelous work, for He is great. In verse 4, the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be revered above all gods. And in verse 10, say among the nations, this seems to be prophetic of what ultimately will be taught, teach the nations to say the Lord is King. The world is firmly established. It shall never be moved. He will judge the people with equity. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar. Let the field exalt in verse 13, before the Lord, for He is coming. And He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the people with His truth. See, now that seems to be a prophetic psalm to me. You know, it is, I think, a psalm that ties together with the King, the King of the Kingdom of God being established on earth. And He is going to judge the entire world. To accentuate, again, God's prerogative in doing this, let's take a look at Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9 is a good chapter to read, I think, particularly as we appear before God on the Day of Atonement, because we're fasting. And obviously, in this example of Daniel 9, it's an excellent example of fasting and repentance.

And see, where was Daniel when he was writing this? Well, he was in captivity. He was one of the people of Judah, among many others, who had been taken captive by the King of Babylon. Now, it appears, certainly with God's blessing, He was given a pretty good amount of favor. He was given quite a blessing to serve the King and to do many other things. And yet, Daniel was thinking about, how do we get in this mess? What brought about this calamity that we are suffering? Because he was saying we, the house of Judah, have been overtaken by our enemies. We've been overrun. We are in captivity. And as he read Daniel, or excuse me, as he read Jeremiah, he figured out we're going to be here for 70 years, because that's what God has already predicted. But here in verse 11, Daniel's prayer is impressive, because it's a prayer of repentance.

It's a prayer of seeing what had gone wrong and seeing why the judgment of God, in this case, the punishment of going into captivity, why that was the right thing to do. It says, all of Israel, verse 11, 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, have been poured out on us because we've sinned against you.

He has confirmed His word 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. You know, we've never run into the major crisis that this is before, and yet He was saying we deserve it. We deserve every bit of it. It goes on just as it is written in the law, verse 13, all this calamity has come upon us. We failed. We did not entreat the favor of the Lord our God, bringing Him our iniquities and reflecting on His fidelity. You know, we were neglectful. We were disobedient. But He says, so the Lord kept watch over this calamity until He brought it upon us, and indeed the Lord our God is right in all that He has done because we disobeyed His voice.

See, now in this case, this is clearly a description of how it is that information from God, which is what Israel was given. The people of Israel before, long before they would have later become the nation of Israel and actually then divide into Israel and the nation of Judah, both of whom would be aware of the Word and the law of God.

See, knowledge from God requires accountability. See, Daniel could correctly say, you have done exactly what you said because when we go back and you look at Leviticus, and I will only briefly do this because of time, but you know in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, you have a couple of pretty parallel chapters, but in Leviticus 26, it says in verse 3, if you follow my statutes and you keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, I will give you rain and there's season and land will produce its fruit. In verse 6, I will grant peace in the land. Verse 9, I will look upon you and make you fruitful and multiply. In verse 11, I will place my dwelling in your midst and I shall not abhor you.

I will walk among you and you will be, I will be your God and you shall be my people. See, that's what God, that was information from God about what to do. But of course, we're also familiar with verse 14. He also said, if you don't, if you don't obey me and do not observe these commandments, if you spurn my statutes and abhor my ordinances so that you do not observe them, you break my covenant, in turn, while I do this to you, I will bring terror on you.

See, what can we expect in this country and even around the globe when people fully disregard the Bible, they disregard God, they bring God, make God in their own image, they follow what seems right to them, they choose from the very beginning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What can you expect whenever you disobey? He says in verse 18, I will continue to punish you sevenfold, I will break your proud glory, and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like copper. See, that's why we read in the book of Revelation all of these, the wrath of God coming upon mankind for just ignoring Him. Disobeying. But of course, the people of Israel, they were given information, and yet, since they responded poorly, then God correctly brought His judgment upon them.

First, on the house of Israel, God sent Assyria to overtake them, and later, dealing with the house of Judah, the remains of the Davidic nation, they continued to disobey. And so, what happened to them? Well, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came and overtook them. That's why Daniel was in. That's why he was in captivity. And so, God bringing about what He says is clearly a biblical direction. It is very clear.

What can you expect when people fully disregard the word of God? Well, we can expect judgment from God. And even as we look into Revelation, we see the series of seals and trumpets and plagues. And it says in chapter 14, I won't read through all of this, but in chapter 14, it says, instead of worshiping the beast and its image, people are told that they should fear God and give Him glory, for the hour of His judgment is come. Chapter 14, verse 7, worship the Creator God. See, it's important to always remember the God that we worship is our Creator.

And of course, He describes that more so in chapter 14 and 15. And I bring this, or I mention this only to say that, well, Israel was given instruction, and they ignored it. And the fact is, to all of us in this room, to all of us who make up the church of God today, we've been extended incredible knowledge, incredible understanding.

We can read the Bible with understanding. We can put it together. We can understand. We may not understand what a lot of things are indicating or saying, but we understand the main stuff. Now, you know, I think about this going back over 50 years now. And over 50 years, you know, God has continued to be merciful to me.

And yet amazingly, at the age of about 18, 16 or 18, God impressed upon my mind that He exists. See, all of us started in somewhat the same way whenever that was. I just happened to be able to look back about 50 years, and I see that that's exactly what God did. He showed me that He existed. I could prove that.

I could prove that then, and I can prove it today. He also explained to me, and I could say to me and to my wife, Pat, although she was coming from a different setting, a different growing up over 16, 18 years. But we were coming to understand similar things. What's the purpose of life?

There is incredible meaning in knowing that God is going to bring sons and daughters to glory. Now, I understand that better today than I did back then. Back then, I was struggling with trying to figure out what are the rules, what are the laws, and what do I need to do? Well, I happen to know them today. I don't know if I do a lot better of observing, but I think I have. But see, I was given that knowledge. My wife and I were given the knowledge of the purpose of life. We were given the knowledge of the Gospel of the what? The kingdom. The fact that all the nations of men, the kingdoms and governments of men are going to be replaced with a new righteous government from God. We also were granted understanding of what the purpose of the church was.

Why is there a church? Why is there a body that Christ would choose to work with? Well, He wants to proclaim the Kingdom of God. He wants to proclaim the Gospel to the world. Almost every one of us could quote Matthew 24, verse 14, in this Gospel of the Kingdom. It shall be proclaimed throughout the world ultimately as a witness, and then the end is going to come. See, now how long have you been aware of some of that information? That's kind of an overview of the important things that I remember or look back and say, well, I didn't know much about it, but I did know what was being said. And thankfully, you know, we were taught, and even at a young age, God's ordained divine institution of marriage and its purpose. The oneness, the unity, the love, the selflessness, that certainly wasn't always achieved, but we did know. See, these really big, important things about life, I've known those for 50 years, and many of you have as well. So what does God expect of us? Well, He expects us to be prepared for the judgment of Jesus Christ. See, now when is that going to happen?

Well, we're familiar with what it says here in 1 Peter 4.

1 Peter 4, of course, Peter is writing to a general group of members of the Church. He's writing this later in his life, and yet he's pointing out, you know, that suffering as a Christian is to be expected. Verse 12, chapter 4, 1 Peter, beloved, don't be surprised, at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you and to test you as though some strange thing happened to you. He says, we realize there may be things that as Christians we may have to endure. We may suffer. But to drop down to verse 16, he says, yet if any of you suffer as a Christian, don't consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear His name. See, Peter was speaking to members of the Church of God who had come to understand the purpose of life. They'd come to understand the need for Jesus Christ in their life. They had come to comprehend that they need forgiveness from God. And he says 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 for those who do not obey the gospel of God? See here, Peter points out that we are in a period of judgment if we have knowledge from God. If we are given the information, then God wants us to recognize that we're accountable. We're accountable, and we are to be responsive to that. That's not a bad thing. That's actually a good thing because that causes us to rise above the way we would generally be. It causes us to obey God. It causes us to learn and serve and strive to love one another. But see, when it talks about judgment beginning at the household of God, that was upon the people of God then, and it's upon those of us who have knowledge from God today. A couple of keys that I'll also point out in this.

Here in Romans 14, you see a chapter about not judging one another.

And again, I'm not going to go into most of this. But here in chapter 14, I will just start in verse 10 because Paul, in this case, says, why do you judge one another? Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? And again, we're not going through all the specifics of the chapter, but he does say, why do you pass judgment on your brother or you? Why do you despise your brother or sister? Why are you that way? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God or Christ. For it is written, as I live, says, Lord, every knee is going to bow to me and every tongue shall praise, give praise to God. And so then, in verse 12, each one of us will be accountable to God. See, I think that's a part of what we have to think about when we think about being judged by Jesus Christ. He tells us, don't be judging each other, at least in a condemning manner. We may be able to see something that's being done wrong and try to help someone out of love. But he says, don't be judging one another because we're all under judgment now. See, are you living your life as if you are under the judgment of Christ today?

See, I think that's what this is telling us.

We're all familiar with what it says in 1 Corinthians 11. We read that every Passover. It tells us not to be judging one another as we read here in Romans 14, but in 1 Corinthians 11, in verse 20, it says, examine yourself.

Examine yourself and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. In verse 31, if we judge ourselves, then we would 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, here he's talking about the fact that if we're aware that we have received information from God that is incredibly important, that is incredibly meaningful to us, well then we need to understand that we are under His judgment at this time.

And in John chapter 5, John chapter 5, we have a whole section here, again, a pretty complex section, although it is described by Jesus in just saying what the case is, how it is that He relates to the Father, how it is that He loves the Father. Here in chapter 5, verse 19, Jesus said, truly, 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. See, is Jesus trying to do something different than the Father? Well, no. He repeats that in verse 30, I can do nothing on my own. And see, that should be, in a sense, an indicator for us. We can do nothing on our own. We can honor God, we can praise God, we can worship God, and yet we want to do that as Jesus shows us to do it. He says in verse 20, the Father loves His Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing, and He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you'll be astonished indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whomever He wishes. See, I want, and I want for you to be given life through Jesus Christ. And we are under the judgment of Christ, even now. For in verse 22, the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. And anyone who doesn't honor the Son doesn't honor the Father who sent Him. And so our relationship with our Judge is very important. Our relationship is very important. Our relationship, how close are we to our righteous Judge Jesus Christ?

He is the one who can make us stand. He's the one who can make us be firm, to be resolute, to be determined. He's the one who can give us the power and the help. Now clearly, He does that through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but see, the direct statements from God are that Jesus is the Judge. See, I think it's important for us to think about this because every day, do we not need to draw close to the Father and to the Son in prayer? Do we not need to draw close in reading the Word of God, in studying the Word? See, how much do we desire to be like Him? And maybe most important of all, do we have a repentant, loving relationship with Him? Instead of waiting until Christ does return and just see whether or not we happen to rise in that resurrection, maybe we ought to ensure that by understanding that I'm under judgment today and the one who can make me clean, the one who can forgive me of my sins every day is my Judge.

See, now He requires that we come to Him in a repentant attitude. See, I've thought about this and I don't always do this. I've occasionally thought about it and should think about it much more. Let's see, whenever you have the verses that we're familiar with as Jesus teaches about how to pray, what does He say? We even had this mentioned in our song or in our statements up to this point. You know, forgive. Ask God to forgive us as we then learn to forgive one another.

See, if we want to be forgiven, if we are seeing the need to be forgiven, then we are able to be forgiven and we are to be cleansed. See, we can be cleansed every day. See, we often in the past, at least as I recall, we have often told people who were baptized, you know, here you are baptized, completely forgiven of all your sins, given that release, and now God is able to grant you His Holy Spirit. You know, and you can think of that, well, I'm cleansed right then. When am I cleansed as I go along? Well, it's when I express a repentant, loving nature, a yielded nature with the Judge, Jesus Christ. And now that way, you know, we can be prepared, hopefully to rise in that first resurrection. And not worry or wonder, am I going to be good enough for God? Because He tells us, I'll give you the help you need, I'll give you the power of my Spirit.

Now do we have sins and do we have things to be forgiven of? Well, of course. But see, we ought to be developing a consistent communion and relationship with God and with His Son so that we are absolutely sure. Not because of us, but because of Him. How great is God? How great is His judgment? He has all judgment. He is the authority. But we have, you know, an incredible blessing of being able to be close to God today.

I want to point out in connection with this just one verse back in Leviticus 26 where we were reading.

See, in Leviticus 26, you see that with obedience you can be blessed and with disobedience you can expect a bad outcome.

But I also want to point out in verse 40, it says, if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors in that they committed treachery against me and moreover that they were hostile to me so that I in turn continued hostile to them and brought them into the land of their enemies, if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity that I will remember my covenant, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and Isaac, and with Abraham I will remember and the land shall be deserted by them and enjoy its Sabbath years by lying desolate before them. I'm not wanting to bog down in the rest of this, but what God says that if you return to me, if you repent of your sins, then I'm open. I'm open. Verse 45, I will remember in their favor the covenant with their ancestors and I brought out of the land in the sight of all the nations I am the Lord. See, He honors us. That type of repentance. And that's why I think it's particularly important for us to be growing in a day by day relationship with the judge. Because whenever that makes that statement, you know, we're going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Well, that's going on. You know, it's not just a sentencing at the end. That's a period of judgment. And He wants our hearts to be soft. He wants us to be desiring His mercy and He wants us to be extending that mercy to others. And so we can, as I asked to begin with, how can we know that we're ready if we were to die? How can we know? Well, it's because of the fact that we are correctly relating to the one who is our judge. And because of that, we are incredibly blessed. We can have a stability and a confidence. We can have a blessed life now. And whenever God allows that to end, that's fine, because we have hope beyond the grave as well.

So I hope this perhaps sheds a little bit of light. I know we have these fall holy days of incredible meaning. The coming of Christ, the establishment of the rule of God, the containing of Satan, a totally different world developing. He's preparing us for that. But see, He's preparing us by showing us the type of repentance and the type of humility that He wants to see in His people who are seeking His mercy and forgiveness. See, ultimately, if you think about, you know, what do I really have to say for myself if I were to actually stand before Jesus Christ? The only thing I could say, I don't think He'd be looking for excuses. I don't think He'd be looking for, well, why I did this, why I did that. I think He would be looking for, is that person, as you read there in Romans 14, is there knee bent before me and requesting my mercy? Because He's going to give the gift of eternal life. But He wants us to understand how much we need Him, how much we need God in our lives. And we can cultivate that every day. And I hope that perhaps we'll think about cultivating that every day more clearly than we have before. You know, amazingly, in 1 Peter 2, you see a real description here. Maybe we could read that to the end here. 1 Peter 2. In verse 9 it talks about the Spirit of the spiritual Israel, that is the church. It says, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people.

In order that you might proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. So He's the one who did that. He brought us to Jesus Christ. He is willing to forgive us, but He needs to see in us a humble and repentant attitude of complete dependence upon Him. And then He describes two very important things.

Verse 10. At one time you were not my people, but now you are my people. And God is gracious enough to call and draw us. And the other factor here, He talks about His calling. He's in charge of the family. He's the one who is going to prepare for His kingdom. He's the one who is going to nurture us now and who wants us to have a rapport with Him that is unshakable. But He says, you at one time were not my people, but now you are.

You are the people of God. And once you had not received His mercy, but now you have received mercy. See, the mercy of God, as you read in Psalm 136, never endures forever. He is an incredibly merciful being. And yet He is also wanting for us to understand that, well, that mercy involves His grace. It involves His forgiveness. It involves the growing for all of us in His Holy Spirit. And yet, it also involves us knowing that we've been given special information from God and that we're accountable for it and that we desire to be able to stand before Him knowing that He will be merciful.

So, we have the incredible blessing of knowing what it is to stand before Christ, and we want to be cultivating that all the time, each day. Don't let a day, certainly a week or month, go by without really concentrating on that because that is what can make us stand. In spite of our flaws and problems, we can be forgiven. So, I hope that all of you will have an incredibly joyful day of atonement, a day that pictures several things that are really, really important. But then also, a safe and uplifting feast of tabernacles. Sometimes we even suffer some things. Sometimes things don't turn out quite like we wanted. And yet, we are there sharing with the other children of God His blessings, and so we have much to look forward to, not only right now, but even more so when He sends Jesus back to the earth to establish that righteous kingdom of God.