Judgement of Believers

This is a series discussing the last page of life. The last page is blank for many, but some may have an idea of what's to come. The last page begins with death, followed by the rapture for Christians. After the rapture, there will be events like the Antichrist and Tribulation. The next big event is the Millennium. Before that, there will be a judgment of believers. There are two appointments we have to keep: the day we die and the judgment seat of Christ. Christians will be judged at a different time than non-Christians. Judgment must be public to vindicate God, Christ, and Christians. Judgment is necessary due to the injustice of life and the justice of God. There are three judgments for believers: the judgment at Calvary, the judgment of works, and the judgment of rewards. We are in the middle of a series which I've called a peep at the last page. I've called it that because many of us have a tendency to spoil a book by having a peep at the last page to see how it ends. The last page for many people as far as life is concerned is completely blank. In fact, all the pages of this book are blank, so it doesn't make very much difference. But for many people the last page of life is totally blank. Perhaps that's not true for all of you. Perhaps some of you have received teaching like this over the years and you have a fairly good idea of what's to be found on the last page. What I've been trying to do in this series is to paint a picture, as it were, of what's on that last page. Now it may be that some of you see it slightly differently and you may want to take your paintbrush and remove something here and put it somewhere else, or you may want to obliterate something here and replace it with something else. That's fine. I take that for granted. I'm taking it for granted that you're reading scripture for yourselves to see whether these things are so. Nevertheless, I'm trying to paint a picture of what's on the last page. The last page begins, for all of us, with death. And that was the first of our studies. We looked at it very positively. It wasn't a morbid evening, it was a good evening. You might like to get the tape. The second study was on between death and resurrection. Look at what some people call the intermediate state. Then we looked at the rapture of Christians, that some of us are not going to experience death. When I say us, I mean Christians. Some Christians will not experience death, they will be lifted out of the world when Christ comes. And they will meet the Lord in the air, and their bodies will be changed, and they will be given resurrection bodies, and at that time the Lord will come with all the saints who died, and they too will be given resurrection bodies. The rapture. And then we looked at what happened on earth immediately after the rapture of Christians. Last week we looked at the Antichrist, and Tribulation, and Armageddon, and in Barry's words, it was enough to blow your mind, looking at all that. Now the next great big event here on earth, is what the Bible calls the Millennium. We are not going to look at that tonight, because before we look at that, there is something which takes place in the heavenlies, that we have to give some consideration to. That's what we are going to look at tonight. We are going to look at tonight, at the judgement of believers. The judgement of believers. Because when we meet the Lord, and receive our resurrection bodies, we Christians are going to be judged. I'll explain what that is in just a few moments. There are 2 appointments, that every man and every woman has to keep. We don't know when either of them is going to be, so we can't place it in our diary and prepare for it. The first is the day we die. Some people think it would be good to be able to put that in your diary, and prepare for it. Personally I feel that merciful providence prevents us from knowing when that day will be. And I wouldn't want to know, and wouldn't want to put it in my diary, even if I was offered the opportunity to do so. But we all of us know, that that's one appointment we are going to keep. But there's another appointment that every one of us has got to keep as well. In Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 27 it says, Just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time. It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgement. The other appointment everyone of us has to keep, is an appointment before the judgement seat of Christ. Now if you only think about the first appointment, in isolation from the second, your attitude tends to be, well let's eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. But as soon as you look at that one, in the context of this one, you take things a lot more seriously. I remember reading John Wesley was in a cart, going to Tyburn, in his official capacity as a clergyman, he was going to Tyburn with a man who was about to be hanged, I think I may have mentioned this before, but it's worthy of repetition, and the man was shaking, physically shaking. And he said to him, what's the matter, are you afraid? He said, yes. Wesley said, what are you afraid of? Are you afraid to die? And he said, no. He said, what are you afraid of then? He said, I'm afraid of what lies to the other side. He'd been a highwayman all his adult life, and he was afraid of what lay the other side. The moment you look at this appointment in the context of that, things become much more serious. Now, this evening we're going to consider the judgement as far as Christian believers are concerned. I'll slip in a word or two for any who aren't Christians, but principally talking to Christians. The judgements of believers. Let's look first at the when of judgement. The when of judgement. Christians will be judged at a different time to non-Christians. In fact the Bible actually says that Christians will take part in the judgement of non-Christians. Jesus will sit in the judge's chair. It is to a man, Jesus Christ, that the right to judge the world has been given. The Bible actually says that Christians will share in this business of judgement with him. Christians will be judged at a different time to non-Christians. God does not judge us individually when we die. So you don't die and meet Jesus and he says, right now, there are one or two things we need to consider. Now on the contrary, it waits for a particular time. The Bible actually talks about times of judgement. Now why is that important? Well it's important because judgement must be public. Judgement must be public. We live in a country that values the opportunity for the ordinary public to be able to go into a court of law and sit in a public gallery and watch what is going on. Because one of the things we value highly in our society is that our judgement, our justice must be public. It is only in totalitarian regimes that the courts are secret and no one is allowed to know what goes on because they are frightened that if the public saw what went on they would realise it wasn't fair. But in our society we cherish the right the public has to go in and to see that everything is fairly done. Justice must be public. And if public galleries were absent from our courts we would be so much the poorer. Why must God's justice be public? It must be public I think for three reasons. First, God must be vindicated. At the moment we do not see that. So many things seem unfair. Every one of us at time to time, from time to time we say to God in effect, well I don't understand why you've allowed that. I don't understand Lord why this person seems to suffer so much while this person seems to have a rosy, comfortable road through life. God must be vindicated and a day will come when every one of us will look at God and we will say you're fair, you're fair. God must be vindicated. The second thing is that Christ must be vindicated. He was condemned by human beings as a criminal. We know he's Lord, but a day is coming when he will be affirmed as Lord. And the third thing is that Christians must be vindicated. Looking back through history books, as far as I can tell there hasn't been a decade in the last two thousand years when Christians haven't been martyred for their faith. And more this century than any since the first century. I think of good friends of mine martyred in the Simba risings in Congo back in the 60s. The whole family, completely wiped out. The masters of the Christian church will be there and they will be vindicated. The Old Testament prophets say so, the New Testament epistles say so. Justice will be seen to be public because we will all of us as believers be judged at the same time. The when of judgment, the why of judgment, the necessity of judgment is written into life. It's absolutely necessary that there be some sorting out, some compensation, some reckoning. Why? Well because of two things. First because of the injustice of life, and second because of the justice of God. First because of the injustice of life. The truth is, as the psalmist says, that the wicked do prosper. The truth is, as the psalmist says, that many are the afflictions of the righteous. This is true. Life demands some sorting out. You only have to stop and think of the children who are suffering in this world today. The children whose pictures on our television screens have become so familiar to us. But suffering so incredibly in the world today. The injustice of life demands some compensation, some reckoning, some sorting out. But not only the injustice of life, but the justice of God. If God is good, he must put things right. If God is just, and life is unjust, there must be an expression of God's justice beyond the grave. In fact I go so far as to say this, if there is no judgement in the future, then I cannot believe that God is good. If God is good, there must be an expression of his justice in the future. In Galatians chapter 6 and verse 7 we read, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. The why of judgement. Then think about the how of judgement. Remember we are talking about the judgement of believers now. Not non-believers, not non-Christians, we are talking about believers. There are 3 judgements in the Bible which are important as far as we Christians are concerned. First there is the judgement at Calvary. And that is to do with our guilt. God poured out his wrath, his wrath against sin, his holy wrath against unrighteousness. He poured out his wrath against sin on our Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21 we read, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. God judged us in Christ. God judged our sin. He dealt with our guilt in Christ. That's the first judgement. The second judgement of believers takes place in this life. God will chasten us, the Bible says. And this is his judgement. We are Christians. But God will chasten us because we are Christians. When a Christian becomes careless. When a Christian fails to pray. When a Christian fails to study the word of God. When a Christian thinks that he can get away with something which is a flagrant contradiction of the word of God. Do not be surprised if God steps in and chastens that Christian. In the passage we so often read, in association with the Lord's table. We find these words. Anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgement upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world. The word chastening sums up for me, summons up for me the idea of a relationship of love. You judge your enemy but you chasten your son. You judge your enemy but you chasten your daughter. It gives you pain to do so, it gives you pain to smack his bottom. But you do so, because you love him and you know that it is absolutely essential to do so. That's the second judgement of believers, it's mentioned also, well it's mentioned in many places, but perhaps the loveliest verse of all, which you will be very familiar with is in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 6. It says, for the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every child whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? As a great believer in discipline, I wish a lot more people would read the 12th chapter of Hebrews. The third judgement of Christians will take place when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ. After the rapture, when we've received our resurrection bodies. Read for instance in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10, again, it says. For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil according to what he has done in the body. Now what sort of judgement is it? Well it has nothing whatever to do with whether or not you go to heaven. It's not a judgement about that. It's not a judgement about your destination. If you are a believer, from the moment you become a believer in Christ, your destination is fixed. It's got nothing to do with that. It's to do not with punishment, but with reward. And there will be reward in heaven. And it's absolutely essential there be reward in heaven. Because God is just. It is right that John the Baptist should be first in heaven. Because he was the one who faithfully, honourably, beautifully prepared the way for the coming of the Son. There are so many Christians, who almost treat their Christian life like an insurance policy. They get into the kingdom and they become idle. Jesus says that it's not right that they should have a place alongside John the Baptist in heaven. It's not to do with punishment, it's to do with reward. And there will be rewards in heaven. What will be raised then at this judgement? Well every sin that you acknowledge, and confess, and repent it of, and try to change in this life. We have God's promise. It's forgotten. He's put it behind his back. He's buried it in the ocean. As far as the east is from the west. He's blotted it out of his memory. And unlike you, he has control over his memory. And he's blotted it out. That won't come up. That gives me enormous encouragement. Because I can't control my memory. And there are all kinds of things. I was talking to the young people this weekend about the skeletons in the cupboards. And how silly we are to go to the cupboard and look at the skeleton and remember what it was like when it was dressed up in the flesh and blood of sin. And I can do it, and you can do it. Because you can't control your memory. But God can. And he's forgotten those things. If you've acknowledged it, confessed it, repented of it, tried to change it. It's gone. It's forgotten. That won't be raised. What will be raised then? Well it will be the unconfessed, unforsaken sins. Everything that's wrong must be raised right. Or God is not just. It will be the nature of your service that will be raised. It will be your faithfulness in whatever situation he placed you, that will be raised. Barbara read for us that passage from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verses 11 to 15. I'd ask you if you would just to turn to it for a few moments with me. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 11 following. He says, and we agree, no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. We were talking this weekend about preaching the Gospel where no one else has preached it before. That's one of Paul's ambitions. And it's a terrific ambition to have. And I described it in terms of laying a foundation where there isn't a foundation at the moment. The only foundation you can lay is Jesus Christ. You've become a Christian. You've taken Christ as your Saviour. But what are you going to build on that foundation? The Bible says you can build with gold and silver and precious stones. You can build with wood and hay and straw. Whatever you build with will be tested with fire. And the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. You've only got to think to realise that when that loss is tested by fire. The wood and the hay and the straw will all be burnt up. The gold will melt. The silver will melt. But it will remain gold and it will remain silver. And the precious stones probably will be unaffected. These things will survive the test of fire. What do these things stand for? Well I can't tell you exactly. But I can tell you what I believe they stand for. I think gold, silver and precious stones stands for sound doctrine. Christ like conduct and unselfish ways, relationships, unselfish living. Wood, hay, stubble stand for me, for things like careless about doctrine, carelessness about doctrine. Immoral conduct and selfishness in relationships. We're Christians. The fire will test our work. If as Christians we have engaged in unconfessed immoral activity, it will be raised. And whatever our motive may have been, and whatever good may have come out of that relationship, it will be dissolved in ashes. That particular piece of work will not survive the test. When we stand at the judgement seat of Christ, what we have been will be tested by fire. That which is by God's reckoning, hay, wood, stubble will be burned away. Only that which is by His reckoning, gold, silver and precious stones will stay with us. And it will be on the basis of how much is left, that our reward will be determined in heaven. You Christian, I Christian, will suffer loss at the judgement to the extent that we have constructed a life built out of wood, hay and stubble. And we will be rewarded to the extent that we have built a life out of gold, silver and precious stones. It says in verse 15, if any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved. But only as through fire. Our place, our responsibilities in the Kingdom of God will depend upon our faithfulness here. And so finally, the wonder, the wonder of judgement, the wonder of it. One of the wonderful things about the judgement of believers will be that those who are faithful here, but unsuccessful in the eyes of men, will there receive the recognition that God considers appropriate. I'd like to just illustrate what I mean. Out of the only life I really understand, which is the life of the ministry. I'd like to just talk to you about two hypothetical ministers. You'll recognise them I expect. Not because they are people, they are, they're hypothetical people. But you'll recognise the sort of people. Number one is a preacher. Endowed by God with a wonderful personality, with a marvellous voice, a thorough education, a brilliant mind. None of them are of his choosing. They are the gift of God through his parents and his tutors. He has a big church. He sits on the council of the Baptist Union. He speaks regularly at spring harvests. He wears expensive clothes. He drives a new car. He's popular. Everyone praises him and they shower him with gifts. He has great responsibility. If he uses all he's been given well, God will give him an appropriate reward. But if he becomes proud, if he becomes too big to sit in the gutter and talk to a drunkard, if he mixes only with the tops of society and has no time for the others, if he flies all around the world stressing and bowing to the plaudits of men, if he waters down his message to suit his congregation, if he spends his time watching his investments in the financial times, then he's already received his rewards. And he won't and can't expect another when it comes to heaven. He'll find that all that's left will be ashes. Here's another man. He lives in a manse that badly needs painting. He serves a small congregation and lives on the Home Mission Fund minimum stipend. He drives an old car that's just failed the MOT and he's not sure how he's going to get it through the MOT next time. He's not a great orator. His talents are few. He can't afford the books he needs to enlarge his library. He can't afford to fly to the stakes to extend his knowledge of what's happening in theological circles. Few listen to him and few appraise him. Day in day out he plods around his parish, pleading with people to believe in Christ, praying with those who are suffering and dying. Because he works so hard and has so little, he dies an early death due to undernourishment and overwork. He's buried and there are very few at his funeral. I don't know any such person, but if there were such a person, I'd like to be there when God dishes out the rewards. Because God does not call us to success as human beings consider success. He calls us to faithfulness. And if we are faithful in whatever position He places us, He will reward us accordingly. And there are many people, many many people, and we're going to be surprised and we're going to wonder when this day comes. There are many people building with gold and silver and precious stones, in obscure places, who will stand in the limelight on that day. And equally there are men in America, with TV religious affairs programs that are beams of millions, who are applauded, who can't stand the praise of men and fall into appalling sin, who will find all of it burned up and nothing left but ashes. The wonder of it. Jesus must have the last word. There are 2 passages I want to draw to your attention as I close. As I put everything in its context again. I'm going to ask you to turn to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24 and verse 36. Matthew chapter 24 verse 36. Jesus is talking about the last page. He says, But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the sun, but the Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Interesting. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man. And 2 men will be in the field, 1 is taken and 1 is left. 2 women will be grinding at the mill, 1 is taken and 1 is left. Watch therefore for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. I'm not looking forward to the tribulation. I'm looking forward to the coming of Christ. And he's going to lift us, believers, I believe, he's going to lift us out of this world before the tribulation takes place. Jesus says, as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. It's interesting. Before the flood came, God lifted a man called Enoch out of this world. Enoch walked with God and he was not. Noah and his family went through the picture used here of the tribulation I believe. He went through the flood. Will there be a family that will go through the tribulation? Indeed there will. The converted family of Israel will go through the tribulation. And they will come through it and they will be converted by means of it. And they will find a place in the Kingdom of God. And what happened in the days of Noah? The wicked perished. Jesus uses this picture. Just one other. Luke 17, 28-37. Luke 17, 28-37. Again Jesus is talking about the Last Page. Likewise as it was in the days of Lot. He's just talked about Noah. Now he's talking about Lot. Likewise as it was in the days of Lot. They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom. On the day when Lot went out from Sodom. Fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day let him who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away. Likewise let him who is in the field turn not back. Remember Lot's wife. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, you remember, could not occur until when? Until Lot and his family were out of the city. Once they were lifted out of the city, God's destruction fell. Once more I believe Jesus is talking about the Tribulation which is to come. Christians will be lifted out before it comes. When it comes the wicked will perish. Jesus talking about the Last Days. Enoch, you know, was a very spiritual believer. Lot was a believer. 2 Peter chapter 2 makes that clear. But Lot could hardly be called a spiritual believer. Enoch was a spiritual believer. Lot was what I would call a worldly believer. He was so enmeshed in the world. He was one of those Christians who was neither one thing nor the other. Too Christian to enjoy the world. And too worldly to enjoy their Christianity. So kind of thoroughly miserable. Stuck between. This was Lot. But both of them were lifted out. All Christians will be lifted out. The spiritual ones and the worldly ones. And all of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The spiritual ones are those who build with gold and silver and precious stones. And the worldly ones are those who are building with wood and hay and stubble. Which are you? The Bible says it's a mirror. Look at yourself in the mirror. Do you see yourself in Enoch? Or do you see yourself in Lot?