Does the love of God spare us from His judgment?

The speaker discusses whether the love of God spares us from His judgment. They explain that judgment is necessary for justice and that both believers and non-Christians will be judged. They mention two distinct judgments: one for Christians at the return of Jesus and one for non-Christians after the millennium. They emphasize that judgment is part of God's plan of salvation and that believers will be judged based on their actions or lack thereof. The message encourages living faithfully and doing good works. Welcome to our weekly exhortation. Thank you for joining me. And thank you for your precious time. My name is Gilamud, Servant of God, Servant of Jesus Christ. We've come to you this day with this question, Does the love of God spare us from His judgment? This is the background to this message. Our Lord Jesus taught that while He is away, the believer must do the work of the kingdom faithfully and diligently, knowing that at the return of his Lord, his work will be greatly rewarded or severely judged. Again, does the love of God spare us from His judgment? In order to answer that question, we first have to see the link between judgment and justice. In fact, judgment has to do with justice. You know, a world in which justice is absent, a world in which justice cannot be applied, will be a place where no one can have confidence in the future. Judgment is necessary so that God's justice prevails. Matthew chapter 25 verse 31 tells us that when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels will hear Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne, the throne of judgment. In this message, we are told that Jesus is the judge, and this is a consistent teaching of the Scripture. But who is to be judged? Let's read 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 17. There it is written, 4. The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. Please, let's stop for a moment here. The Apostle Peter makes it clear that everyone will be judged, starting from the believers. That's what this verse is telling us. In fact, the house of God in this passage refers to the kingdom of God. There will the judgment of God start from. You know, some Christians have this idea that judgment is only for unbelievers, that believers do not come under any kind of judgment. But the Bible does not say that. The Bible says that Christians will be judged too. The Apostle Paul says, 4. We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. Romans chapter 14 verse 10. Notice the last phrase. We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. The Apostle Paul is talking here as a Christian, not as a non-Christian. He included himself in the statement. Now, let's go back to 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 17. There is something important there to be considered. The Apostle Peter says, 5. The judgment of the believers will be followed by the judgment of the non-Christians. The rest of the verses of 1 Peter tell us this. 6. If it is first begun at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? If the judgment of God first begins at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? Those who don't obey the gospel of God are the non-Christians, of course. It appears that there will be two distinct judgments. The judgment of the believers and the judgment of the non-Christians. In fact, is the judgment of the believers necessary? Why does God bother so much? Whatever the case, believers believe in Him, right? Well, God says, 7. Christ will judge a person according to his actions, whether good or bad. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 20. So, God is going to deal with the judgment of Christians, knowing that among the Christians there are faithful servants and wicked servants. Remember the parable of the talents? Matthew chapter 25 verse 14 to 30. There, it was not the judgment of servants and non-servants. I mean, the parable of the talents is not about the judgment of servants and non-Christians. It was the judgment of all servants, all Christians. And the fact is that some were faithful, one was unfaithful. You can see clearly here that this judgment is about Christians. It's about believers. It's not about believers and non-Christians. Praise the Lord! Another example is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Matthew chapter 25 verse 1 to 13. In fact, all the virgins in this parable represent believers. Five were wise believers and five were foolish believers. At the same time, the above example is a response to those who say that there is no judgment for the Christians on the basis of Romans chapter 8 verse 1. What does Romans chapter 8 verse 1 say? Please let's read it. There it is written, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live not according to the flesh, but according to the spirits. Friend, please tell me, why does it say that there is no judgment for the Christians in that sentence? Yes, we read that there is no condemnation, but it does not say that there is no judgment. You see, you can be judged, and because you are found innocent, there will be no condemnation. You are therefore acquitted. But this does not mean that there is no judgment, that you have not been judged. Judgment and condemnation are not the same thing. Condemnation is the punishment that follows when you are guilty after a judgment. So, in order to give you a picture of what I am saying, please let me read Matthew chapter 13 verse 37 till 42 called the parable of the tares. According to this passage, evildoers will be judged. Notice carefully, these evildoers are not in the world. They are in the kingdom of God. They are born-again Christians. Matthew chapter 13 verse 41 They are to be gathered out of the kingdom. Those evildoers who were born again are to be gathered out of the kingdom of God. Why so? How come they are already in the kingdom of God and have to gather out of that kingdom? You will agree with me that you cannot gather someone out of a place unless he is first inside that place. You cannot take someone out of his bedroom unless he was in the first place in his bedroom, right? You cannot gather a person out of the kingdom unless he is first in the kingdom of God, right? The truth is that some born-again Christians will not be found acceptable by the Lord. And some of these people will be considered as evildoers. They do not see themselves as evildoers. But the judge, Jesus Christ, will declare that they are evildoers. Hallelujah! Now, seeing that Christians will be judged, then are non-Christians not to be judged? Of course, they will be. We said earlier that according to the Bible, Christians and non-Christians will be judged. In that case, are the non-Christians judged at the same time as the Christians? Or are they judged at a different time? Is there only one big judgment where Christians and non-Christians will be judged? This is a good question. In my understanding, there appear to be two distinct judgments like we said. One for Christians and the second one for non-Christians. When the Lord Jesus speaks about judgment in Matthew 13, about gathering out the evildoers of His kingdom, this judgment is going to take place at the close of the age, when Jesus comes back. Praise the Lord! That judgment involves the believers. Now, the second judgment is found in Revelation 20, where the Bible talks about the great wrathful judgment. This will happen after the thousand-year period, the millennium. Revelation 20, verse 7. Here is the second judgment, Revelation 20, verse 12. That's written. The dead were judged from the sins which were written in the books according to their deeds. Verse 13. They were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. This judgment involves the non-Christian. So, there are two judgments. There is one at the close of the age, when Jesus comes back, which will deal with the Christian. And, there is another one after the millennium, which will deal with the non-Christians. Praise the Lord! Conclusion. Does the love of God save us from His judgment? You know, we say that there is a clear teaching in the Bible, which says that everyone will be judged. As an example, we say at 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 17. No! The love of God will not save us from His judgment. Why? Because the judgment of God is part of His plan of salvation. It is part of God's eternal purposes. Furthermore, we say that there are two distinct judgments. Whereas the judgment of non-Christian is based on what he does, the judgment of disciple is based on what he did not do. What do I mean? Please, let's go back to Matthew chapter 25. There, we see that the bad person was severely condemned, not because of some evil deeds he did, but because he actually did not do anything. In the parable of the talents, the servant who was described as wicked did not do anything evil. He simply put the one talent he had in the ground and left it there. And when the master came, he returned that money. What was his crime? He was condemned not because he did something evil with the money, but he was condemned because he did nothing with the money. We are almost at the end of our today's message. I have a message for those who have a deep consciousness of the final judgment. This teaching, this message of the Lord Jesus is a powerful incentive to live faithfully and to live in the kingdom of God. This teaching, this message of the Lord Jesus is a powerful incentive to live faithfully and to do good works every day. This is the end of today's message. We were talking about the judgment of God. I hope you enjoy it. May God bless you. If He wills, we'll be together next time. Shalom. Shalom.