JUDGEMENT

There is one God, and that one God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

That’s it.

Can I explain God existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Not completely, but I know it is the truth. I cannot explain how an airplane takes off, but it does, AMEN!!!

I have absolute faith that there is one God. The key is faith.

What is faith? Hebrews 11:1.

Hebrews 11:1 NASB 2020

Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.

I have placed my absolute faith in God. If I am going to heaven, I am going to get there the way God tells me, and God has told all of us how we get to heaven.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 “For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”

Romans 10:9–10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Dear friend, that is the gospel, and if you are going to heaven, that’s the way you are going.

I know it sounds single-minded.

If God is God, if there were more ways than just one to get to heaven, why would God send His only Son to die on the Cross?

Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

There is only one way to heaven, and you must choose whether or not you are going to accept that way, but know this, 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is not willing that any perish but that all come to repentance.

God wants you to choose His way, but if you reject His way for your own way, God is going to let you do that, but be you warned. There is a judgment coming.

2 Thessalonians 1:7–8 “and to give relief to you who are afflicted, along with us, when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

I cannot possibly imagine facing God’s judgment, especially since a pardon has been offered. Today, I am going to ask two questions concerning judgment, and my desire is that you do not have to face what I am going to describe.

1. Who is the Judge? John 5:22-23.

John 5:22–23 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

As straightforward as the Bible can possibly be, Jesus Christ is declared to be the Judge.

A. Christ’s authority to judge.

1. Christ has the authority to judge because He is the Creator.

Colossians 1:15–17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

2. Christ has the authority judge because He died for His creation.

John 10:17–18 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it back. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father.””

3. Christ has the authority to judge because He conquered death.

Revelation 1:18 “and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”

Jesus Christ is the Judge. Jesus Christ died as mankind for mankind on that cross. He took your place, and He took my place. If you or anyone goes to heaven, you will go because the Judge says so.

Only Jesus knows what He endured for you and and me on Calvary, and only Jesus has the authority to judge, an authority given to Him by His Father.

2. Who is going to be judged?

Christians will appear before Jesus but not to be judged for sins because Jesus took the judgment of my sins when He died for me.

For those who reject Christ, guilt is already determined. What is to be determined is the punishment, and you better believe the punishment will be match the crime.

Those being judged are broken into two categories in the Bible.

A. Those who do not know God will be judged. 2 Thess. 1:8.

2 Thessalonians 1:8 “in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

Those who do not know God is referring to those who have not heard the Gospel.

You span the globe, and you will find many people who have not been exposed and saturated to the Gospel for whatever reason, mostly politics and religion.

The Bible says, however, that those people have no excuse for not coming to Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:19–20 “because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

What can be known of God is made evident to all men. Even the Creation bears witness to the eternal power and Divine nature of God.

What God makes known to all men is the need of repentance and Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, God gives every man enough faith to believe what you have not seen nor heard.

Romans 12:3 “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”

God has made it possible for you to know Jesus, and Jesus makes it possible for you to know God.

Those who know not God who have not accepted Jesus Christ will be judged.

Why? John 14:6, 1 John 2:2.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

1 John 2:2 “and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world. Your sins will not condemn you until you reject Jesus Christ’s payment for your sins and that applies to a Muslim in the Sudan, to an Indian in the Amazon jungles, to a migrant child in Los Angeles, California.

None have an excuse.

B. Those who disobey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will be judged.

Anyone who hears the gospel of Jesus Christ and denies it is going to be judged, and might I add this.

Judgment will be far worse for those who reject Christ than for those who have never been exposed to the Gospel.

Luke 12:48 “but the one who did not know it, and committed acts deserving of a beating, will receive only a few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”

Matthew 11:21–22 ““Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.”

Matthew 11:23–24 “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades! For if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment, than for you.””

Judgment is not going to be the same for everyone. Those who disobey or reject the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ are going to be judged more severely than those who simply do not know God.

Romans 2:5–6 “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will repay each person according to his deeds:”

If you reject the way God has provided, you are storing up wrath against the day of wrath, and you are you are going to be judged according to your deeds.

Let me show you two verses side-by-side that show for what you are going to be judged.

Colossians 2:14 KJV 1900

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Revelation 20:12 KJV 1900

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Jesus Christ took those things written in your book in the 20th Chapter of Revelation and blotted them out with His blood as those things in your book were nailed to His cross.

If you accept Jesus Christ, you will not be judged for those things written.

If you reject Jesus Christ, however, the blood is removed, and you will be judged for everything written, and what is written are the sins you have, are, and will continue to commit. You are in effect making the blood of Jesus Christ of no effect.

Hebrews 10:29–30 “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.”

I cannot imagine what Christ endured to cover the things written in my book, and I cannot possibly imagine the judgment I would receive if I rejected and denied Him either.

Conclusion:

You do not have to be judged for your sins. God has made it possible for you not to be judged.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God sent His Son because He loved you so much to keep you from being judged for your sins.

You have no excuse, but let me just say this because I want you to be warned. Sitting here denying and rejecting Christ as the only way to heaven, as the only truth, as the source of eternal life will have dire consequences for you.

If you are going to know God, you are going to know Him through Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:9–10 “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.”

Romans 10:13 “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”