Untitled Sermon (27)

Intro

Well, this morning as we come together to worship, today is going to be a day of teaching.

Teaching concerning a doctrine that there has no doubt been much discussion with here in the past.

Now to be honest I really kinda wanted to wait to address the teaching but .

Often I have a big mouth that doesn’t remain silent very often and last Sunday night I opened it and because of that, now the whole Church gets to hear me teach on the doctrine and idea of the Judgment seat of Christ.

So to begin our message this morning I would ask that you turn with me to .

Read and pray.

Let me ask you a question to begin this mornings message.

What comes across your mind when I mention the Judgment seat of Christ?

Is it fear?

Fear regarding your position before the Lord on the day that you’ll stand before Him?

My guess would be that most of us in this room when the doctrine of the Judgment seat of Christ comes up gets this feeling of a burden on their back.

This feeling like were unsure of what we should expect.

Unsure of what our place will be on the day that we stand before Christ.

And because of that, we can often feel abandoned of hope.

This crazy internal mixture of feelings about what we should expect.

On the one hand we know that Jesus has paid for our sins.

On the other hand, passages just like this one where Paul places in v. 10 in the mix of his desire to be with the Lord.

That one day, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Yet this isn’t the only place where Paul addresses the Judgment seat of Christ.

He says something very similar in .

Is this talking about salvation?

If it is, this is scary.

But it also means that Christ’ work wasn’t sufficient.

tells us that Christ is our propitiation.

The one who fully took what belonged to us.

Mystery of the cross is that He became sin for our redemption.

He is the one who has justified those who are His.

This can never change.

Golden Chain of redemption from

Point out the beauty of the promise to come.

The guarantee.

It is a promise that we will one day inherit the eternal life bought for us in Christ.

tells us that this is ours by faith.

God so loved fallen humanity that He sent the unique Son, that all those believing upon Him shall not perish but will have eternal life.

Understand this. It can never change!

Listen to what I’m saying without jumping to conclusion.

Someone who is truly redeemed can never lose that.

Even in the midst of the worst of sins.

They are eternally redeemed and God promises in that golden chain that they will persevere.

This is not the same as once saved always saved.

Eternal security is that you are promised to persevere.

Though you may fail and screw up royally many times over, you will always come back to Him.

Point back to

The judgment seat of Christ cannot pertain to our salvation.

tells us this.

There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Now for just one moment I want you to hear me for one second.

Many translations have at the end of the verse that this lack of condemnation is only for those who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Yet in most manuscripts, that is actually not found.

How the verse should read is simply this, “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Now I would have nothing against those who would believe that the latter portion of that text belongs there, it still does not change the meaning of the passage.

The intention of the passage is very clear.

Those who are in Christ Jesus will never receive condemnation because they are in Christ Jesus.

Even if the last portion should be there, the fact of the matter is that those who have been redeemed will walk after the spirit and not the flesh.

It won’t be perfect, but it will be their walk.

That’s the promise of Romans 8:29-30.

Christ made a full atonement for those who have repented and trusted in Him.

And that atonement is for past, present and future.

Even for the person who dies in a state of sin, if they are truly His then they are His.

That cannot be changed.

So lets do this for this morning, lets take your salvation off of the table.

Know and understand that this can never change!

You are eternally His and He is eternally yours.

Did you hear that? He is the Rock that we can always cling to!

You see, this judgment seat has nothing to do with your salvation.

Nothing!!!

Here is my point, if your are truly redeemed in Christ Jesus, you are forever His.

His work at Calvary gave an eternal redemption to those who are His.

Remove this burden off of your back.

Once you are His, He promises to bring you into His eternal reward.

That is the beauty of the golden chain of redemption.

Realize the beauty of this.

Not only are we forever His, but Christ is forever ours.

Did you hear that? He is the Rock that we can always cling to!

When we begin to fall short, Christ will draw us back to Him.

When we feel like Christ is not right there with us, cling to this as a reminder.

So this Judgment seat cannot pertain to your standing before God.

The Judgment seat spoken of here is not a judgment in the form of punishment.

And it is most assuredly not a place where our salvation is questioned.

Christ took all of the punishment that you and I will ever receive. That is the beauty of the Gospel.

Instead this Judgment has to do with an examination of our lives.

Both the good that we’ve done and the bad.

And yes that is referring to those who are redeemed.

Christ redeemed us to spend an eternity with Him.

Yet we still must account for the lives we lived after our forgiveness.

Yet, let me repeat this to you once more, this judgment is not a form of punishment.

Instead, this is where our lives are examined.

What did we do with our calling.

Did we take the gift that the Lord gave us and squander it?

Great Commission.

We’re we victorious over sin?

Did we control our tongues like James tells us?

Did we faithfully serve Him?

Understand this though, your salvation is not in question and there is no punishment for you.

This is instead a time when all of our works as Christians are examined.

Paul actually argues