Judgment
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Welcome my friends, it is great to have you here this morning in the house of the Lord. What a joy it is to worship together.
I am so encouraged every Sunday when I get to see your faces. It is indeed a joy.
Let me begin with a question today? How was your week?
Was it easy? Was it hard? What challenges did you face?
And here is the greater question, How did you handle the events you encountered? How did you glorify and honor God in every situation?
I ask those questions to remind you, you are not alone! You have the Savior with you each day. His Holy Spirit walks along side of you and empowers you.
You can excel in every situation, no matter how difficult.
So every day we have the responsibility to live our best for Him, regardless of what we face.
And we are living with a end goal in mind. At the end of days, all of humanity will be judged, the believer and the none believer.
And as you stand in front of God, what will He say to you… and what will He say to those who have failed to believe.
So today lets talk about Judgment, its a topic that the world generally doesn't like to hear, it involves accountability. But as a faithful Christian we must hear the whole truth of God’s world.
So lets take our Bibles and lets find John chapter 5, verses 25 to 29
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
John 5:25-20
As we open this text, we must understand that what Jesus is saying is important, extremely important.
We can identify this from what Jesus says… Jesus begins this saying with the phrase “Truly, Truly… When we see the words Truly, Truly or Verily, Verily we know that it means Pay attention, what I am about to say to you is important, very important my friends..
As we keep reading, Jesus says Verily, Verily I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here...
The time is here my friends, we are in a unique period of time when Jesus is not only getting ready to give His life as a ransom for sin, but will reveal that He is the resurrection and the life and doing so He prepares the world for what is to come. a day of judgment.
The time is upon us.... So what can we learn from this passage…
1. The End of our Days is Approaching…
1. The End of our Days is Approaching…
I know this is topic is not the most appealing, and many do not preach it any more in the effort to keeping everything positive in life. Sadly they do not preach the whole gospel.
We must look at the end of life, Jesus taught us to be ready for it, to expect it and thus we should be ready.
And if Jesus taught us about it, it is important. Now looking back at the text.
When you look at verse 25, the Jesus words focus on the phrase the “hour is coming and is now here..”
The word hour focuses on two events” (1.) The one being the glorification of the Son, His death burial and resurrection. If we look ahead to Jesus words there just a little time before his arrest there in the garden of Gethsemane, the olive garden.
Listen to Jesus in John chapter 17, verse 1....
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
(2.) The then secondly the hour Jesus speaks of is the hour of God’s divine timetable. It was at the right time, the fullness of time that Jesus was sent into the world .
And the hour is coming when Jesus would fulfill the will and mission of the Father, being a sacrifice for sin. He would die for the sins of the world, be buried and would rise again.
The hour was coming ( and has come ) that Jesus would rise in a glorified body and bring honor an glory to the Father above. He shared a preincarnate glory with the Father before coming to us and would soon return to the Father and enjoy that glory again.
All of this was the will of the Father … these hours were moments of preparation moving us forward to the hour of His coming and the hour of judgment upon the whole world
So consider, since God made man and woman in the garden of Eden this world has been moving with his time table, God told the world to get ready, and the His time of redemption came, Jesus came and died upon the cross and rose again. All of these wonderful things are complete.
And now we are moving along His time table toward the end of days, judgment for all who have lived and for all of creation, including the disobedient angels and Satan himself.
So with His coming, Judgement comes to the world. First for the Christian and them for all those who are disobedient and have rejected Him.
So lets examine our next thought today..
2. Judgment for the Church.
2. Judgment for the Church.
One truth that we cannot take lightly as the body of Christ is the truth that there is a judgment for us.
I think people forget that truth. We hang on to the joy that we are saved, that we are forgiven and please don’t misunderstand me, it is absolutely wonderful to know Jesus as our Savior, to be forgiven and to know that we are His.
But our Christian life doesn’t end there. No, not at all. We are called to live for Him daily, to use our talents for Him, to witness and to serve, go where ever the Lord calls too...
How will we respond to His leadership day in and day out?
In our failures, and our disobedience is where we find judgment from the Lord.
Lets go back to our text in , verses 27-29
27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
So God the father has given Jesus, the son of God, the second person of the Trinity the authority to judge the world, the saved and the unsaved…
The saved, the forgiven receive the resurrection of life… and the others, well judgment. But lets keep addressing the saved believer of the Lord and judgment in His life.
Lets look at this morning..
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Paul reminds us that all of us, every saved child of God must appear before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of our life in Him.
The idea of appearing before the judgment seat of Christ has its idea in the notion of appearing before a judge. In Paul’s day it was the roman judge or tribunal, and even Caesar himself depending upon your status or place in society.
And there they hear what a person has or has not done and that person is then accessed their punishment or blessing depending upon their life and actions.
So when you consider what Paul says here. Each one of us must appear before Christ giving an account of how we have lived in this world.
So here is a question: How have you lived?
Not just coming to church, not just tithing,
How have you lived? Not just coming to church, not just tithing, are you a witness, are you going and doing, telling and loving the world around you. There is depth to our walk in Christ, and He requires all of us.
Are you a witness, are you going and doing, telling and loving the world around you.
Are you forgiving or do you hold grudges.
Now lets build upon on this idea of living in front of man and God...
It must be all of me.. that wants all of Him and SO he does for us as well.
Now lets build upon on this idea of living in front of man and God...
And now consider…
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;
Paul refers here to the judgment seat, and this is the judgment seat of Christ, its speaks more of a reward seat. Just like those of the Olympic games, those who complete are judged and rewarded based on how they do through the competition.
So as we stand in front of God, how will our life and obedience be rewarded… There is depth to our walk in Christ, and He requires all of us. If I am going to live in front of Him in a way that is pleasing to Him… It must be all of me.. that wants all of Him
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Interpretation
Such was customary in the Grecian games in Athens, in which those presiding over the games sat atop this “judgment seat”—not in a judicial fashion, but rather to evaluate an athlete’s performance and assess a proper reward
its speaks more of a reward seat. So as we stand in front of God, how will our life and obedience be rewarded...
o as we stand in front of God, how will our life and obedience be rewarded...
There is depth to our walk in Christ, and He requires all of us.
Not the other way around.
It must be all of me.. that wants all of Him
We must give an account of all we have done in this life. Our actions, our words and thoughts...
The church, the born again saints of God who have been redeemed will have to give an account of their lives before God.
Whether good or bad...
So how would you judge yourself?
The quickest way is to answer this question…
Are you living like you should?
Are you surrendered to Him?
If Jesus appeared to you right now what would He find?
If you think there is something that shouldn't be… then there is time to change..
Live in a way that is pleasing to Him...
Now just one last thought my friends...
3. Judgment of the World...
3. Judgment of the World...
When I speak of the idea of the judgment of the world, we are speaking of all of those who have not believed in Jesus as the Son of God,
They are of the world, I say that because they have a different master, the prince and ruler of this world has blinded them toward spiritual things.
So lets go back to our passage..
John
27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Just as the children of God are called forth to receive Life, those who have done evil, are brought forth to judgment.
Now lets think about the word evil. Evil doesn’t necessarily mean those who have done horrendous things, those who are murderers, and so forth, you have to remember that every person comes into this world with sin nature, we have sin because of Adam’s sin.
Sin is what separates us from God, makes us enemies of God and friend of the world.
Now the saved and redeemed of God, they are called forth at the Lord’s coming in the air, the second coming of Jesus.
The Judgment of the world occurs on the Judgment day, we speak of it as the last day. It is the day when all the living and the dead who are separated form God are brought before Him.
Let me take you to the book of Revelation… chapter 20, verses 12-13
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
The dead are all those who have died without a relationship with God, with Jesus the Son of God. And it doesn’t matter who they are, they are called great and small, famous and not so famous, important historical figures and folks you never knew existed..
Jesus said
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
You see there is a necessity of knowing the Lord, of being one who has received Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Many might say I did this for you or did this in your name, I was a good person, I followed after many philosophies and ideas that were all peaceful and good. yet Jesus himself said this in John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So for these there is a day of Judgment as well...
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
We are not told where this judgment will take place, the earth and the shy have fled from Him.. it might be in His city or some other place. Bu the dead are brought to Him...
All the dead are called forth… the sea, the grave, all the places of the earth send forth their dead to the presence of the Lord to stand before him and give an account of their lives in front of Him.
The Great White Throne of God is an important description…Great that it is His seat, White speaks of His holiness's, purity and justice and throne that it is his dominion, his majesty and power.
Jesus will then judge man…
H
16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
and
42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
So the dead are judged...
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
The dead are judged and their works are judged and the book of life is opened…and those whose name was not in the book of life are condemned, sentenced to hell.
They are forever condemned to be separated from the one who has loved them, who loved the whole world. How sad to see this happen...
You see my friends Judgement is certain, Hell is real and what ‘s better is that heaven can be certain.
We all stand to be judged, but thanks be to God that man doesn’t have to be separated from the our heavenly Father. He has loved us with a love that has atoned for our sin..
All we have to do is say Yes...
But we are responsible my friends, not only to say yes, but to witness, to be obedient and to love the world with the Love Jesus has for us..
Are you ready to leave this world,
have you been faithful
You can leave a great legacy
pray
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.