The Day of Judgment

John 5:24-30

God’s Continuous Judgment

God has an eternal, holy standard. Rom. 2:12-16

Romans 2:12-16 NKJV - For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

God’s judgments are constant. 2 Pet. 2:4; Lk. 17:22,26

2 Peter 2:4 (NKJV): For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment

Reserved for judgment, yet the punishment has already been meted out.

Compare and contrast with the Rich Man in Luke 18. Torment is just as much a consequence of our actions and a judgment upon them!

Luke 17:22, 26 NKJV - Then He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ... "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:

Thus, while the NT clearly shows that there is a specific DAY we should be preparing for in our future, we must also recognize that the judgment of God is multi-faceted and spans all the ages of mankind.

Remember that God is a complex being! In the same way, we should not easily simplify his judgments and statutes.

E.C. Robinson: "Man is being judged every day. Every man honest with himself knows where he is going to. Those who are not honest with themselves are playing a trick, and, if they are not careful, they will get a trick played on them."

God cannot let sin go on without a solution. Acts 17:30-31; 2 Cor. 5:9-11

Acts 17:30-31 NKJV - "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."

2 Corinthians 5:9-11 NKJV - Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

R.W. Dale, The Expositor, March, 1898—“men say-where is the need of it? We are being judged now. Every hour that passes bears witness before God to what we are. We ourselves are putting in the evidence day after day. The Court is already opened; the Judge is already sitting; and further, the penalties of sin and the rewards of fidelity, these are being received already. They are not to begin in another world and after death. Here and now the laws of the universe, which are the laws of God, eternally just, are executing themselves; the reward comes, the punishment comes, at once. It is this that gives solemnity and dignity to life. Yes, but if so, what did Christ mean? What did Paul mean'? They spoke of a judgment which for every man lies in the future, and of penalties and rewards which are to be the result of that judgment. If this theory be true, that the laws of God, eternally just, are executing themselves, there is no need for the intervention of Christ as Judge; if the rewards and penalties come now, it is an error to be looking forward to an awful hour when there shall be a revelation of the righteous judgment of God. ”

God’s Specific Judgment

Judgments of times past Gen. 6:5-8; 11:5-9; Is. 13:19; Jer. 49:17-18; Amos 4:11-12; Zeph 2:9-10

Genesis 6:5-8 NKJV - Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Genesis 11:5-9 NKJV - But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Isaiah 13:19 NKJV - And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jeremiah 49:17-18 NKJV - "Edom also shall be an astonishment; Everyone who goes by it will be astonished And will hiss at all its plagues. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah And their neighbors," says the LORD, "No one shall remain there, Nor shall a son of man dwell in it.

Amos 4:11-12 NKJV - "I overthrew some of you, As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD. "Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!"

Zephaniah 2:9-10 NKJV - Therefore, as I live," Says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Surely Moab shall be like Sodom, And the people of Ammon like Gomorrah--Overrun with weeds and saltpits, And a perpetual desolation. The residue of My people shall plunder them, And the remnant of My people shall possess them." This they shall have for their pride, Because they have reproached and made arrogant threats Against the people of the LORD of hosts.

Earthly judgments vs. the final judgment. Jer. 4:27; 30:11; Heb. 9:27-28

No remnant except Heaven.

“I will not make a full end.”

Jeremiah 4:27 NKJV - For thus says the LORD: "The whole land shall be desolate; Yet I will not make a full end.

Jeremiah 30:11 NKJV - For I am with you,' says the LORD, 'to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, And will not let you go altogether unpunished.'

“ONCE, but after this the JUDGMENT.”

Hebrews 9:27-28 NKJV - And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

The final judgment is centered on the Lord. 1 Cor. 1:8; 5:5; 2 Cor. 1:12-14; Phil 1:6,10; 2:16

1 Corinthians 1:8 NKJV - who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 5:5 NKJV - deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

2 Corinthians 1:12-14 NKJV - For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you. For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end (as also you have understood us in part), that we are your boast as you also are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Philippians 1:6, 10 NKJV - being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; ... that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,

Philippians 2:16 NKJV - holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

The Judge is Christ. Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:5

Acts 10:42 NKJV - "And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.

2 Timothy 4:1 NKJV - I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:

1 Peter 4:5 NKJV - They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

To understand the outcome, WE must be willing to judge/discern. Matt. 10:15; 11:22,24; 12:35-37

Matthew 10:15 NKJV - "Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!

Matthew 11:22, 24 NKJV - "But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. ... "But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you."

Matthew 12:35-37 NKJV - "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

Order of the last judgment

The date is and will be unknown to us! 2 Pet. 3:10-13

2 Peter 3:10-13 NKJV - But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

What comes BEFORE judgment?

Scoffers appearing - 2 Peter 3:3-9

The “Man of Sin” revealed - 2 Thess. 2:1-12

Leaving Earth

New bodies for the faithful - 1 Cor. 15:50-58

Compare/contrast John 5:28,29 - ALL will be resurrected, but it seems that only those who belong to God will be “changed”.

The scene of judgment - Matt. 25:31-46

Son of Man upon his judgment throne (Rom. 14:10)

The “sheep” divided from the “goats”

Sheep awarded their inheritance as blessings from the Father (1 John 4:17)

Goats commanded to depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Rev. 20:11-15)

Regardless of the outcome, God is just! 2 Peter 2:4-9

Our mindset: I MUST GO TO HEAVEN!

It is eternal. Rev. 22:5, 14; 1 Pet. 1:3-5

Revelation 22:5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Revelation 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

1 Peter 1:3-5 – The inheritance of the Christian is “imperishable”; compare and contrast with life here on earth.

It is a beautiful, happy place. Rev. 21:4, 10-21

Revelation 21:10-21 – Nothing like this here on earth. Even if someone tried to build it, it would eventually decay and crumble without work to preserve it.

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

Nothing negative or sad in this place. All will be joy, because the faithful can dwell with their God forever.

It is a place of rest. Matt. 11:28; Heb. 4:9; Rev. 14:13

Matthew 11:28 – Jesus' promise: “I will give you rest.”

Hebrews 4:9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,

Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"

It is a place of righteousness. Rev. 21:27; 2 Pet. 3:13

Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

2 Peter 3:13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

This tells us that heaven is a place WITHOUT SIN.

Christians do not enjoy living around worldliness. It disgusts and upsets us to see others living sinful lives.

Christians will be completely free from any influence of sin in heaven.

No sinners there, only saints. In the company of Noah, Moses, Elijah, etc.

-Out of our two choices, which would you prefer to be your destiny? -The world says that everybody/good people/all faiths will be in heaven. -The Bible says that only those who are PREPARED will go there. -If Christians have eternal life NOW, doesn't this mean we should see signs of heaven in our brothers and sisters here on earth?

Revelation 22:7 "And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."