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Well known Christian leader, Kevin Swanson, tells how he once listened for three days to a “positive” Christian radio network without hearing any mention of judgment of any kind.  Not even once in three days!  This stripping of the Biblical teaching concerning judgment has now given us three generations that have no idea of the consequences of sin in this earth, much less in eternity. And yet the Bible is filled with references to God being judge.  Notice,

“…the LORD shall judge His people…”

Deuteronomy 32:36

“…the LORD…cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge…the people with His truth.”

Psalm 96:13

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

2 Corinthians 5:10

Jesus said,

“He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words…the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

John 12:48

The two Judgments on which hang all eternal destinies and rewards are commonly called The “Great White Throne Judgment” revealed in Revelation 20 (verses 11-15), and “The Judgment Seat of Christ” taught in 2 Corinthians 5:10.  The Great White Throne Judgment is the judgment at the end of the world, when all people who rejected Jesus as their personal Lord will individually stand before the throne of God and God will reason with them from the Bible until they fall on their knees and admit they were wrong for not surrendering their individual lives to the rule of Christ.  This will be the most fearful time in the history of man, since everyone at that judgment will be turned into hell!

But what is called The Judgment Seat of Christ is the judgment I’d like us to consider most in this brief time today.  There is a huge lack of understanding about this judgment.  2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us “we”, referring to every believer, will be the ones judged at this judgment, and it is for the purpose “that every one may receive the things done in his body…”  In other words, our life, since we were born again, is going to be reviewed moment by moment.  For every deed done “in the Spirit” of God there will be reward.  Every deed that has been done without the Holy Spirit’s leading (what the Bible calls the “works of the flesh”, Romans 8:1-13), and been left unconfessed before God, is a deed for which we will be greatly ashamed (1 John 2:28) for that sin kept us from being filled with the Holy Spirit after it was committed, and any works done outside the flow of the Holy Spirit in us have been wasted time.  This judgment is all about how we used the time God entrusted to us after we were born again.

But here is the deception about this Judgment Seat:  On the one hand, it is taught that Christ’s death at the Cross removed all our sin before God, which is true—but then the conclusion is drawn that, thus, there will be no judgment for the believer.  But this plainly denies 2 Corinthians 5:10, which says that there is a judgment for believers.  On the other hand, it is taught that this Judgment Seat of Christ will determine if we’ve lived good enough in order to get into heaven, which plainly takes away the all sufficiency of Christ’s work at the Cross and denies the language of 2 Corinthians 5:10 that there will be a reward for each action done in the Spirit after we’ve been born again.  But the truth is in between the two extremes:  Our life will be reviewed to see if we have lived “in the Holy Spirit” or in the “flesh”, for which there will be reward or shame as the case may be.  This is why confession of our present, individual sins is so important:  It is what keeps us filled with the Holy Spirit!

So where will you stand on the Day of Judgement?

Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children!  And you won’t like what that brings to you.  I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.