Welcome to the official podcast of the Church
of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've
tuned in for today's message. Whether you're
on your morning commute or if you're relaxing
at home, we're here to share the strength and
truth of God's Word with our community. If you're
in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in
person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean
Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather
every Sunday morning at 1030 a .m. and in the
afternoon at 230 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays
at 7 p .m. Right now, let's open our Bibles together
and dive into today's sermon. Taking a look at
salvation from 30 ,000 feet, getting that broad
overview so that we can better understand salvation
and so they can better equip us to understand
other things of the Bible and that's what we're
going to talk about this evening. Whenever we
look at our diagram we said at the beginning
we're going to start from the time that we're
a sinner and we want to study salvation all the
way until the resurrection of life or the resurrection
of condemnation that Jesus talks about that day
when all that are in the graves are going to
hear the voice of the Lord and some are going
to be resurrected to life and some are going
to be resurrected condemnation and that will
bring to completion God's redemption work here
upon the earth. Well this evening we want to
go a little bit further in that as we go back
and review kind of what we've where we've come
from whenever we look at ourselves as sinners
and again if you're here tonight and you are
a sinner as we talked about you can't save yourself
there's no good thing that you can do because
God is perfect He's perfect in His holiness He's
perfect in His righteousness God is the standard
by which we are all judged and measured and I
know you're tired of me telling you this but
I'm going to say it again don't look at me and
think as good as me you may be and if you are
God bless you but you know how much that's going
to get you as it goes in a dollar and you can
get a cup of coffee with it because it gets you
nowhere because before God how you compare to
me makes no difference to God It's all about
you and God and He's perfect and you're not and
once you're not perfect you can't go back and
be perfect again. You can fill your life with
all types of good works and things like that
but you're still in the guilt of your sin. Now
we might look at that and think well surely it
just seems like if you do more good than bad
God's gonna you know He's gonna love you and
He's gonna count you righteous. But God's holiness
is so perfect. God's holiness is so majestic
that just one sin, one sin separates you. from
that holy God and you're living under the condemnation
of sin and death and so because of that you need
to be justified. To be justified means to be
pronounced as righteous and you can't do enough
good where one day the Lord's going to look at
you and say okay you're righteous. That day will
never come in your life. The only way that you
can be declared righteous is by giving up yourself
and coming to the cross in belief and repentance.
and being baptized with your Lord or being baptized
into the Lord's death so that the Lord's death
becomes your death the Lord's death becomes the
payment for the penalty of your sin and now God
can look at you and say your sins have been paid
for you are now righteous and then you become
a saint but the story of salvation doesn't end
there because whenever the Lord justifies us
and He saves us, He does so for a purpose. And
we talked about that last, this past, last evening.
And that the purpose for which God saves you
is not so that you can just go to heaven. Again,
we think that salvation is all about us going
to heaven. Salvation Going to heaven is a big
part of salvation, but there is even a greater
purpose in our salvation. You see, whenever we
make our salvation all about us going to heaven,
who are we making salvation about? Us. Who should
salvation be about? Who should everything that
we do in faith be about? God. And so there's
a greater purpose to our salvation in not just
us going to heaven, but as we studied last evening,
that we be fruitful to glorify God. God saves
us to glorify Him. God saves us to glorify Him
by being fruitful, by doing good works. As Paul
said, that He saved us by grace through faith.
and that his workmanship created in him in Christ
Jesus to walk in good works which God before
ordained that we should walk in them before you
and I were ever around, before creation was ever
around. God in eternity past determined in his
mind, I want to save a group of people that is
going to walk in good works and be fruitful in
righteousness to bring glory to me. And that's
why He saved you. Now obviously, if we do that,
we can go to heaven. But if we don't understand
that principal purpose of salvation, then we're
going to misunderstand a lot about what we're
going to talk about this evening. In Ecclesiastes
12 verses 13 through 14, the preacher Solomon
said, let us hear the conclusion of the whole
matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, for
this is man's all. For God will bring every work
into judgment, including every secret thing,
whether it be good or evil. So as the preacher
goes through Ecclesiastes and he says, All of
the things of the earth are vain. All is vanity
and troubling to the spirit and you can pursue
those things all you want and it's just going
to be a continually grasping of the wind. And
so there's no truth, there's no reality in this
world, of this world that gives meaning and purpose
to life. That basically the preacher said our
time here is just a waste of time. So Have a
little bit of fun while you're here if that's
all life is about. But at the very end of the
book he says that life does have meaning and
life does have purpose. And why does life have
meaning and have purpose? Notice what he says
in verse number 14 because God will bring every
work into judgment including every secret thing
whether good or evil. We're gonna be accountable
We're gonna be accountable and So you see that
he says this is the conclusion of the whole matter
Fear God and keep his commandments for this is
man's all so in other words the preacher says
the meaning and the purpose of your life in my
life is Rooted in the fact that we're going to
be accountable to God As you lived your life
today, did you ever stop and think about your
accountability to God? Did you even think about
the judgment day today? The preacher says that's
the one truth that should be the foundation of
our meaning in our... existence here is that
we're going to be accountable to God and then
therefore we should fear Him and keep His commandments.
And so that brings us to a spiritual reality
beyond this realm of flesh that speaks to us
that we're going to be accountable and it's implied
that if we're going to be accountable there's
going to be some type of reward, some type of
consequence for how we live in this life. The
Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 verse number
10, for we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ. Did you think about that today?
That there's coming a day just as sure as you
and I are sitting here today and breathing the
air that we're breathing. That we're going to
stand before Jesus and we're going to give an
account. That each of us will receive the things
done in the body what he has done, whether good
or bad. Paul says that again in Romans 14 and
in verse number 10. He says, Why do you judge
your brother? Why do you show contempt for your
brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ. Now we're going to look at these
texts a little bit later, a little more in depth,
but what Paul is saying in both of these instances
is that understanding that you're going to stand
before Christ in the day of judgment should affect
how you live in this moment right now. And if
we don't give thought to the judgment, if we
think that, well, you know, I've obeyed the gospel,
I've been baptized, judgment is taken care of,
it's not something I need to worry about. It's
something that we need to be concerned about
every day. And I want to illustrate tonight how
a misunderstanding of salvation can lead us to
some very grave misunderstandings about just
judgment. I had someone send me a video here
about three or four weeks ago, and the title
of the video was, Why is God going to judge Christians
if we're already forgiven of our sins? Think
about that for just a moment. That that question
is born out of a view of salvation that makes
judgment almost seem Unconsequential and irrelevant
like it's a waste of time In other words, I've
obeyed the gospel and I've been baptized Therefore
all of my sins are forgiven which means that
I'm going to go to heaven So why do I need to
stand before Jesus and be and go through all
of my works? Just to tell me what I already knows
gonna happen. I'm going to heaven Is that what
the Bible teaches I want to talk this evening
mainly about some misconceptions of judgment
and then tomorrow evening we're going to get
into what judgment is going to be. I want to
address these two misconceptions this evening
and maybe these are misconceptions that you think
and I'll be honest with you these are some misconceptions
that I once held about judgment because I had
a view of salvation and then I'd read these passages
about judgment and just think well you know that
just doesn't work out and so then rather than
Looking at my view of salvation and thinking,
you know what, I may not be understanding this
right. I tried to take judgment and to distort
it into something as that question implied. It's
really just a formality and not something that
I have to be concerned with because after all
I want to have confidence in my salvation. I
want to have assurance in my salvation and many
times we think having confidence and assurance
in salvation means that we have no concern for
judgment and that's just not right. If your view
of salvation causes you to look towards the idea
of standing before Christ in the day of judgment
as something to not really be concerned with,
your view of salvation is incorrect. Here is
the popular view of where I say popular and again
you may not have even heard of this and I hope
you haven't but if you haven't you probably will
and especially some of our young people because
it's a view about salvation that if you were
to go to the internet and Google and AI to try
to find out information about the judgment seat
of Christ this is what you're going to be told.
In 2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 10 Paul says for
we will all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ. Romans 14 10 will all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. Now we have over here
in our heading the Bema. What is a Bema? It's
not a car. That's a beamer. This is a Bema. The
word, the Greek word for judgment seat is Bema
and it's a raised place mounted by steps. It's
a platform, a tribune used of the official seat
of a judge. And so it was a platform that the
judge would sit on, and so in this picture of
Christ's judgment, Christ is going to be seated
on what is called a bima, a judgment seat, and
people are going to come before him for judgment.
But what I want to point out is, is that our
understanding about salvation influences our
understanding about judgment. And I want to illustrate
it. Again, going back to the idea, why is God
going to judge us if He's already forgiven us
of our sins? What's the judgment for? And so
the idea is, if I've obeyed the gospel, or in
denominational circles I have accepted Jesus,
then I'm saved. And I've always been told I'm
to have confidence and assurance in my salvation
So since I've been forgiven here that means I'm
going to heaven And so whenever I go to heaven
How does this judgment seat thing worked in if
it's already determined going to happen to me?
So if you do some research on what the judgment
seat of Christ you'll get something like this
The Bema seat takes its name using imagery from
Paul's day. During the ancient Olympics, the
judge sat along the finish line. His purpose
was not to determine whether or not the participants
actually ran the race. If they got that far,
then they completed the course. But the judge
at the Bema seat determined how they came in
first, second, and so on, and he handed out the
rewards. That is the imagery that the Bible gives
us of the believer's judgment. It is at the judgment
seat of life that Christ meets out the rewards,
not the punishments that we earn in life. In
other words, the judgment seat of Christ is not
a place of judgment, but of reward. And in this
idea, if you are standing before the judgment
seat of Christ, you're already saved just because
you're there. You're a winner because you ran
the race. And so just like the judge in the Olympics
would stand up on this platform and give out
the awards to all of the winners, Jesus is going
to stand up on the platform and He's going to
give each one of us our reward. That when we
come before the judgment seat of Christ, we're
not coming before a judge to be judged in a judicial
sense, we're coming before a race official that's
going to give us our ribbon for running the race.
And again, that's a very popular view of judgment.
And it's a view that I've encountered among the
churches. Because it is a view that is consistent
and works well with an idea of salvation that's
not right. Whenever you look at the Bema, How
is it used in Scripture? If you want to understand
how a word is used in Scripture, obviously the
best thing to do is to look at every place where
that word is used. And so what we're going to
do real quickly is just kind of make a run through
the New Testament where the word DEMA is used
sometimes and see if it has anything to do with
a judge just simply handing out rewards. Well
whenever we go to Matthew 27 19 while he Jesus
was setting on the judgment seat the Bema his
Pilate's wife sent to him saying Now when Jesus
was standing before pilot was Jesus standing
before pilot to get a ribbon Was Jesus standing
before pilot to get an award no He was standing
before pilot to be judged by pilot according
to the cries of the Jewish mob that delivered
Jesus there. It wasn't a place of celebration
because he was a winner standing before the Bema.
It was a very somber and sober occasion as he
stood before the one who was going to make the
decision about his life or death. Again in John
19 verse 13, when Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in
the Bema, the judgment seat. Again, not a place
for reward, but a place of judgment. In Acts
chapter 18, verse number 12, when Galio was procounsel
of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against
Paul and brought him to the judgment seat. When
Paul was preaching the gospel and that Jewish
mob came and got him and they drug him before
Galio, did they bring him there because they
wanted Galio to give Paul a trophy? No. They
brought him there to be judged. And he drove
them from the judgment seat, again in the same
context. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes,
the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before
the judgment seat. This judgment seat was not
a place of reward. It wasn't a place of celebration.
It was a place where you stood before someone
who had the power of life and death in their
hands. In Acts 25 and verse number 6, when he
festus had remained among them more than ten
days, he went down to Caesarea and the next day,
sitting on the judgment seat, they commanded
Paul to be brought. And then Paul said, I stand
at Caesar's judgment seat where I ought to be
not rewarded, but judged. Therefore, when they
came together without any delay, the next day
Festus sat on the judgment seat and commanded
the man to be brought in." When you look at these
other New Testament references where the word
Bema is used, there is no reference whatsoever
to that idea that we just read a few slides back,
is it? It was not a place of reward. It was a
place of judgment. And so whenever Paul is talking
about standing before the judgment seat of Christ,
he didn't speak that reality to the Romans and
the Corinthians in order to create within them
some type of celebratory heart in anticipation
of a reward. He spoke that to them as a truth
that was to bring sobriety to their thinking
so that they would act act right as Christians.
And it has to have the same effect on us today.
Well, again, in investigating this, even though
in the New Testament the word always refers to
a place of judgment, Did some investigating maybe
there's something in in historical writings that
refers to this that maybe when Paul uses this
he's not using it in the normal sense that it's
used in the New Testament and maybe it's possible
that it is just you know that it is a an athletic
understanding But this is what I found there
is no ancient primary historical sources that
state that the It's the specific location where
athletic winners were rewarded. There's not any.
There's not any. I'll confess, I used AI on this.
You know, you pull this stuff up and you get
all of these people telling you, oh, the Bema
is an athletic award thing and the judgment seat
of Christ, we're all going to be rewarded. And
then you type in, okay, what are the historical
sources for this understanding? None. In fact,
that's a copy and paste from what I was told.
There are none. There is no historical record
that says that the judgment seat was just simply
a place of reward. and that there is no direct
archaeological reports that identify a structure
explicitly labeled as Abema dedicated to or primarily
used for awarding rewards and prizes in ancient
athletic games. In other words, in all of their
digging, they didn't dig something up and say,
oh look, okay, here's this stand, here's this
athletic facility, and then we find something
that says there's nothing. There's nothing. So
we might ask, well why do people come up with
this idea? Well really what it is, it's a reading
into and an overstatement of a few statements
that some people made along the way about rewards
in athletic events that in no way spoke certainly
and specifically to the term judgment seat meaning
reward only. And in fact, here is an archaeological
find. That's a Bema. The Bema or judgment seat
was a promise elevated platform located in the
center of the ancient Agora in where? Corinth.
Where was one of our references to the Bema?
Second Corinthians. that when the Corinthians
heard Bema, that's what they thought of. And
that wasn't a place where athletes were rewarded.
It served as the official tribunal where Roman
cons - proconsuls and magistrates sat to address
the public, preside over legal cases, and deliver
judgments. And so if our view of salvation takes
the judgment seat of Christ and makes it into
something that the Bible says that it's not,
then my view of salvation is wrong. You see,
so many times we can take, whenever we hold a
certain biblical view that's in, that conflicts
with clear biblical teaching, The general rule
of Bible interpretation is if it violates clear
biblical teaching then you need to go back and
you need to change your view. But sometimes our
view about salvation gives us so much assurance
and so much confidence we don't want to change
it so what we're going to do is we're going to
take things about the judgment and we're going
to distort them to fit our distorted view of
salvation. Don't do that. Don't do that We're
going to stand before Christ and Christ is not
going to give you a participation trophy He's
going to judge you He's going to judge you Well,
let's go back to 2nd Corinthians 5 verses 9 through
11 and just look at the context and the context
will show to us clearly that the judgment seat
of Christ, that reality is to bring sobriety
to our minds where we live the way we're supposed
to live. Therefore we make it our aim, whether
present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
Paul said, my aim in life, whether I'm with you
or I'm not with you, is I want to be pleasing
to Him. Well, Paul, why do you want to do that?
What does the word for mean? Four is always making
a statement that refers back to the... four gives
the reason for the previous statement. Why did
Paul say that he always wants to be well pleasing
to him? Because Paul knew we're all going to
appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Do
you see how that the truth of the judgment seat
of Christ influenced the way that Paul lived?
He got up every day with a great sense of accountability
towards Jesus, and he said, in this day I I want
to please the Lord. Did you want to please the
Lord today because you know that you're going
to stand 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. Before the judgment seat of Christ,
Jesus is not going to deal with just the good
and all the winners. He's going to consider the
good and the bad things. Notice the next statement,
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. As
we said the other evening, when you see the word
therefore, ask, what is it there for? And again
it points back to what's previously been said,
that this idea of terror of the Lord is tied
directly to the fact that we're going to stand
before the judgment seat of Christ. Now again,
we live in a world of Christianity today where
these things are almost scandalous to us. You
mean I've got to be afraid of the Lord? Yes.
You do. Because here's the thing. If you don't
have a true genuine fear of the Lord, you will
never fully appreciate the goodness of His love
and grace towards you and the salvation that
He extends to you. You will never take seriously
serving Him and being fruitful to Him and glorifying
to Him. And whenever we talk about terror here,
it's not a paralyzing terror and it's not a panic.
In fact in the New King James and the King James
version the word terror here about a lot of people
they think that's kind of a stronger maybe in
translation than what it should be. But just
a good healthy genuine fear to know that I'm
going to be held accountable for the way that
I live. So therefore every day I want to live
in a way that pleases Him. And that's not bad.
That's not bad at all. Whenever we read in Ecclesiastes
chapter 12, whenever the preacher was telling
us there at the very end, we're going to stand
before the Lord in judgment, we're going to be
judged, he said our duty is to fear God and keep
His commandments. Because fear is the foundation
really out of which all of the other characteristics
that we experience with God flow. Well, let's
look at Romans 14, 10 to 13. Here in Romans 14,
10 to 13, you had some people at Rome that were
condemning their brothers. You had some people
at Rome that were showing contempt for their
brothers. One group was looking at one group
and saying, you're wrong. You're going to hell.
And the other group was looking at the other
group and saying, y 'all are just a bunch of
dumb people. You don't matter. So how's Paul
going to fix that? Notice what he says. Why do
you judge your brother? Why do you show contempt
for your brother? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. You know whenever
you're passing judgment on your brother or whenever
you're holding your brother in contempt you need
to understand this first before you say a word
and form an attitude towards your brother. There's
going to come a day when you're going to stand
before Christ and he's going to be looking at
you and he's going to be forming an attitude
about you. Wouldn't that change the way you look
at other people? For as it is written, as I live
says the Lord, every knee shall bow, every tongue
shall confess to God. Again, the word for. For
we shall all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ. Well, why did Paul say that? He said
it because it is written as I live says the Lord
every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall
confess to God. I think that's a reference to
a passage in Isaiah 45 verse number 23. The statement
every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall
confess to God is a statement that implies that
everyone is going to be held accountable to the
Lord. So Paul knows we're going to all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ because the
scriptures tell us every knee is going to bow
and every tongue is going to confess. So then,
I should have put a circle around so, then each
of us shall give an account to God pointing back
to this statement, therefore let us not judge
one another anymore. The reality of the judgment
seat of Christ as a place of judgment where you're
going to stand one day and be held accountable
and where I'm going to stand one day and be held
accountable is a truth that we have to embrace.
And if we have a view of salvation where when
we think of the judgment seat of Christ it doesn't
bring sobriety to our mind Where when we think
about the judgment seat of Christ it doesn't
create any urgency within our heart to serve
the Lord And we just kind of step back and say
oh well That's just a formality because I already
know where I'm going if that's our view We're
wrong The second misconception or not this leading
into the next misconception is that Christ is
the judge. Now we may look at that and think,
well duh, it's the judgment seat of Christ. We
all know we're going to stand before Christ.
But you know what? Not everybody thinks that.
Not everybody thinks that. I'll explain that
to you in just a moment. John 5 -22, the Bible
says, the Father judges no one but has committed
all judgment to the Son. 2 Corinthians 5 -10,
it's the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14,
verse number 10, it's the judgment seat of Christ.
Paul says in Acts 11 -31, he's appointed a day
on which he will judge the world in righteousness
by the man whom he has ordained and he has given
assurance of this to all. Raising him who? Jesus
from the dead. Jesus is going to judge. 2nd Timothy
4 verse number 1. I charge you therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge
the living and the dead at his appearing in kingdom.
So the Bible is very clear that Christ is going
to be the one sitting on the judgment seat. Which
leads me into the next misconception that I want
to talk about and it's this misconception that
in judgment Jesus is going to be standing by
us and God is going to be on his throne and in
judgment Jesus is going to be standing there
and he's going to be pleading for us to God He's
going to be interceding for us to God and He's
going to implore God's mercies upon us and then
God is going to look at Jesus in the day of judgment
and say, okay Jesus, I'll let Him in. Well there's
several things wrong with that. And obviously
the first one is God's not going to be on the
throne in judgment. The way God is going to be
on the throne in judgment is in the person of
Jesus Christ So if we take Jesus Christ and we
put him up there who's gonna be with us? We're
gonna be by ourselves We're gonna be by ourselves
You mean I'm going to stand before Jesus in the
day of judgment all by myself? Well, if He's
on the throne, and I'm standing in front of Him,
who else is there to be there? You see Hebrews
9 27 28 the scriptures tell us 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. What the
Hebrew writer is saying is that the Lord has
died for sin once and then after that the judgment
and then whenever the Lord comes in judgment
He is going to come apart from sin. What does
that mean apart from sin? What it means is is
that whenever the Lord comes back the second
time He's not going to come back to deal with
our sin He's not going to come back and bear
our sin and make another atonement for our sin
and offer another sacrifice for our sin, because
He's already done that. When He comes back the
second time, it's going to be to return not as
Savior, but He's going to return as Judge. and
bring the final realization of salvation to His
people. And again, I know that's not a comforting
thought to think in judgment, I'm going to be
standing all by myself before Jesus Christ. Well,
when we go into judgment, we'll hopefully have
some things with us. We'll talk about that tomorrow
night. But so far as Jesus being by your side
and you think that all through this world you
can live the way that you want to, because I
know when the judgment comes, Jesus is going
to beat me there and Jesus has got my back. No,
that's just not right. When he comes again, He's
not going to come deal with your sin. He's already
dealt with your sin. He's already dealt with
my sin He dealt with your sin and my sin over
two thousand years ago and from that time He
has been pleading with you and reaching out his
hand towards you to accept the price that he
paid for you and don't think that all your life
and all my life we can reject that sacrifice
but then in the day of judgment we're going to
stand there and he's going to bail us out. He's
not. He's not. That's why your decision today
whether to be a Christian or not is so important
because if you have it in your mind have it in
my mind that someway somehow these things are
just gonna all work out that's not true that's
not true you see when the Bible talks about the
judgment of our Lord it's always referred to
as righteous judgment he will judge the world
in righteousness the Lord the righteous judge
You see, and this is what happens when we make
salvation all about ourselves. We think the most
important thing in salvation is that we get what
we want. And so we come up with these ideas that
we believe we can get what we want by sacrificing
the righteousness of God. That some way, somehow,
with a nod and a wink, The Lord's gonna say it's
okay Everybody makes mistakes No Sin has to be
paid for and the mercy of God has provided that
sacrifice Today and if you reject that sacrifice
the Lord's judgment will purchase and He's gonna
look at you and he's gonna say you have not had
your sins paid for You're lost. And so again,
you know, I've heard of some pretty creative
pictures of how judgment is going to work. Where
some way, somehow we can be the best version
of ourselves here. We can be true to ourselves.
We can live out our authentic life all the time
rejecting Jesus and then somehow we're going
to stand before Jesus and He's going to say,
enter in good and faithful servant. We're just
being deceived We're just being deceived Psalm
9 7 to 8 but the Lord shall endure forever. He's
prepared his throne for judgment He shall judge
old in righteousness and he shall administer
judgment for the people's in his uprightness
folks God loves us God loves us and he wants
us to be saved. In fact, we had this day to day
because God wants us to be saved Not willing
that any should perish but that all should come
to repentance But this is one thing God won't
do he won't sacrifice his righteousness For you
for me or for anyone to go to heaven because
before God is going to be true and faithful to
us, he has to be true and faithful to himself
or he is not God. He is not God. So if we think
some way that corners can be cut if we think
some way Compromises can be made if we think
some way that awesome things can be overlooked
and it's all gonna work out in the end God's
gonna pull a few strings make a few no He will
not sacrifice his righteousness because if he
sacrifices his righteousness, then he's not God
And if he's not God then we're all doomed anyway
The only way that we can be saved is for God
to honor His righteousness You know we live in
a world today where we all feel entitled where
my situation is special and we expect people
to make compromises and we and to make concessions
for us God can't do that He can't So what about
mercy and righteous judgment? You know sometimes
I think we have it in our mind and again I thought
about this well in order for the Lord to have
mercy He's gonna have to kind of turn his head
away from what's right and wrong In order for
the Lord to be merciful he's gonna have to sacrifice
a little bit of righteousness because to be merciful
He's gonna have to let some things go But that's
not true God can be merciful and he can be righteous.
God's mercy in judgment cannot violate his righteousness
in judgment. We must trust in the gift of God's
mercy now, the payment for your sins by Jesus
Christ for his mercy in judgment to be righteous.
And what I mean by that statement is in order
for God to be righteous in judgment and still
show us mercy, What he has done is he has extended
his mercy to us now in the person of Jesus Christ
It's God's mercy that he provided a payment for
our sin So that he can accept us as righteous
and still be righteous himself And so that's
how God saves us by His mercy. Not by Jesus standing
in judgment and He has our back in judgment,
but by sending Jesus to the cross. So that whenever
we come to judgment then the Lord sees us and
he sees someone who has put their faith and put
their trust as he sits there on that throne with
the scars of his hand Reminding us of that time
that I heard about him dying for me But I thought
not now it can wait it'll be okay God loves me.
And I let it go by. And all Jesus can do is be
righteous. You rejected my payment. I have to
reject you. He takes no pleasure in that. As
the prophet says, God does not take pleasure
in the death of the wicked. But it has to be
done Because the Lord is righteous You cannot
spend your life rejecting the gift of God's mercy
The payment for your sins by Jesus and then expect
his mercy in judgment It would not be righteous
because your sins would not be paid for And so
whenever we look at our outline there's coming
this day, right Jesus is with us in our justification.
Jesus is with us as we live every day to be fruitful
to the glory of God, but there's gonna come a
day when the person that's right here and right
here is gonna be sitting right there and you're
gonna be right there. What will it be? What's
your answer gonna be? What's your answer going
to be as to why on June? I forgot what today's
date is June the 18th When that old guy from
Arkansas was up there just ranting and raving
about how that I need to accept the Mercy of
Jesus and the price for my sin and I sat there
and I thought oh You know, maybe later Maybe
later. Oh, I don't really have to do that because
you know God loves me and I put it off and I
put it off and I put it off you see that putting
something off is just like anything else that
you do in life the more you do it the easier
it becomes so that you begin to just subconsciously
reject the Savior folks this is real again There's
going to come a day just as sure as you're sitting
there and I'm standing here that we're going
to be standing right there. What will it be?
What will your answer be? God extends his mercy
to you right now and if you want God's mercy
and judgment that mercy has to be righteous and
it can only be You make the decision to put your
trust in the blood of Jesus as the payment for
your sins and to be buried with him in baptism
into his death. Thank you for listening to today's
sermon from the Church of Christ Wheeler area.
We hope this message encouraged you and strengthened
you in your faith this week. Don't forget the
door is always open at 1500 South Allen L. Bean
Boulevard. at 10 30 a .m on sundays 2 30 p .m
on sunday afternoons and recharge with us midweek
on wednesdays at 7 p .m for more information
or to hear past messages follow us on your favorite
podcast platform look us up on facebook and instagram
we hope you have a blessed week and we'll see
you next time