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 in to today's sermon. Throughout this
week, beginning Monday night, we started what
turned into a series, salvation from 30 ,000
feet. I'm taking a high -level view of salvation.
And generally, whenever you take a high -level
view of something, you just try to get the big
picture. And my wife... told me last night that
I may be getting too detailed for an overview
but and I appreciate her insight she was very
wise and so but we are going to go ahead tonight
and get a little bit more into what we talked
about last evening the judgment and hopefully
tonight we'll land this plane so this is the
picture that we've been putting together so far
Monday evening we started with just a center
Okay, we're going to take a sinner and we're
going to look at salvation all the way from the
time that that sinner lives out the process of
salvation until ultimately the judgment and the
resurrection to condemnation or the resurrection
to life. And we studied how that the sinner can't
do anything for himself, that a sinner cannot
be saved by his own works of righteousness. And
we were very specific about what a work of righteousness
was. A work of righteousness is a work that we
perform in order to try to earn salvation apart
from God's grace with no faith in Jesus Christ.
The Bible is very clear in defining for us what
a work of salvation is by which we are not saved.
And we try to bring clarity to that because throughout
the course of talking about salvation, you're
going to be talking about works. You're going
to be talking about works a lot and we're going
to talk a lot works tonight. And so it's very
clear that we understand that whenever Paul is
talking about works of righteousness that we
are not justified or saved by, he's not talking
about works that Christians are to do. but rather
he's talking about works that sinners do again
in order to earn salvation apart from God's grace
with no faith in Jesus and we want to be very
clear about that and so since there's nothing
that a sinner can do all a sinner can do is look
to the one who can save him Jesus Christ Jesus
being perfect died on the cross it was an atoning
sacrifice that Jesus being sinless dying the
death of a sinner is able to take upon himself
all of the sins of those who will put their faith
and trust in Him and atone for the sins of those
who will come to Him in faith. We come to Him
in belief and in repentance. The scriptures teach
us that we are to be baptized. To be baptized,
Paul tells us, puts us in Jesus's death, which
is where we be so that Jesus' death is our death,
our sins are atoned for, and we can be righteous
and we can be holy before an infinitely and eternal
perfect God. And then after we are baptized and
God operates in raising us up from the dead to
be alive with Jesus, we become saved. And so
then the next thing that we looked at in salvation
is now that we've been What are we justified
for? Yippee, we can go to heaven now. Well, yeah,
we all want to go to heaven, but God's got more
in store for His people that He saves. And that
whenever we think about going to heaven and we
make salvation all about us going to heaven,
we're making a grave error in making salvation
all about us. Salvation, even though God is working
for our salvation, salvation is still all about
Him. And our salvation is to be something that
glorifies and magnifies Him because after all
that's the purpose for which He created us. And
so the Bible, as we looked at in several instances,
whenever it talks about us being saved, the next
thing that it talks about is as saved people,
we are to be fruitful to the glory of God. And
you look at all of these other passages that
talk about sinners being justified, the next
thing that the writer, the Apostle Paul, talks
about is not going to heaven, but, okay, what
are we supposed to do now? in Ephesians chapter
2 after he said we're saved by grace through
faith not of works lest any man should boast
then he says in the very next verse for we are
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which God has before ordained that
we should walk in them God saved you and God
saved me if you're a Christian to walk in good
works to walk in works that are a result of our
salvation They're not works that we try to earn
salvation apart from God's grace with no faith
in Jesus Christ, but rather they are works that
we walk in because we have received the gift
of salvation because of God's grace through faith
in Jesus Christ. And so whenever Paul says that
works don't save us or justify us, don't confuse
the works that we're saved to do with the works
that don't save or justify and again we really
want to be clear about that because sometimes
we want to conflate the two and again like we
said the other that it's apples and oranges there's
no there there's no similarity between the works
that we can't be saved by and the works that
we are saved to do we want to be very We talked
about how we're to have a relationship with the
Word. We went through and we looked at several
scriptures that talked about being fruitful and
how that our fruitfulness is tied to the Word.
And that we want the Word of God to abide in
us so that we can abound in fruit. In all this
time that we're walking in the light, we look
to the cross of Jesus Christ to cleanse us of
our sins because we know after we become saints,
we're still going. The Bible is very clear about
that. John himself said that we are to walk in
the light as he is in the light, and we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of
Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our sins.
Well, we might think, well, if we're walking
in the light, we're not sinning. No, that's not
what that means. Because whenever we walk in
the light... Number one means that I'm going
to walk in the light and I'm going to do what
God's Word says, but also walking in the light
means that whenever I sin and that sin is exposed
by the light, I repent and the Lord forgives.
I'm responding to the Word. in every area of
my life. I respond to it by being obedient to
it and I respond to it by being repentant whenever
the word convicts me of sin. And God is faithful
as we go about our time being fruitful to the
Lord, working for the Lord. All of that time
he is keeping our soul cleansed so that we can
be holy and be justified before him. And then
last evening we talked about at the end of our
walk to come a day and that's going to be the
day of judgment where we're all going to stand
before the judgment seat of Christ. And last
evening we talked about some misconceptions about
the judgment. One of the things that we talked
about is that the judgment seat of Christ is
that. It is a seat of judgment. Again, popular
doctrines about the judgment seat of Christ is
that it's a place where we just all come together
and we get our reward for finishing the race.
Well, we looked at scripture and we looked for
historical evidence and we see that it's very
clear that when Paul says the judgment seat of
Christ, he's talking about a place where Jesus
sits in a judicial decision to make a judgment
about how you have lived your life. And we also
talked about how that in the judgment, Jesus
is not going to be standing by us in the judgment.
Jesus is not going to be standing by us in the
judgment to plead and to intercede to God on
behalf of us in order for us to go to heaven.
Well, why is that? Well, we studied again. The
Bible tells us that Jesus isn't going to be standing
beside us. Jesus is going to be sitting on the
judgment throne. So who's going to be standing
beside us? What are we going to have in judgment
whenever we stand before Jesus? We're going to
talk about that tonight. And then if we have
any ideas of somehow we're going to get into
judgment after we've rejected Jesus all of our
life, in some way somehow we're going to pull
a rabbit out of the hat and get to go to heaven,
we need to understand that's not going to happen.
Because one thing that we read over and over
about the judgment of Jesus is that it is a righteous
judgment God has to judge you and judge me in
a way that honors his Righteousness and God is
not going to go against his righteousness For
me to go to heaven as much as he wants me to
go to heaven as much as he wants you to go to
heaven There's a righteous way for us to go to
heaven and if we don't honor that When we stand
before the Lord in judgment, we're not gonna
go to heaven And we see the Bible is very clear
that the righteousness of God is revealed where
in the gospel Because it's in the gospel that
we see the atoning death of Jesus Where your
sin and my sin can be paid for to satisfy the
anger and wrath of God towards sin so that he
can righteously look at us and say, you're a
just person. That's the only way that it works.
That's the only way it can work for God to be
just. So tonight we're going to look at how does
the Bible judge. The Bible is very clear about
how the Lord judges. In Romans chapter 2 verses
6 through 11 Paul says speaking about the judgment
he will render to each one according to his deeds.
Eternal life to those who by patient continuance
in doing good seek for glory honor and immortality
but to those who are self -seeking and do not
obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation
and wrath tribulation and anguish on every soul
of man who does evil of the jew first and also
of the greek but glory honor and peace to everyone
who works what is good to the Jew first and also
the Greek. It's very clear from this explanation
that Paul gives us about the judgment of our
Lord that it's all about what? Our deeds. Our
doing. Do we obey? Do we not obey? What we do.
The works that we do. That's how God judges.
That's how Jesus judges according to our obedience
our and our doings and our works and That is
the way that God has always judged He doesn't
have a new way of judging in the new covenant
as from some other time Whenever you look at
script, it has always judge that way. Jeremiah
17 10 I the Lord search the heart I test the
mind even to give to every man according to his
ways according to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah
32 19 you are great in counsel and mighty in
work for your eyes are open to all the ways of
the sons of men to give everyone according to
his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.
Matthew 16 27 the son of man will come in the
glory of his father with his angels he will reward
each according to his work, 2 Corinthians 5 10,
we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, that everyone may receive the things
done in the body according to what he has done,
whether good or bad." Notice in all of these
texts that talk about the judgment of the Lord.
Our ways, our doings, our ways, our doings, our
works, what we've done, what we've done. If we
have a view of salvation, that causes us to think
in the judgment that somehow our works and the
things that we do are going to be inconsequential
in our judgment then we need to go back and look
at our view of salvation again. because the Bible
is very clear and very explicit about how the
Lord judges. Revelation 20 verse 12, I saw the
dead small and great standing before God and
books were open. Another book was open which
was the book of life. The dead were judged according
to their works by the things which were written
in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were
in it and death in Hades delivered up the dead
who were in them and they were judged each one
according to his works. Revelation 22, 12 and
Behold, I am coming quickly. My reward is with
me to give to everyone according to his works."
So whenever we look at these passages and other
passage in scriptures that talk about the way
that the Lord judges, it is always according
to our works. And so because of that we have
to have an awareness of our works or lack thereof,
of our fruitfulness, of our lack thereof, of
our doing good or our doing evil because all
of those things are going to be brought into
judgment and the Lord will judge according to
those. And then we're sitting there thinking,
boy that sure sounds like salvation by works.
And to some people it's almost offensive to say
that. But again, let's remember whenever Paul
talked about not being saved by works, what types
of works was he talking about? Again, the Bible,
he's talking about works that a sinner does to
earn salvation apart from God's grace without
faith in Jesus. But then whenever we look we
see that a saint after he has been recreated
by the Lord is to be fruitful to glorify God
And so whenever we look at all of these works
of judgment that we've been talking about what
we're talking about basically is going into judgment
and the Lord is going to judge us by Did you
fulfill the purpose that I saved you for? I mean,
that's pretty clear, isn't it? If he saves us
for a purpose and we're accountable to him, shouldn't
we expect to be judged? Okay, did you fulfill
the purpose that I saved you for? So, the works
that Paul says has reference to the works that
the sinner does. All of the works that we read
about the judgment of the Lord has to do with
The Lord judging, were you fruitful? Did you
walk in the works that I ordained that you walk
in as a saved person? And again, this is very
clear whenever we look at the scriptures. The
judgment parables of our Lord in Matthew 25 verses
20 to 26. the parable of the talents. We know
there was the five talent man, the two talent
man, the one talent man, the five talent man
goes out and he increases his talents by five
times and then he comes in to give an account
and he says I've gained five talents in this
judgment parable. The man says to his servant
well done good and faithful servant and so the
master gave him something He intended for that
servant to take what he was given and to be useful
and profitable for the master's purpose Doesn't
that sound a lot like salvation? He gives us
something Salvation and then he expects us to
take it and to use it for his purpose And so
in this parable, the five talent man does it
and he's well done, good and faithful servant.
The two talent man does the same thing. He was
given something. He was given for a purpose.
It was a purpose that was to serve the purpose
of the master that gave him the talents. And
he goes out and he uses those talents and then
he comes back in to be held accountable. And
then the master says, well done, faithful servant.
And so by looking at these descriptions of these
servants it can give us some insight that the
Lord is looking for in judgment. But in faithful
in Romans chapter 6 verse 22 Paul said after
we talked about being baptized into Christ having
been now set free from sin Having become slaves
of God the word slaves that's used there is derived
from the same Greek word that we read in Matthew
25 that is servants So just like those those
men in the parable were the servants of the master
you and I are servants of the Lord now that we're
free from sin and Just like in the parable those
servants were accountable to the master. You
and I are accountable to the Lord And whenever
we look at the description of those good servants,
good and faithful. The word good means to be
upright and honorable, fulfilling the duty or
service demanded. Faithful. Means that those
servants were trusting, they were faithful in
the transaction of business, the execution of
commands, or the discharge of duties. As servants,
we have duties. Can you think of a time where
there was ever a servant that did not have duties?
It's implied by the very meaning and definition
of a servant and if we have duties and as a servant
We have a master our duty is to serve the purpose
of the master and we're going to be held accountable
by the master in Such as it is with the Lord
if we're servants of the Lord the Lord gives
us duties and we're going to be held accountable
to the Lord for those duties In Matthew 25, 20
to 26, the one talent man, he was given something
and he was expected to take that and to use it
for the purpose of the master, but instead of
being good and faithful, he went out and dug
a hole and stuck it in the ground and didn't
do anything with it. So that whenever the master
came back, he had the same amount that was given.
There was nothing, there was no profit. to serve
the purpose of the master and notice what he
how he refers to him you wicked and lazy servant
you unprofitable servant well let's look at those
descriptors to again better help us in our understanding
wicked means bad the other two were good they
did what they were supposed to the third one
he was bad he didn't do what he was supposed
to that's how we define bad here we look at the
good ones we see what they did they were good
and faithful and the bad one wasn't goes on to
say that they were lazy sluggish and slothful
backwards they were unprofessional they were
useless and good so when we go into judgment
Whenever the Lord judges us to see how we have
taken what He's given us and using it to serve
His purpose, to glorify Him, He wants to know,
hey, have you been good and faithful with what
I gave you? Or have you been wicked? Have you
been bad? Have you been lazy? Have you been unprofitable?
That's what God's looking for in judgment. That's
what's implied by this parable. So again, whenever
we look at the judgment, look at our diagram,
he's just going to look back at our works. Jay,
have you been good and faithful with what I gave
you? Or have you been bad, lazy, and unprofitable?
And we may look at that and think, well, I don't
like that. Well, it doesn't matter whether we
like it or not. I think the scriptures are pretty
clear. That's the way that it is. And we may
look at ourselves and we may think, well I can
never be this, or I can never be, but here's
the thing, if the Lord has called us to be that,
then we can be that. If He's called you and He's
called me to be a good and faithful servant,
I can be a good and faithful servant. You can
be a good and faithful servant. Now sometimes
our problem is in our mind we get this this imagination
of what a good and faithful servant looks like
and we think of the most outstanding and most
perfect man and woman that we can think of in
our minds and we look at them and say well I
could never be like them and that's not the way
it works. To be good and faithful to be fruitful
to the Lord You know, what does it mean to produce
fruit? Well, as we studied last evening or the
evening before that, where does fruit come from?
Fruit originates from where? The Word. And we
produce fruit and we do good works whenever we
look in the Word and the Word says, do this and
we go do it. Those of you today that had a job,
if you went to your job and you were respectful
to your boss, you did your job with as unto the
Lord and not unto man you know what you did today
you produce fruit for the Lord husbands whenever
you love your wives father ever you teach your
children you know what you're doing you're producing
fruit for the Lord wives whenever you care for
your husbands and you and guide and direct your
children. You know what you're doing? You're
doing good works and you're producing fruit for
the Lord. You see a lot of times we look at that
and think well that's just you know we think
we know we've got to pack up our bags and jump
on an airplane and travel halfway around the
world before we can ever start to do a good work.
No! Every day you do what the Lord says. You
are producing fruit and doing good works. When
you had that temptation today or you had that
lust and you abstained from it and you said no
You performed a good work You produced fruit
You need to be aware and I need to be aware of
all of those areas of our life where we produce
fruit Are we perfect people? Absolutely not.
Did you sin today? Probably and I did too But
in the course of our seeking to do what the Lord
tells us to do and being faithful to being a
servant to the Lord, those times that we stumbled
because of ignorance or because of weakness,
the Lord is going to continue to wash us and
cleanse us so that we can continue to be fruitful
and work in a bound. You can be a good and faithful
servant. I can be a good and faithful servant.
Another judgment parable, Matthew 20. Then the
king will say to those on his right hand come
you blessed of my father Inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world
so in this parable this judgment about this parable
about judgment I'll get it straight in a minute
notice that as he pronounced this blessing upon
these people that are on the right hand Notice
the basis of his judgment. I was hungry You gave
me food Good fruit, good work. I was thirsty.
You gave me drink. Good fruit, good work. I was
a stranger. You took me in. Good fruit, good
work. Are you beginning to see the picture here?
I was naked. You clothed me. I was sick. You
visited me. I was in prison. You came to me.
And then they go and then they say, well, when
did we see you that way? It says in that you
did it to the least of my brethren. You did it
unto me. But the point that I want curious is
that in his explanation out there blessedness
in judgment he says it's because you did this
you did this you did this you did this Then to
the others he said depart from me you cursed
well Why because I was hungry and you gave me
no food. I was thirsty you gave me no drink I
was a stranger you did not take me in naked and
you did not clothe me sick and in prison You
did not visit me in other words. You did not
do this You did not do this You did not do this
And so in the parables that Jesus teaches about
the judgment, we see that in both of these parables
in Matthew chapter 25, now he teaches other parables
about judgment, but we're just looking at this
one for the point that's at hand, how that the
Lord doesn't have some, you know, secret code
in judgment so that He can save us without us
doing good things. He doesn't have that. You're
either going to obey the Lord or you're not.
You're either going to produce fruit or you're
not. And when we go before the Lord in judgment,
that's what we're going to do. Well, that just
sounds like you're going to heaven all by yourself
and nothing further from the truth. Why was I
saved? Because of the grace of God and the gift
of Jesus Christ. my faith in Him. And then whenever
I was born again, as we studied Sunday morning,
I was given and you were given all things that
pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge
of Him who has called you according to His glory
and His virtue. He continually cleanses me every
day of my sin and I stand upon the promises that
him that he and his infinite grace has given
to me to go about and do good things and Were
it not for the faithfulness of his grace every
day I couldn't produce a raisin and Neither could
you So don't think that because we're judged
based on some things that we do that going to
heaven is just all about us. It's not Because
we would not be there we would not have the blessing
we would not have the privilege We would not
have the honor to serve the God of all creation
You see whenever we go Lord and judgment again,
Jesus is not going to be standing beside me And
Jesus is going to be here interceding saying,
you know God you need to save him. He's a great
guy He's messed up, but I've got it taken care
of let him in that's not the way it works Because
we studied in Hebrews 9 verse number 27 that
whenever the Lord comes back again, he's going
to come back for judgment Apart from sin and
we studied last evening that apart from sin means
that the next time the Lord comes He's not coming
to deal with your sin. He's coming to judge you
and That if you want any mercy in the day of
judgment you have to accept the mercy of God
right now Because God's mercy has to be according
to righteousness And so for him to be merciful
in judgment, then your sins have to be paid for
by Jesus. And that mercy is only extended to
you right now while you're here today living
and breathing. And if you let that opportunity
pass by and you go to your grave outside of Jesus
Christ, there is no hope for you. Now I've heard
people come up with some pretty creative ideas
about how they think they can be saved without
Jesus That they're just so cute and pretty that
once the Lord lays their eyes on them They're
gonna think oh, I just can't send him to hell.
No It don't work that way. We're not that special
We're special in the sense that the Lord died
for us and purchased us by his grace But we're
not special in the sense that if we don't do
what he says, we're not going to heaven. That's
another thing about righteous judgment is that
it's without partiality. Doesn't matter what
family you've been born in. It doesn't matter
what nationality you are. It doesn't matter whether
you're male or female. It doesn't matter if you're
rich or poor. It doesn't matter whether you live
in Texas, Oklahoma or Arkansas. There's one standard
of righteousness. And if we don't honor that,
then we're lost. So why do we need to go into
judgment? You need to go into judgment with your
works. You know, we've read this verse, Matthew
chapter 6, verses 19 and 20. Don't lay up for
yourselves treasures on the earth. And in verse
number 20, he says, lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven. What does that mean? Lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven. Well, first of all, what
does it mean to lay something up? The lay something
up means that I take what I have and I put it
up for a future use Like if you're building up
a retirement account, maybe each pay period you
put a you store up a little bit money of money
Not that you're just gonna throw that money away,
but you know Okay, I'm gonna put a little here
a little here a little here because I know down
the road a few years I'm going to need that and
I'm going to use it then. And that's what lay
up for yourself means. It means something in
store for future use. So whenever the Lord says
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, He's
talking about laying up treasures in heaven for
future use. Word is used in 1st Corinthians 16
verse number 2. On the first day of the week
let each of you lay something aside storing up
as he may prosper that there be no collections
when I come. So when y 'all come together on
the first day of the week each of you, you take
something and you put it away because I'm going
to be coming through here in another week or
another month and then I want that to be ready
for future use. And so whenever we do good works
Whenever we produce fruit in our life, those
works and that fruit doesn't just vanish away.
That's stored away in heaven for you. That each
one of us is filling a treasure chest for heaven.
You ever thought about that? You young people
that went out the other day and did all of those
service projects and you helped all of those
people. When you get old, you may never remember
that again. And then the judgment comes and you
open up your treasure chest or the Lord opens
up your treasure chest and you're going, I did
that? I don't remember doing that. But the Lord
does. The Lord does. And that's evidence of your
fruitfulness. That's evidence of you taking the
grace and the salvation that the Lord gave to
go out and to do a good work and to bring praise
to the Lord. Hearts of men and women in your
community to bring them to know the Lord. Every
day you every day that I live we are making an
investment in our salvation in heaven. Romans
6 verse number 5. It works the other way also.
But in accordance with your hardness and your
impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself
wrath in the day of wrath in revelation of the
righteous judgment of God. You see it works the
other way too. You can treasure up wrath. You
know what the word treasure up means? guess what
greek word it comes from the same one that we
get lay up so we can do good works and lay up
that way or we can live every day in rebellion
and disobedience to god and you know what we're
doing we're laying up wrath for ourselves that
one day that box is going to open and the lord
is going to bring his wrath upon us because we
rejected him and disobedience to him. 1st Timothy
6, 18 to 19 talks about let them do good, that
they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing
to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation
for the time to come that they may lay hold on
eternal life. What's that mean? Storing up for
themselves a good foundation for the time to
come that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Whenever you do good works, I do good works,
whenever you're fruitful and I'm fruitful, what
we are doing is we are building a foundation
upon which to stand before the Lord in judgment.
And again we think, well that just doesn't sound
right, you know, it just sounds like it's all
about us. But it's not. Why are we doing those
works? Because of the grace of the Lord and the
faith that we have in Jesus. How are we doing
those works? We're doing those through the Spirit
and the guidance and the revelation of the Lord
God of heaven. Why are we moved to do those works?
Because we understand the great love that God
has shown towards us and it constrains us to
go... You see our works are all about God so
then how can they be all about us? We're just
a vessel. We're just a vessel. Do you want something
to stand on when the Lord comes? Again, Jesus
isn't going to be standing by you. Jesus is going
to be up on that throne. And what Paul is talking
about is we're going to have something to stand
on. And he's telling those people that are rich,
you do good works and you store up for yourself
a good foundation because there's going to come
a day when you're going to need something to
stand on before the Lord. every day that you
live and every day that I live we're building
that foundation. Hopefully we're building that
foundation. Revelation 14 13 they may rest from
their labors and their works follow them. You
take some you go take them and you feed them
a meal that meal is probably going to be gone
in 15 minutes but your reward is for eternity.
All I did was give them a bologna sandwich. But
that $1 .50 you spent on a bologna sandwich given
in the name of Jesus Christ goes towards an eternal
reward and an eternal value. And see that's the
challenge that is before us that we take all
of the temporal treasures that we have and that
we use them according to the goodness and grace
of God within us to create for ourselves eternal
value before the Lord. How do you use the things
that you have? How do I use the things that I
have? You know I can enjoy some of the things
that I have for a little while or I can take
those things and by the Spirit and by the guidance
of the Lord use them to create an eternal value
for me. When I get that next raise at work, well,
I'm retired now, so it's cost of living. You
know, I can take that extra money and go out
and buy me something to enjoy for a little while,
or I can take that extra money and I can go turn
it into something that is of eternal value. Create
eternal value for yourself by doing the good
works and producing the fruit the Lord has called
us to. So whenever we stand before the Lord,
He's going to be on the throne and in here we
are and there's your treasure. I want to ask
you right now, what are you putting in your treasure?
Husbands, whenever we open up that treasure,
are there going to be the fruits and works of
loving our wives? Children, whenever we open
up the treasure, is the work and fruit of honoring
and respecting your parent going to be in there?
Let's talk about boldness and judgment just real
quickly. You know we always talk about well we
want to have confidence and assurance and saying
that we're going to go to heaven based on our
works that's not really comforting and a lot
real assuring because I just don't know if I'm
going to do enough. How can I know that I'm going
to do enough? Well again as we talked the other
evening don't ask the question am I doing enough
to go to heaven ask the question Am I doing enough
now to glorify God? But nonetheless we can have
boldness in judgment the Bible speaks specifically
to boldness in judgment Now I want to make a
distinction here. Don't confuse boldness or confidence
in judgment with confidence in salvation. You
may think, boy, we're splitting hairs here. No.
Let me ask you. Okay. When were you saved? When
was I saved? I was saved and you were saved whenever
we were baptized into Jesus. Were you saved that
day? I was saved that day. I was baptized into
Jesus. were saved that day when you were baptized
into Jesus. And from that day forward, my confidence
in the fact that I am saved is in Jesus Christ
in His death upon the cross. That's my confidence.
If you ask me what is your confidence and your
assurance of salvation, I'm going to tell you
Jesus Christ. But whenever John talks about boldness
in judgment, He doesn't say the answer is Jesus
Christ He doesn't say that let's see what John
says 1 John 6 or rather 2, 28, and now little
children abide in him that when he appears we
may have confidence and not be ashamed before
him at his coming. In 1 John 4, 17, John says
again, love has been perfected among us in this
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment
because as he is so are we in the world. So here
John speaks specifically to having confidence
at the Lord's coming. to having boldness in the
day of judgment. And the word confidence and
the word boldness come from the Greek word which
means to have a free and fearless confidence.
You mean I can have a free and fearless confidence
about the Lord's judgment? John says we can.
And that's the thing we've got to understand,
you know, is that we think about these things
and we just think, I can never have that. That
can never happen to me. But if the Scriptures
tell us that it can, we have to believe that
it can. Well, how can we have this confidence,
John? 26 to 29 John says these things I've written
to you concerning those who try to deceive you
but the anointing which you have received from
him abides in you and you do not need that anyone
teach you but as the same anointing teaches you
concerning all things and is true and is not
a lie and just as it has taught you you will
abide in him and now little children abide in
him that when he appears we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before Him at His coming."
But He is righteous. You know that everyone who
practices righteousness is of Him. Now, it speaks
of Jesus. It speaks of Him, but notice that there
is an action that's given to you to do and to
do in order to have this boldness. What is that
action? That action is To abide in him So what's
my confidence in judgment my confidence is I'm
abiding in the Lord I'm abiding in the Lord your
confidence in judgment is you're going to abide
in the Lord. Well, what does it mean to abide
in the Lord? Well when we go to John 15 verse
4 Jesus says, abide in me and I in you as the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it
abides in the vine, neither can you unless you
abide in me. So what does it mean to abide in
the Lord? It means that I'm doing what? Bearing
fruit. You see that? I'm bearing fruit when I
abide in the Lord. Isn't that the purpose for
which God Save me? Yeah. So if I'm fulfilling
the purpose for which God saved me, can I have
confidence? Yes. And if we go back to our verse,
if you'll notice the last statement here in verse
number 29, if you know that He is righteous,
you know that everyone who practices righteousness
is born of Him. He's righteous, you practice
righteousness. If you're practicing righteousness,
you can have boldness in the day of judgment.
You're abiding in the Lord. that you do. Now
again, and I get it, we don't want to make ourselves
sound too great, but we have an active responsibility
and role in our confidence. to abide in him to
bear fruit. You know, I think of the words of
the apostle Paul whenever he was at the end of
his life. He said, I fought a good fight, I finished
the course, I've kept the faith, henceforth there's
laid up for me a crown of righteousness. In some
places Paul would get called on the carpet for
that statement. Paul, what do you mean? thinking
that you're going to be crowned for something
that you did. It's all about Jesus. And it is
all about Jesus. And that's why Paul fought the
good fight. That's why he finished the course.
That's why he kept the faith. Because it was
all about Jesus, but Paul was the one that was
active in doing that. And so if you look at your
life, and I look at my life, and then we look
at the good things that we do, and you look at
the good things that you do, and it gives you
some confidence, don't feel bad about that. Give
glory to God for the fruit that's in your life.
And whenever you say, I've done this, I've done
this, I've done this, henceforth the Lord's going
to do this. That's not being boastful that's
acknowledging the reality of the responsibility
that God has given to you to bear fruit In order
to have confidence in heaven abide in him do
what the Lord says produce fruit Boldness love
has been perfected among us in this that we have
boldness in the day of judgment because as he
is so are we in this world There is no fear in
love, but perfect love casts out fear because
fear involves torment. But he who fears has not
been made perfect in love. We love him because
he first loved us. If someone says I love God
and hates his brother, he's a liar. For he who
does not love his brother whom he has seen, how
can he love God whom he has not seen? In this
commandment we have from him that he who loves
God must love his brother. Here's another way
that we could have boldness in the day of judgment.
that has been perfected among us. Now whenever
we look at this, especially verse number 18,
We'll read this verse a lot of times where it
says there is no fear in love But perfect love
cast out fear a lot of times we'll read that
and we'll take it or I know I'm over generalizing
you may not do that But it happens a lot. Well,
that means that whenever your love for God it
becomes perfect and complete You don't have any
more fear of God That's not what that means We
should never lose our fear of God. We're commanded
to fear God Your love for God should never dispel
your fear for God. You can have those at the
same time and in fact to effectively love God
must fear God. The fear that John is talking
about here is what? The day of judgment. And
there are people that live in torment of the
thought of judgment. But there's a way that we
can have boldness in Jesus. Number one, we can
abide in Him and be fruitful. And then number
two, love can be perfected among us. What's it
mean for love to be perfected among us? That
means that the love that God has for us, we have
and we share with others that are around us.
That when I mature in my life and you mature
in your life in the love of God to the point
to where we are loving each other The way that
God loves us we can look at that and say yeah,
I'm ready for the Lord to come I'm ready for
the Lord to come That's what it means for the
love to be perfected Go down to verse number
20 says I love the Lord and hates his brother.
What's the subject of this love? It's loving
your brother. He who loves God must love his
brother also. If I can't love my brother and
I don't want to be around my brother and I just
assume that my brother go away and leave me alone,
I don't have any confidence in judgment because
that's a manifestation that God's love towards
me is not complete in me to be shared with other
people. Should I have confidence in judgment
if I don't love my brother? Should I have confidence
in judgment if I'm not? No. No. But what we do
so many times is we look for ways to have confidence
that absolves us of any responsibility. And we
have responsibility in the realization of that
boldness in judgment I've got to abide in him
and be fruitful and I've got to love my brother
And if I can if I'm doing those things then hey,
you know about those that love his appearing
If I'm fruitful and you're fruitful and we love
each other the way that God loves us We're looking
forward to the Lord coming But if you don't love
your brother and you're not being fruitful you
rue the day that the Lord comes Matthew 5 48
therefore you shall be perfect just as your father
in heaven is perfect Whenever he talks about
perfect there context of what love Love your
enemies love like God loves Do you love like
God loves? Then you're perfect. You know, again,
we look at that and think, I can't be perfect
like God. How can anybody be perfect like God?
Well, just look at the context. It's just about,
okay, God loves his enemies, you love your enemies,
then you're loving like God. You're perfect in
that sense. Because notice what he says up here,
you may have boldness in the day of judgment
because as he is, so are we in this world. You
mean I can be in this world? Well, yeah, because
John said that. I can be like God is in this
world in the sense that I can love my brother
like God loves me. There's confidence in that.
Another verse about boldness. We read there,
we studied this Sunday. Make your call and election
sure. If you do these things, you'll never stumble,
for an entrance will be supplied to you confidently.
If I'm adding to my faith virtue, virtue knowledge,
knowledge temperance, temperance patience patience
godliness godliness brotherly kindness brotherly
kindness charity if I'm adding those things and
I'm supplying those things in my faith I can
have confidence that an entrance will be supplied
to me abundantly but if my faith is dead and
I'm not doing any of that should I have confidence
in going to heaven so whenever we look at our
picture this evening when the Lord comes Here's
the question. Have you obeyed the gospel? Have
you obeyed the gospel? Because whenever our Lord
comes if you haven't obeyed the gospel as you
stand before the judgment seat of Christ He's
going to see you in all your sin Because the
price hasn't been paid and it doesn't matter
what you've done in your life You're guilty before
the Lord and you'll be condemned. That's why
Paul said in 2nd Thessalonians 1 that he's going
to come in flaming fire taking vengeance on those
who do not know God and on those who don't obey
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These will
be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord and from the glory of
his power. If you're here tonight and you have
not been baptized, you have not obeyed the gospel,
That's what you have to look forward to. The
next question we ask is, are you being fruitful?
Christian, are you being fruitful? Are you purposefully
and intentionally being fruitful? Notice what
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5. of Christ. Paul
said, I'm going to appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, so I want to be well pleasing
to him. Well, Paul, what does it mean to be well
pleasing to him? Colossians chapter 1, number
10. Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him,
being fruitful in every good work and increasing
in the knowledge of God. Do you live every day
with the awareness that you're going to be in
the seat of Christ, and does that motivate you
every day to be fruitful? abounding in His grace
and in His knowledge. So what will it be? If
you're over here as a sinner, this is what you
need to do. If you're here as a saint, this is
what you need to do because this day is coming.
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 doors
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