WEBVTT 00:00:01.839 --> 00:00:04.219 Welcome to the official podcast of the Church 00:00:04.219 --> 00:00:06.759 of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:09.240 tuned in for today's message. Whether you're 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:11.460 on your morning commute or if you're relaxing 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:13.439 at home, we're here to share the strength and 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:16.420 truth of God's Word with our community. If you're 00:00:16.420 --> 00:00:18.059 in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in 00:00:18.059 --> 00:00:21.679 person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:24.690 Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather 00:00:24.690 --> 00:00:27.730 every Sunday morning at 1030 a .m. and in the 00:00:27.730 --> 00:00:30.570 afternoon at 230 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays 00:00:30.570 --> 00:00:34.149 at 7 p .m. Right now, let's open our Bibles together 00:00:34.149 --> 00:00:40.609 and dive in to today's sermon. Throughout this 00:00:40.609 --> 00:00:43.179 week, beginning Monday night, we started what 00:00:43.179 --> 00:00:45.939 turned into a series, salvation from 30 ,000 00:00:45.939 --> 00:00:50.679 feet. I'm taking a high -level view of salvation. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.359 And generally, whenever you take a high -level 00:00:54.359 --> 00:00:57.039 view of something, you just try to get the big 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:00.539 picture. And my wife... told me last night that 00:01:00.539 --> 00:01:02.960 I may be getting too detailed for an overview 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:06.519 but and I appreciate her insight she was very 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:09.879 wise and so but we are going to go ahead tonight 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:12.239 and get a little bit more into what we talked 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:15.040 about last evening the judgment and hopefully 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.680 tonight we'll land this plane so this is the 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:20.700 picture that we've been putting together so far 00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:23.500 Monday evening we started with just a center 00:01:23.849 --> 00:01:25.849 Okay, we're going to take a sinner and we're 00:01:25.849 --> 00:01:28.469 going to look at salvation all the way from the 00:01:28.469 --> 00:01:31.950 time that that sinner lives out the process of 00:01:31.950 --> 00:01:34.909 salvation until ultimately the judgment and the 00:01:34.909 --> 00:01:37.549 resurrection to condemnation or the resurrection 00:01:37.549 --> 00:01:40.790 to life. And we studied how that the sinner can't 00:01:40.790 --> 00:01:43.750 do anything for himself, that a sinner cannot 00:01:43.750 --> 00:01:47.170 be saved by his own works of righteousness. And 00:01:47.170 --> 00:01:50.489 we were very specific about what a work of righteousness 00:01:50.489 --> 00:01:54.150 was. A work of righteousness is a work that we 00:01:54.150 --> 00:01:58.549 perform in order to try to earn salvation apart 00:01:58.549 --> 00:02:02.969 from God's grace with no faith in Jesus Christ. 00:02:03.409 --> 00:02:07.250 The Bible is very clear in defining for us what 00:02:07.250 --> 00:02:11.409 a work of salvation is by which we are not saved. 00:02:11.750 --> 00:02:14.569 And we try to bring clarity to that because throughout 00:02:14.569 --> 00:02:17.490 the course of talking about salvation, you're 00:02:17.490 --> 00:02:19.590 going to be talking about works. You're going 00:02:19.590 --> 00:02:21.810 to be talking about works a lot and we're going 00:02:21.810 --> 00:02:25.090 to talk a lot works tonight. And so it's very 00:02:25.090 --> 00:02:27.629 clear that we understand that whenever Paul is 00:02:27.629 --> 00:02:30.030 talking about works of righteousness that we 00:02:30.030 --> 00:02:33.490 are not justified or saved by, he's not talking 00:02:33.490 --> 00:02:37.030 about works that Christians are to do. but rather 00:02:37.030 --> 00:02:40.310 he's talking about works that sinners do again 00:02:40.310 --> 00:02:43.509 in order to earn salvation apart from God's grace 00:02:43.509 --> 00:02:46.210 with no faith in Jesus and we want to be very 00:02:46.210 --> 00:02:48.610 clear about that and so since there's nothing 00:02:48.610 --> 00:02:51.189 that a sinner can do all a sinner can do is look 00:02:51.189 --> 00:02:54.889 to the one who can save him Jesus Christ Jesus 00:02:54.889 --> 00:02:57.750 being perfect died on the cross it was an atoning 00:02:57.750 --> 00:03:01.250 sacrifice that Jesus being sinless dying the 00:03:01.250 --> 00:03:04.430 death of a sinner is able to take upon himself 00:03:04.430 --> 00:03:07.500 all of the sins of those who will put their faith 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:11.080 and trust in Him and atone for the sins of those 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:14.500 who will come to Him in faith. We come to Him 00:03:14.500 --> 00:03:17.500 in belief and in repentance. The scriptures teach 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:20.740 us that we are to be baptized. To be baptized, 00:03:20.979 --> 00:03:24.159 Paul tells us, puts us in Jesus's death, which 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:28.210 is where we be so that Jesus' death is our death, 00:03:28.550 --> 00:03:31.590 our sins are atoned for, and we can be righteous 00:03:31.590 --> 00:03:35.150 and we can be holy before an infinitely and eternal 00:03:35.150 --> 00:03:40.969 perfect God. And then after we are baptized and 00:03:40.969 --> 00:03:44.949 God operates in raising us up from the dead to 00:03:44.949 --> 00:03:49.729 be alive with Jesus, we become saved. And so 00:03:49.729 --> 00:03:52.189 then the next thing that we looked at in salvation 00:03:52.189 --> 00:03:56.030 is now that we've been What are we justified 00:03:56.030 --> 00:04:00.830 for? Yippee, we can go to heaven now. Well, yeah, 00:04:00.889 --> 00:04:04.090 we all want to go to heaven, but God's got more 00:04:04.090 --> 00:04:08.469 in store for His people that He saves. And that 00:04:08.469 --> 00:04:11.030 whenever we think about going to heaven and we 00:04:11.030 --> 00:04:14.210 make salvation all about us going to heaven, 00:04:14.710 --> 00:04:18.129 we're making a grave error in making salvation 00:04:18.129 --> 00:04:23.420 all about us. Salvation, even though God is working 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:28.379 for our salvation, salvation is still all about 00:04:28.379 --> 00:04:32.339 Him. And our salvation is to be something that 00:04:32.339 --> 00:04:35.899 glorifies and magnifies Him because after all 00:04:35.899 --> 00:04:39.459 that's the purpose for which He created us. And 00:04:39.459 --> 00:04:42.300 so the Bible, as we looked at in several instances, 00:04:42.459 --> 00:04:45.480 whenever it talks about us being saved, the next 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:48.319 thing that it talks about is as saved people, 00:04:48.600 --> 00:04:56.160 we are to be fruitful to the glory of God. And 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:59.100 you look at all of these other passages that 00:04:59.100 --> 00:05:02.420 talk about sinners being justified, the next 00:05:02.420 --> 00:05:05.019 thing that the writer, the Apostle Paul, talks 00:05:05.019 --> 00:05:08.740 about is not going to heaven, but, okay, what 00:05:08.740 --> 00:05:11.839 are we supposed to do now? in Ephesians chapter 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:14.240 2 after he said we're saved by grace through 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:16.939 faith not of works lest any man should boast 00:05:16.939 --> 00:05:20.100 then he says in the very next verse for we are 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:23.259 his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto 00:05:23.259 --> 00:05:26.379 good works which God has before ordained that 00:05:26.379 --> 00:05:29.720 we should walk in them God saved you and God 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:33.779 saved me if you're a Christian to walk in good 00:05:33.779 --> 00:05:38.120 works to walk in works that are a result of our 00:05:38.120 --> 00:05:41.660 salvation They're not works that we try to earn 00:05:41.660 --> 00:05:45.120 salvation apart from God's grace with no faith 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:48.360 in Jesus Christ, but rather they are works that 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:51.339 we walk in because we have received the gift 00:05:51.339 --> 00:05:55.819 of salvation because of God's grace through faith 00:05:55.819 --> 00:06:01.720 in Jesus Christ. And so whenever Paul says that 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:05.839 works don't save us or justify us, don't confuse 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:09.800 the works that we're saved to do with the works 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:14.300 that don't save or justify and again we really 00:06:14.300 --> 00:06:16.339 want to be clear about that because sometimes 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:19.220 we want to conflate the two and again like we 00:06:19.220 --> 00:06:21.879 said the other that it's apples and oranges there's 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:25.639 no there there's no similarity between the works 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:28.600 that we can't be saved by and the works that 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:33.850 we are saved to do we want to be very We talked 00:06:33.850 --> 00:06:36.430 about how we're to have a relationship with the 00:06:36.430 --> 00:06:38.250 Word. We went through and we looked at several 00:06:38.250 --> 00:06:41.050 scriptures that talked about being fruitful and 00:06:41.050 --> 00:06:44.589 how that our fruitfulness is tied to the Word. 00:06:45.110 --> 00:06:47.550 And that we want the Word of God to abide in 00:06:47.550 --> 00:06:50.769 us so that we can abound in fruit. In all this 00:06:50.769 --> 00:06:53.629 time that we're walking in the light, we look 00:06:53.629 --> 00:06:56.589 to the cross of Jesus Christ to cleanse us of 00:06:56.589 --> 00:06:59.290 our sins because we know after we become saints, 00:06:59.550 --> 00:07:03.180 we're still going. The Bible is very clear about 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:06.720 that. John himself said that we are to walk in 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:08.759 the light as he is in the light, and we have 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:11.339 fellowship one with another, and the blood of 00:07:11.339 --> 00:07:14.399 Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our sins. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:16.300 Well, we might think, well, if we're walking 00:07:16.300 --> 00:07:18.600 in the light, we're not sinning. No, that's not 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:22.339 what that means. Because whenever we walk in 00:07:22.339 --> 00:07:25.329 the light... Number one means that I'm going 00:07:25.329 --> 00:07:27.310 to walk in the light and I'm going to do what 00:07:27.310 --> 00:07:30.610 God's Word says, but also walking in the light 00:07:30.610 --> 00:07:33.589 means that whenever I sin and that sin is exposed 00:07:33.589 --> 00:07:36.910 by the light, I repent and the Lord forgives. 00:07:37.149 --> 00:07:41.269 I'm responding to the Word. in every area of 00:07:41.269 --> 00:07:44.189 my life. I respond to it by being obedient to 00:07:44.189 --> 00:07:47.069 it and I respond to it by being repentant whenever 00:07:47.069 --> 00:07:50.470 the word convicts me of sin. And God is faithful 00:07:50.470 --> 00:07:54.430 as we go about our time being fruitful to the 00:07:54.430 --> 00:07:58.029 Lord, working for the Lord. All of that time 00:07:58.029 --> 00:08:00.930 he is keeping our soul cleansed so that we can 00:08:00.930 --> 00:08:04.189 be holy and be justified before him. And then 00:08:04.189 --> 00:08:07.709 last evening we talked about at the end of our 00:08:07.709 --> 00:08:10.550 walk to come a day and that's going to be the 00:08:10.550 --> 00:08:12.610 day of judgment where we're all going to stand 00:08:12.610 --> 00:08:15.430 before the judgment seat of Christ. And last 00:08:15.430 --> 00:08:18.009 evening we talked about some misconceptions about 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:20.370 the judgment. One of the things that we talked 00:08:20.370 --> 00:08:23.290 about is that the judgment seat of Christ is 00:08:23.290 --> 00:08:27.439 that. It is a seat of judgment. Again, popular 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:30.519 doctrines about the judgment seat of Christ is 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:32.899 that it's a place where we just all come together 00:08:32.899 --> 00:08:36.019 and we get our reward for finishing the race. 00:08:36.419 --> 00:08:39.019 Well, we looked at scripture and we looked for 00:08:39.019 --> 00:08:41.960 historical evidence and we see that it's very 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:44.960 clear that when Paul says the judgment seat of 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.460 Christ, he's talking about a place where Jesus 00:08:48.460 --> 00:08:52.220 sits in a judicial decision to make a judgment 00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:57.490 about how you have lived your life. And we also 00:08:57.490 --> 00:09:01.269 talked about how that in the judgment, Jesus 00:09:01.269 --> 00:09:03.710 is not going to be standing by us in the judgment. 00:09:05.009 --> 00:09:07.730 Jesus is not going to be standing by us in the 00:09:07.730 --> 00:09:11.049 judgment to plead and to intercede to God on 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:14.389 behalf of us in order for us to go to heaven. 00:09:14.429 --> 00:09:17.309 Well, why is that? Well, we studied again. The 00:09:17.309 --> 00:09:20.090 Bible tells us that Jesus isn't going to be standing 00:09:20.090 --> 00:09:23.009 beside us. Jesus is going to be sitting on the 00:09:23.009 --> 00:09:27.179 judgment throne. So who's going to be standing 00:09:27.179 --> 00:09:30.580 beside us? What are we going to have in judgment 00:09:30.580 --> 00:09:33.899 whenever we stand before Jesus? We're going to 00:09:33.899 --> 00:09:37.019 talk about that tonight. And then if we have 00:09:37.019 --> 00:09:39.620 any ideas of somehow we're going to get into 00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:42.379 judgment after we've rejected Jesus all of our 00:09:42.379 --> 00:09:44.779 life, in some way somehow we're going to pull 00:09:44.779 --> 00:09:47.019 a rabbit out of the hat and get to go to heaven, 00:09:47.580 --> 00:09:50.100 we need to understand that's not going to happen. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:54.059 Because one thing that we read over and over 00:09:54.059 --> 00:09:57.700 about the judgment of Jesus is that it is a righteous 00:09:57.700 --> 00:10:01.720 judgment God has to judge you and judge me in 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:05.899 a way that honors his Righteousness and God is 00:10:05.899 --> 00:10:09.139 not going to go against his righteousness For 00:10:09.139 --> 00:10:12.200 me to go to heaven as much as he wants me to 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:14.820 go to heaven as much as he wants you to go to 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:17.960 heaven There's a righteous way for us to go to 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:22.210 heaven and if we don't honor that When we stand 00:10:22.210 --> 00:10:25.049 before the Lord in judgment, we're not gonna 00:10:25.049 --> 00:10:30.730 go to heaven And we see the Bible is very clear 00:10:30.730 --> 00:10:33.529 that the righteousness of God is revealed where 00:10:33.529 --> 00:10:38.029 in the gospel Because it's in the gospel that 00:10:38.029 --> 00:10:42.450 we see the atoning death of Jesus Where your 00:10:42.450 --> 00:10:47.120 sin and my sin can be paid for to satisfy the 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:50.980 anger and wrath of God towards sin so that he 00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:54.639 can righteously look at us and say, you're a 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:58.379 just person. That's the only way that it works. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:03.559 That's the only way it can work for God to be 00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:07.519 just. So tonight we're going to look at how does 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:12.039 the Bible judge. The Bible is very clear about 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:15.889 how the Lord judges. In Romans chapter 2 verses 00:11:15.889 --> 00:11:19.129 6 through 11 Paul says speaking about the judgment 00:11:19.129 --> 00:11:22.450 he will render to each one according to his deeds. 00:11:23.029 --> 00:11:26.110 Eternal life to those who by patient continuance 00:11:26.110 --> 00:11:29.190 in doing good seek for glory honor and immortality 00:11:29.190 --> 00:11:31.809 but to those who are self -seeking and do not 00:11:31.809 --> 00:11:35.269 obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation 00:11:35.269 --> 00:11:37.870 and wrath tribulation and anguish on every soul 00:11:37.870 --> 00:11:40.850 of man who does evil of the jew first and also 00:11:40.850 --> 00:11:43.629 of the greek but glory honor and peace to everyone 00:11:43.659 --> 00:11:46.840 who works what is good to the Jew first and also 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:50.139 the Greek. It's very clear from this explanation 00:11:50.139 --> 00:11:52.700 that Paul gives us about the judgment of our 00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:59.500 Lord that it's all about what? Our deeds. Our 00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:05.820 doing. Do we obey? Do we not obey? What we do. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:10.669 The works that we do. That's how God judges. 00:12:10.929 --> 00:12:15.230 That's how Jesus judges according to our obedience 00:12:15.230 --> 00:12:21.090 our and our doings and our works and That is 00:12:21.090 --> 00:12:25.990 the way that God has always judged He doesn't 00:12:25.990 --> 00:12:29.850 have a new way of judging in the new covenant 00:12:29.850 --> 00:12:33.129 as from some other time Whenever you look at 00:12:33.129 --> 00:12:36.799 script, it has always judge that way. Jeremiah 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:40.379 17 10 I the Lord search the heart I test the 00:12:40.379 --> 00:12:43.340 mind even to give to every man according to his 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:46.039 ways according to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:49.799 32 19 you are great in counsel and mighty in 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:52.360 work for your eyes are open to all the ways of 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:55.179 the sons of men to give everyone according to 00:12:55.179 --> 00:12:58.200 his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:01.399 Matthew 16 27 the son of man will come in the 00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:04.220 glory of his father with his angels he will reward 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:07.580 each according to his work, 2 Corinthians 5 10, 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:10.019 we must all appear before the judgment seat of 00:13:10.019 --> 00:13:12.139 Christ, that everyone may receive the things 00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:15.080 done in the body according to what he has done, 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:18.740 whether good or bad." Notice in all of these 00:13:18.740 --> 00:13:21.340 texts that talk about the judgment of the Lord. 00:13:21.940 --> 00:13:25.220 Our ways, our doings, our ways, our doings, our 00:13:25.220 --> 00:13:31.500 works, what we've done, what we've done. If we 00:13:31.500 --> 00:13:37.220 have a view of salvation, that causes us to think 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:40.919 in the judgment that somehow our works and the 00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:44.679 things that we do are going to be inconsequential 00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:48.679 in our judgment then we need to go back and look 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:52.740 at our view of salvation again. because the Bible 00:13:52.740 --> 00:13:56.679 is very clear and very explicit about how the 00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:00.059 Lord judges. Revelation 20 verse 12, I saw the 00:14:00.059 --> 00:14:02.279 dead small and great standing before God and 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:04.759 books were open. Another book was open which 00:14:04.759 --> 00:14:07.299 was the book of life. The dead were judged according 00:14:07.299 --> 00:14:09.519 to their works by the things which were written 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:12.580 in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were 00:14:12.580 --> 00:14:14.960 in it and death in Hades delivered up the dead 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:17.460 who were in them and they were judged each one 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:20.840 according to his works. Revelation 22, 12 and 00:14:20.779 --> 00:14:23.360 Behold, I am coming quickly. My reward is with 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:30.620 me to give to everyone according to his works." 00:14:30.620 --> 00:14:33.320 So whenever we look at these passages and other 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:35.960 passage in scriptures that talk about the way 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:40.799 that the Lord judges, it is always according 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:46.850 to our works. And so because of that we have 00:14:46.850 --> 00:14:51.149 to have an awareness of our works or lack thereof, 00:14:51.590 --> 00:14:54.769 of our fruitfulness, of our lack thereof, of 00:14:54.769 --> 00:14:57.730 our doing good or our doing evil because all 00:14:57.730 --> 00:14:59.830 of those things are going to be brought into 00:14:59.830 --> 00:15:05.669 judgment and the Lord will judge according to 00:15:05.669 --> 00:15:08.330 those. And then we're sitting there thinking, 00:15:08.330 --> 00:15:11.129 boy that sure sounds like salvation by works. 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:18.299 And to some people it's almost offensive to say 00:15:18.299 --> 00:15:24.080 that. But again, let's remember whenever Paul 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.539 talked about not being saved by works, what types 00:15:27.539 --> 00:15:31.080 of works was he talking about? Again, the Bible, 00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:36.639 he's talking about works that a sinner does to 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:41.940 earn salvation apart from God's grace without 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:47.139 faith in Jesus. But then whenever we look we 00:15:47.139 --> 00:15:50.679 see that a saint after he has been recreated 00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:56.279 by the Lord is to be fruitful to glorify God 00:15:56.279 --> 00:16:01.220 And so whenever we look at all of these works 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:04.100 of judgment that we've been talking about what 00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:07.379 we're talking about basically is going into judgment 00:16:07.379 --> 00:16:11.759 and the Lord is going to judge us by Did you 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:17.059 fulfill the purpose that I saved you for? I mean, 00:16:17.399 --> 00:16:20.159 that's pretty clear, isn't it? If he saves us 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.639 for a purpose and we're accountable to him, shouldn't 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:25.240 we expect to be judged? Okay, did you fulfill 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:33.000 the purpose that I saved you for? So, the works 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:36.000 that Paul says has reference to the works that 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:40.539 the sinner does. All of the works that we read 00:16:40.539 --> 00:16:44.500 about the judgment of the Lord has to do with 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:50.940 The Lord judging, were you fruitful? Did you 00:16:50.940 --> 00:16:54.000 walk in the works that I ordained that you walk 00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:01.480 in as a saved person? And again, this is very 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:04.140 clear whenever we look at the scriptures. The 00:17:04.140 --> 00:17:07.359 judgment parables of our Lord in Matthew 25 verses 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:10.759 20 to 26. the parable of the talents. We know 00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:12.859 there was the five talent man, the two talent 00:17:12.859 --> 00:17:15.240 man, the one talent man, the five talent man 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:18.259 goes out and he increases his talents by five 00:17:18.259 --> 00:17:21.240 times and then he comes in to give an account 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:24.140 and he says I've gained five talents in this 00:17:24.140 --> 00:17:27.140 judgment parable. The man says to his servant 00:17:27.140 --> 00:17:30.940 well done good and faithful servant and so the 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:34.609 master gave him something He intended for that 00:17:34.609 --> 00:17:37.710 servant to take what he was given and to be useful 00:17:37.710 --> 00:17:42.750 and profitable for the master's purpose Doesn't 00:17:42.750 --> 00:17:47.190 that sound a lot like salvation? He gives us 00:17:47.190 --> 00:17:51.369 something Salvation and then he expects us to 00:17:51.369 --> 00:17:57.029 take it and to use it for his purpose And so 00:17:57.029 --> 00:18:00.069 in this parable, the five talent man does it 00:18:00.069 --> 00:18:02.230 and he's well done, good and faithful servant. 00:18:02.349 --> 00:18:05.670 The two talent man does the same thing. He was 00:18:05.670 --> 00:18:08.569 given something. He was given for a purpose. 00:18:08.650 --> 00:18:10.930 It was a purpose that was to serve the purpose 00:18:10.930 --> 00:18:13.650 of the master that gave him the talents. And 00:18:13.650 --> 00:18:16.009 he goes out and he uses those talents and then 00:18:16.009 --> 00:18:18.589 he comes back in to be held accountable. And 00:18:18.589 --> 00:18:22.970 then the master says, well done, faithful servant. 00:18:24.619 --> 00:18:28.059 And so by looking at these descriptions of these 00:18:28.059 --> 00:18:34.500 servants it can give us some insight that the 00:18:34.500 --> 00:18:39.339 Lord is looking for in judgment. But in faithful 00:18:39.339 --> 00:18:43.559 in Romans chapter 6 verse 22 Paul said after 00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:46.619 we talked about being baptized into Christ having 00:18:46.619 --> 00:18:50.039 been now set free from sin Having become slaves 00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:52.980 of God the word slaves that's used there is derived 00:18:52.980 --> 00:18:55.180 from the same Greek word that we read in Matthew 00:18:55.180 --> 00:19:00.019 25 that is servants So just like those those 00:19:00.019 --> 00:19:02.779 men in the parable were the servants of the master 00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:06.519 you and I are servants of the Lord now that we're 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:10.019 free from sin and Just like in the parable those 00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:12.799 servants were accountable to the master. You 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:18.019 and I are accountable to the Lord And whenever 00:19:18.019 --> 00:19:21.259 we look at the description of those good servants, 00:19:21.779 --> 00:19:26.099 good and faithful. The word good means to be 00:19:26.099 --> 00:19:31.839 upright and honorable, fulfilling the duty or 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:39.410 service demanded. Faithful. Means that those 00:19:39.410 --> 00:19:42.630 servants were trusting, they were faithful in 00:19:42.630 --> 00:19:45.769 the transaction of business, the execution of 00:19:45.769 --> 00:19:53.029 commands, or the discharge of duties. As servants, 00:19:53.690 --> 00:19:59.269 we have duties. Can you think of a time where 00:19:59.269 --> 00:20:03.970 there was ever a servant that did not have duties? 00:20:06.779 --> 00:20:09.539 It's implied by the very meaning and definition 00:20:09.539 --> 00:20:14.000 of a servant and if we have duties and as a servant 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:18.119 We have a master our duty is to serve the purpose 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:21.180 of the master and we're going to be held accountable 00:20:21.180 --> 00:20:25.759 by the master in Such as it is with the Lord 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:28.480 if we're servants of the Lord the Lord gives 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.220 us duties and we're going to be held accountable 00:20:31.220 --> 00:20:39.230 to the Lord for those duties In Matthew 25, 20 00:20:39.230 --> 00:20:44.829 to 26, the one talent man, he was given something 00:20:44.829 --> 00:20:48.529 and he was expected to take that and to use it 00:20:48.529 --> 00:20:51.410 for the purpose of the master, but instead of 00:20:51.410 --> 00:20:53.809 being good and faithful, he went out and dug 00:20:53.809 --> 00:20:56.069 a hole and stuck it in the ground and didn't 00:20:56.069 --> 00:20:59.289 do anything with it. So that whenever the master 00:20:59.289 --> 00:21:02.410 came back, he had the same amount that was given. 00:21:02.509 --> 00:21:05.839 There was nothing, there was no profit. to serve 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:08.680 the purpose of the master and notice what he 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:13.019 how he refers to him you wicked and lazy servant 00:21:13.019 --> 00:21:18.859 you unprofitable servant well let's look at those 00:21:18.859 --> 00:21:23.440 descriptors to again better help us in our understanding 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:27.960 wicked means bad the other two were good they 00:21:27.960 --> 00:21:30.079 did what they were supposed to the third one 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:32.240 he was bad he didn't do what he was supposed 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:37.599 to that's how we define bad here we look at the 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:40.359 good ones we see what they did they were good 00:21:40.359 --> 00:21:45.640 and faithful and the bad one wasn't goes on to 00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:49.619 say that they were lazy sluggish and slothful 00:21:49.619 --> 00:21:54.039 backwards they were unprofessional they were 00:21:54.039 --> 00:22:00.519 useless and good so when we go into judgment 00:22:01.079 --> 00:22:04.500 Whenever the Lord judges us to see how we have 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:07.920 taken what He's given us and using it to serve 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:11.299 His purpose, to glorify Him, He wants to know, 00:22:11.579 --> 00:22:13.220 hey, have you been good and faithful with what 00:22:13.220 --> 00:22:18.440 I gave you? Or have you been wicked? Have you 00:22:18.440 --> 00:22:22.180 been bad? Have you been lazy? Have you been unprofitable? 00:22:22.920 --> 00:22:25.700 That's what God's looking for in judgment. That's 00:22:25.700 --> 00:22:31.019 what's implied by this parable. So again, whenever 00:22:31.019 --> 00:22:34.880 we look at the judgment, look at our diagram, 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:37.460 he's just going to look back at our works. Jay, 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:39.460 have you been good and faithful with what I gave 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:45.799 you? Or have you been bad, lazy, and unprofitable? 00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:49.619 And we may look at that and think, well, I don't 00:22:49.619 --> 00:22:52.859 like that. Well, it doesn't matter whether we 00:22:52.859 --> 00:22:55.539 like it or not. I think the scriptures are pretty 00:22:55.539 --> 00:22:59.700 clear. That's the way that it is. And we may 00:22:59.700 --> 00:23:02.180 look at ourselves and we may think, well I can 00:23:02.180 --> 00:23:06.440 never be this, or I can never be, but here's 00:23:06.440 --> 00:23:10.299 the thing, if the Lord has called us to be that, 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:14.799 then we can be that. If He's called you and He's 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:16.940 called me to be a good and faithful servant, 00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:21.119 I can be a good and faithful servant. You can 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:25.519 be a good and faithful servant. Now sometimes 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:29.339 our problem is in our mind we get this this imagination 00:23:29.339 --> 00:23:32.059 of what a good and faithful servant looks like 00:23:32.059 --> 00:23:34.539 and we think of the most outstanding and most 00:23:34.539 --> 00:23:36.900 perfect man and woman that we can think of in 00:23:36.900 --> 00:23:38.880 our minds and we look at them and say well I 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:41.839 could never be like them and that's not the way 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:48.220 it works. To be good and faithful to be fruitful 00:23:48.220 --> 00:23:51.430 to the Lord You know, what does it mean to produce 00:23:51.430 --> 00:23:54.069 fruit? Well, as we studied last evening or the 00:23:54.069 --> 00:23:56.190 evening before that, where does fruit come from? 00:23:56.609 --> 00:24:01.170 Fruit originates from where? The Word. And we 00:24:01.170 --> 00:24:04.049 produce fruit and we do good works whenever we 00:24:04.049 --> 00:24:06.109 look in the Word and the Word says, do this and 00:24:06.109 --> 00:24:11.609 we go do it. Those of you today that had a job, 00:24:12.289 --> 00:24:17.269 if you went to your job and you were respectful 00:24:17.269 --> 00:24:22.299 to your boss, you did your job with as unto the 00:24:22.299 --> 00:24:25.380 Lord and not unto man you know what you did today 00:24:25.380 --> 00:24:32.299 you produce fruit for the Lord husbands whenever 00:24:32.299 --> 00:24:35.319 you love your wives father ever you teach your 00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:38.279 children you know what you're doing you're producing 00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:43.519 fruit for the Lord wives whenever you care for 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:46.529 your husbands and you and guide and direct your 00:24:46.529 --> 00:24:48.670 children. You know what you're doing? You're 00:24:48.670 --> 00:24:50.890 doing good works and you're producing fruit for 00:24:50.890 --> 00:24:52.930 the Lord. You see a lot of times we look at that 00:24:52.930 --> 00:24:56.130 and think well that's just you know we think 00:24:56.130 --> 00:24:57.970 we know we've got to pack up our bags and jump 00:24:57.970 --> 00:25:00.089 on an airplane and travel halfway around the 00:25:00.089 --> 00:25:02.230 world before we can ever start to do a good work. 00:25:02.309 --> 00:25:06.930 No! Every day you do what the Lord says. You 00:25:06.930 --> 00:25:12.680 are producing fruit and doing good works. When 00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:14.980 you had that temptation today or you had that 00:25:14.980 --> 00:25:18.019 lust and you abstained from it and you said no 00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:22.660 You performed a good work You produced fruit 00:25:22.660 --> 00:25:27.099 You need to be aware and I need to be aware of 00:25:27.099 --> 00:25:30.200 all of those areas of our life where we produce 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:33.059 fruit Are we perfect people? Absolutely not. 00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:37.759 Did you sin today? Probably and I did too But 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:40.619 in the course of our seeking to do what the Lord 00:25:40.619 --> 00:25:44.299 tells us to do and being faithful to being a 00:25:44.299 --> 00:25:47.299 servant to the Lord, those times that we stumbled 00:25:47.299 --> 00:25:49.619 because of ignorance or because of weakness, 00:25:49.960 --> 00:25:52.799 the Lord is going to continue to wash us and 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:57.380 cleanse us so that we can continue to be fruitful 00:25:57.380 --> 00:26:02.660 and work in a bound. You can be a good and faithful 00:26:02.660 --> 00:26:07.299 servant. I can be a good and faithful servant. 00:26:10.019 --> 00:26:15.200 Another judgment parable, Matthew 20. Then the 00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:17.480 king will say to those on his right hand come 00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:20.380 you blessed of my father Inherit the kingdom 00:26:20.380 --> 00:26:22.740 prepared for you from the foundation of the world 00:26:22.740 --> 00:26:26.539 so in this parable this judgment about this parable 00:26:26.539 --> 00:26:28.539 about judgment I'll get it straight in a minute 00:26:28.539 --> 00:26:32.880 notice that as he pronounced this blessing upon 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:36.640 these people that are on the right hand Notice 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:43.000 the basis of his judgment. I was hungry You gave 00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:47.339 me food Good fruit, good work. I was thirsty. 00:26:47.880 --> 00:26:51.779 You gave me drink. Good fruit, good work. I was 00:26:51.779 --> 00:26:55.039 a stranger. You took me in. Good fruit, good 00:26:55.039 --> 00:26:57.240 work. Are you beginning to see the picture here? 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.799 I was naked. You clothed me. I was sick. You 00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:04.180 visited me. I was in prison. You came to me. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:07.059 And then they go and then they say, well, when 00:27:07.059 --> 00:27:09.960 did we see you that way? It says in that you 00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:12.019 did it to the least of my brethren. You did it 00:27:12.019 --> 00:27:15.319 unto me. But the point that I want curious is 00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:18.920 that in his explanation out there blessedness 00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:23.220 in judgment he says it's because you did this 00:27:23.220 --> 00:27:32.880 you did this you did this you did this Then to 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:35.819 the others he said depart from me you cursed 00:27:35.819 --> 00:27:39.259 well Why because I was hungry and you gave me 00:27:39.259 --> 00:27:41.839 no food. I was thirsty you gave me no drink I 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:44.720 was a stranger you did not take me in naked and 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:47.539 you did not clothe me sick and in prison You 00:27:47.539 --> 00:27:49.880 did not visit me in other words. You did not 00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:54.680 do this You did not do this You did not do this 00:27:56.650 --> 00:28:00.109 And so in the parables that Jesus teaches about 00:28:00.109 --> 00:28:03.430 the judgment, we see that in both of these parables 00:28:03.430 --> 00:28:06.450 in Matthew chapter 25, now he teaches other parables 00:28:06.450 --> 00:28:08.509 about judgment, but we're just looking at this 00:28:08.509 --> 00:28:12.089 one for the point that's at hand, how that the 00:28:12.089 --> 00:28:15.829 Lord doesn't have some, you know, secret code 00:28:15.829 --> 00:28:20.910 in judgment so that He can save us without us 00:28:20.910 --> 00:28:25.079 doing good things. He doesn't have that. You're 00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:27.220 either going to obey the Lord or you're not. 00:28:28.579 --> 00:28:30.559 You're either going to produce fruit or you're 00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:33.380 not. And when we go before the Lord in judgment, 00:28:33.660 --> 00:28:38.519 that's what we're going to do. Well, that just 00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:41.980 sounds like you're going to heaven all by yourself 00:28:41.980 --> 00:28:47.440 and nothing further from the truth. Why was I 00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:52.059 saved? Because of the grace of God and the gift 00:28:52.059 --> 00:28:57.750 of Jesus Christ. my faith in Him. And then whenever 00:28:57.750 --> 00:29:01.029 I was born again, as we studied Sunday morning, 00:29:02.150 --> 00:29:05.390 I was given and you were given all things that 00:29:05.390 --> 00:29:08.849 pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge 00:29:08.849 --> 00:29:12.450 of Him who has called you according to His glory 00:29:12.450 --> 00:29:18.170 and His virtue. He continually cleanses me every 00:29:18.170 --> 00:29:23.130 day of my sin and I stand upon the promises that 00:29:23.130 --> 00:29:26.569 him that he and his infinite grace has given 00:29:26.569 --> 00:29:33.730 to me to go about and do good things and Were 00:29:33.730 --> 00:29:37.410 it not for the faithfulness of his grace every 00:29:37.410 --> 00:29:43.490 day I couldn't produce a raisin and Neither could 00:29:43.490 --> 00:29:47.720 you So don't think that because we're judged 00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:51.259 based on some things that we do that going to 00:29:51.259 --> 00:29:57.420 heaven is just all about us. It's not Because 00:29:57.420 --> 00:30:00.440 we would not be there we would not have the blessing 00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:03.140 we would not have the privilege We would not 00:30:03.140 --> 00:30:08.839 have the honor to serve the God of all creation 00:30:14.460 --> 00:30:19.099 You see whenever we go Lord and judgment again, 00:30:19.099 --> 00:30:23.480 Jesus is not going to be standing beside me And 00:30:23.480 --> 00:30:27.380 Jesus is going to be here interceding saying, 00:30:27.420 --> 00:30:29.799 you know God you need to save him. He's a great 00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:32.579 guy He's messed up, but I've got it taken care 00:30:32.579 --> 00:30:36.299 of let him in that's not the way it works Because 00:30:36.299 --> 00:30:39.319 we studied in Hebrews 9 verse number 27 that 00:30:39.319 --> 00:30:41.980 whenever the Lord comes back again, he's going 00:30:41.980 --> 00:30:45.740 to come back for judgment Apart from sin and 00:30:45.740 --> 00:30:48.539 we studied last evening that apart from sin means 00:30:48.539 --> 00:30:51.599 that the next time the Lord comes He's not coming 00:30:51.599 --> 00:30:56.980 to deal with your sin. He's coming to judge you 00:30:56.980 --> 00:31:00.799 and That if you want any mercy in the day of 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:04.259 judgment you have to accept the mercy of God 00:31:04.259 --> 00:31:10.539 right now Because God's mercy has to be according 00:31:10.539 --> 00:31:14.799 to righteousness And so for him to be merciful 00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:19.440 in judgment, then your sins have to be paid for 00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:23.579 by Jesus. And that mercy is only extended to 00:31:23.579 --> 00:31:26.279 you right now while you're here today living 00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:29.160 and breathing. And if you let that opportunity 00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:32.680 pass by and you go to your grave outside of Jesus 00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:38.559 Christ, there is no hope for you. Now I've heard 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:41.160 people come up with some pretty creative ideas 00:31:41.160 --> 00:31:43.259 about how they think they can be saved without 00:31:43.259 --> 00:31:46.700 Jesus That they're just so cute and pretty that 00:31:46.700 --> 00:31:48.839 once the Lord lays their eyes on them They're 00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:51.819 gonna think oh, I just can't send him to hell. 00:31:52.039 --> 00:31:55.799 No It don't work that way. We're not that special 00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:59.380 We're special in the sense that the Lord died 00:31:59.380 --> 00:32:04.220 for us and purchased us by his grace But we're 00:32:04.220 --> 00:32:06.680 not special in the sense that if we don't do 00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:09.720 what he says, we're not going to heaven. That's 00:32:09.720 --> 00:32:11.839 another thing about righteous judgment is that 00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:15.400 it's without partiality. Doesn't matter what 00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:17.680 family you've been born in. It doesn't matter 00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:20.759 what nationality you are. It doesn't matter whether 00:32:20.759 --> 00:32:23.099 you're male or female. It doesn't matter if you're 00:32:23.099 --> 00:32:25.700 rich or poor. It doesn't matter whether you live 00:32:25.700 --> 00:32:31.240 in Texas, Oklahoma or Arkansas. There's one standard 00:32:31.240 --> 00:32:35.039 of righteousness. And if we don't honor that, 00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:40.619 then we're lost. So why do we need to go into 00:32:40.619 --> 00:32:44.140 judgment? You need to go into judgment with your 00:32:44.140 --> 00:32:47.400 works. You know, we've read this verse, Matthew 00:32:47.400 --> 00:32:50.700 chapter 6, verses 19 and 20. Don't lay up for 00:32:50.700 --> 00:32:52.599 yourselves treasures on the earth. And in verse 00:32:52.599 --> 00:32:54.940 number 20, he says, lay up for yourselves treasures 00:32:54.940 --> 00:32:58.460 in heaven. What does that mean? Lay up for yourselves 00:32:58.460 --> 00:33:01.730 treasures in heaven. Well, first of all, what 00:33:01.730 --> 00:33:06.710 does it mean to lay something up? The lay something 00:33:06.710 --> 00:33:10.690 up means that I take what I have and I put it 00:33:10.690 --> 00:33:14.829 up for a future use Like if you're building up 00:33:14.829 --> 00:33:17.329 a retirement account, maybe each pay period you 00:33:17.329 --> 00:33:20.670 put a you store up a little bit money of money 00:33:20.670 --> 00:33:23.609 Not that you're just gonna throw that money away, 00:33:23.609 --> 00:33:25.329 but you know Okay, I'm gonna put a little here 00:33:25.329 --> 00:33:27.029 a little here a little here because I know down 00:33:27.029 --> 00:33:31.690 the road a few years I'm going to need that and 00:33:31.690 --> 00:33:35.130 I'm going to use it then. And that's what lay 00:33:35.130 --> 00:33:38.650 up for yourself means. It means something in 00:33:38.650 --> 00:33:42.990 store for future use. So whenever the Lord says 00:33:42.990 --> 00:33:45.910 lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, He's 00:33:45.910 --> 00:33:50.089 talking about laying up treasures in heaven for 00:33:50.089 --> 00:33:54.400 future use. Word is used in 1st Corinthians 16 00:33:54.400 --> 00:33:56.700 verse number 2. On the first day of the week 00:33:56.700 --> 00:33:59.640 let each of you lay something aside storing up 00:33:59.640 --> 00:34:02.420 as he may prosper that there be no collections 00:34:02.420 --> 00:34:04.559 when I come. So when y 'all come together on 00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:06.740 the first day of the week each of you, you take 00:34:06.740 --> 00:34:08.679 something and you put it away because I'm going 00:34:08.679 --> 00:34:10.800 to be coming through here in another week or 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:14.940 another month and then I want that to be ready 00:34:14.940 --> 00:34:20.519 for future use. And so whenever we do good works 00:34:21.190 --> 00:34:24.030 Whenever we produce fruit in our life, those 00:34:24.030 --> 00:34:28.710 works and that fruit doesn't just vanish away. 00:34:30.389 --> 00:34:34.989 That's stored away in heaven for you. That each 00:34:34.989 --> 00:34:39.769 one of us is filling a treasure chest for heaven. 00:34:40.469 --> 00:34:43.050 You ever thought about that? You young people 00:34:43.050 --> 00:34:44.829 that went out the other day and did all of those 00:34:44.829 --> 00:34:46.849 service projects and you helped all of those 00:34:46.849 --> 00:34:52.070 people. When you get old, you may never remember 00:34:52.070 --> 00:34:58.050 that again. And then the judgment comes and you 00:34:58.050 --> 00:35:00.230 open up your treasure chest or the Lord opens 00:35:00.230 --> 00:35:02.949 up your treasure chest and you're going, I did 00:35:02.949 --> 00:35:08.750 that? I don't remember doing that. But the Lord 00:35:08.750 --> 00:35:14.630 does. The Lord does. And that's evidence of your 00:35:14.630 --> 00:35:18.000 fruitfulness. That's evidence of you taking the 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:22.019 grace and the salvation that the Lord gave to 00:35:22.019 --> 00:35:24.960 go out and to do a good work and to bring praise 00:35:24.960 --> 00:35:28.380 to the Lord. Hearts of men and women in your 00:35:28.380 --> 00:35:35.340 community to bring them to know the Lord. Every 00:35:35.340 --> 00:35:39.300 day you every day that I live we are making an 00:35:39.300 --> 00:35:46.900 investment in our salvation in heaven. Romans 00:35:46.900 --> 00:35:50.460 6 verse number 5. It works the other way also. 00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:54.019 But in accordance with your hardness and your 00:35:54.019 --> 00:35:58.159 impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself 00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:01.559 wrath in the day of wrath in revelation of the 00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:06.059 righteous judgment of God. You see it works the 00:36:06.059 --> 00:36:09.219 other way too. You can treasure up wrath. You 00:36:09.219 --> 00:36:11.920 know what the word treasure up means? guess what 00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:14.860 greek word it comes from the same one that we 00:36:14.860 --> 00:36:19.659 get lay up so we can do good works and lay up 00:36:19.659 --> 00:36:23.119 that way or we can live every day in rebellion 00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:25.760 and disobedience to god and you know what we're 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:30.079 doing we're laying up wrath for ourselves that 00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:33.079 one day that box is going to open and the lord 00:36:33.079 --> 00:36:38.780 is going to bring his wrath upon us because we 00:36:38.780 --> 00:36:42.699 rejected him and disobedience to him. 1st Timothy 00:36:42.699 --> 00:36:47.559 6, 18 to 19 talks about let them do good, that 00:36:47.559 --> 00:36:50.539 they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing 00:36:50.539 --> 00:36:54.320 to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation 00:36:54.320 --> 00:36:57.039 for the time to come that they may lay hold on 00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:00.840 eternal life. What's that mean? Storing up for 00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:03.719 themselves a good foundation for the time to 00:37:03.719 --> 00:37:07.579 come that they may lay hold on eternal life. 00:37:08.059 --> 00:37:10.599 Whenever you do good works, I do good works, 00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:12.860 whenever you're fruitful and I'm fruitful, what 00:37:12.860 --> 00:37:15.340 we are doing is we are building a foundation 00:37:15.340 --> 00:37:19.539 upon which to stand before the Lord in judgment. 00:37:23.579 --> 00:37:25.619 And again we think, well that just doesn't sound 00:37:25.619 --> 00:37:27.159 right, you know, it just sounds like it's all 00:37:27.159 --> 00:37:31.820 about us. But it's not. Why are we doing those 00:37:31.820 --> 00:37:35.510 works? Because of the grace of the Lord and the 00:37:35.510 --> 00:37:38.170 faith that we have in Jesus. How are we doing 00:37:38.170 --> 00:37:40.510 those works? We're doing those through the Spirit 00:37:40.510 --> 00:37:43.110 and the guidance and the revelation of the Lord 00:37:43.110 --> 00:37:46.269 God of heaven. Why are we moved to do those works? 00:37:46.489 --> 00:37:48.929 Because we understand the great love that God 00:37:48.929 --> 00:37:51.849 has shown towards us and it constrains us to 00:37:51.849 --> 00:37:55.210 go... You see our works are all about God so 00:37:55.210 --> 00:37:57.250 then how can they be all about us? We're just 00:37:57.250 --> 00:38:04.489 a vessel. We're just a vessel. Do you want something 00:38:04.489 --> 00:38:07.170 to stand on when the Lord comes? Again, Jesus 00:38:07.170 --> 00:38:09.610 isn't going to be standing by you. Jesus is going 00:38:09.610 --> 00:38:13.349 to be up on that throne. And what Paul is talking 00:38:13.349 --> 00:38:15.489 about is we're going to have something to stand 00:38:15.489 --> 00:38:19.050 on. And he's telling those people that are rich, 00:38:19.309 --> 00:38:22.190 you do good works and you store up for yourself 00:38:22.190 --> 00:38:24.110 a good foundation because there's going to come 00:38:24.110 --> 00:38:25.809 a day when you're going to need something to 00:38:25.809 --> 00:38:29.739 stand on before the Lord. every day that you 00:38:29.739 --> 00:38:31.820 live and every day that I live we're building 00:38:31.820 --> 00:38:35.260 that foundation. Hopefully we're building that 00:38:35.260 --> 00:38:39.239 foundation. Revelation 14 13 they may rest from 00:38:39.239 --> 00:38:43.619 their labors and their works follow them. You 00:38:43.619 --> 00:38:46.679 take some you go take them and you feed them 00:38:46.679 --> 00:38:48.320 a meal that meal is probably going to be gone 00:38:48.320 --> 00:38:52.539 in 15 minutes but your reward is for eternity. 00:38:54.539 --> 00:38:59.199 All I did was give them a bologna sandwich. But 00:38:59.199 --> 00:39:02.559 that $1 .50 you spent on a bologna sandwich given 00:39:02.559 --> 00:39:07.840 in the name of Jesus Christ goes towards an eternal 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:11.400 reward and an eternal value. And see that's the 00:39:11.400 --> 00:39:13.820 challenge that is before us that we take all 00:39:13.820 --> 00:39:16.519 of the temporal treasures that we have and that 00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:19.380 we use them according to the goodness and grace 00:39:19.380 --> 00:39:23.760 of God within us to create for ourselves eternal 00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:28.670 value before the Lord. How do you use the things 00:39:28.670 --> 00:39:31.750 that you have? How do I use the things that I 00:39:31.750 --> 00:39:36.110 have? You know I can enjoy some of the things 00:39:36.110 --> 00:39:38.929 that I have for a little while or I can take 00:39:38.929 --> 00:39:41.429 those things and by the Spirit and by the guidance 00:39:41.429 --> 00:39:44.449 of the Lord use them to create an eternal value 00:39:44.449 --> 00:39:48.380 for me. When I get that next raise at work, well, 00:39:48.599 --> 00:39:51.679 I'm retired now, so it's cost of living. You 00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:54.539 know, I can take that extra money and go out 00:39:54.539 --> 00:39:57.019 and buy me something to enjoy for a little while, 00:39:57.019 --> 00:39:59.260 or I can take that extra money and I can go turn 00:39:59.260 --> 00:40:04.179 it into something that is of eternal value. Create 00:40:04.179 --> 00:40:08.599 eternal value for yourself by doing the good 00:40:08.599 --> 00:40:10.820 works and producing the fruit the Lord has called 00:40:10.820 --> 00:40:14.139 us to. So whenever we stand before the Lord, 00:40:14.679 --> 00:40:16.760 He's going to be on the throne and in here we 00:40:16.760 --> 00:40:18.820 are and there's your treasure. I want to ask 00:40:18.820 --> 00:40:20.679 you right now, what are you putting in your treasure? 00:40:22.679 --> 00:40:24.699 Husbands, whenever we open up that treasure, 00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:27.119 are there going to be the fruits and works of 00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:31.659 loving our wives? Children, whenever we open 00:40:31.659 --> 00:40:35.039 up the treasure, is the work and fruit of honoring 00:40:35.039 --> 00:40:37.280 and respecting your parent going to be in there? 00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:45.119 Let's talk about boldness and judgment just real 00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:48.760 quickly. You know we always talk about well we 00:40:48.760 --> 00:40:52.820 want to have confidence and assurance and saying 00:40:52.820 --> 00:40:55.039 that we're going to go to heaven based on our 00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:57.860 works that's not really comforting and a lot 00:40:57.860 --> 00:41:01.420 real assuring because I just don't know if I'm 00:41:01.420 --> 00:41:05.719 going to do enough. How can I know that I'm going 00:41:05.719 --> 00:41:10.090 to do enough? Well again as we talked the other 00:41:10.090 --> 00:41:12.510 evening don't ask the question am I doing enough 00:41:12.510 --> 00:41:15.329 to go to heaven ask the question Am I doing enough 00:41:15.329 --> 00:41:21.210 now to glorify God? But nonetheless we can have 00:41:21.210 --> 00:41:25.530 boldness in judgment the Bible speaks specifically 00:41:25.530 --> 00:41:30.989 to boldness in judgment Now I want to make a 00:41:30.989 --> 00:41:34.809 distinction here. Don't confuse boldness or confidence 00:41:34.809 --> 00:41:41.250 in judgment with confidence in salvation. You 00:41:41.250 --> 00:41:43.849 may think, boy, we're splitting hairs here. No. 00:41:43.969 --> 00:41:48.369 Let me ask you. Okay. When were you saved? When 00:41:48.369 --> 00:41:52.090 was I saved? I was saved and you were saved whenever 00:41:52.090 --> 00:41:56.110 we were baptized into Jesus. Were you saved that 00:41:56.110 --> 00:41:59.530 day? I was saved that day. I was baptized into 00:41:59.530 --> 00:42:02.639 Jesus. were saved that day when you were baptized 00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:06.500 into Jesus. And from that day forward, my confidence 00:42:06.500 --> 00:42:10.460 in the fact that I am saved is in Jesus Christ 00:42:10.460 --> 00:42:14.300 in His death upon the cross. That's my confidence. 00:42:14.360 --> 00:42:16.960 If you ask me what is your confidence and your 00:42:16.960 --> 00:42:18.719 assurance of salvation, I'm going to tell you 00:42:18.719 --> 00:42:27.579 Jesus Christ. But whenever John talks about boldness 00:42:27.579 --> 00:42:33.139 in judgment, He doesn't say the answer is Jesus 00:42:33.139 --> 00:42:40.400 Christ He doesn't say that let's see what John 00:42:40.400 --> 00:42:45.199 says 1 John 6 or rather 2, 28, and now little 00:42:45.199 --> 00:42:48.099 children abide in him that when he appears we 00:42:48.099 --> 00:42:51.360 may have confidence and not be ashamed before 00:42:51.360 --> 00:42:55.260 him at his coming. In 1 John 4, 17, John says 00:42:55.260 --> 00:42:58.500 again, love has been perfected among us in this 00:42:58.500 --> 00:43:01.159 that we may have boldness in the day of judgment 00:43:01.159 --> 00:43:04.619 because as he is so are we in the world. So here 00:43:04.619 --> 00:43:08.119 John speaks specifically to having confidence 00:43:08.119 --> 00:43:11.869 at the Lord's coming. to having boldness in the 00:43:11.869 --> 00:43:14.210 day of judgment. And the word confidence and 00:43:14.210 --> 00:43:17.309 the word boldness come from the Greek word which 00:43:17.309 --> 00:43:21.590 means to have a free and fearless confidence. 00:43:21.650 --> 00:43:25.429 You mean I can have a free and fearless confidence 00:43:25.429 --> 00:43:32.329 about the Lord's judgment? John says we can. 00:43:32.960 --> 00:43:35.039 And that's the thing we've got to understand, 00:43:35.079 --> 00:43:36.760 you know, is that we think about these things 00:43:36.760 --> 00:43:39.280 and we just think, I can never have that. That 00:43:39.280 --> 00:43:41.780 can never happen to me. But if the Scriptures 00:43:41.780 --> 00:43:44.739 tell us that it can, we have to believe that 00:43:44.739 --> 00:43:51.219 it can. Well, how can we have this confidence, 00:43:51.519 --> 00:43:56.880 John? 26 to 29 John says these things I've written 00:43:56.880 --> 00:43:59.719 to you concerning those who try to deceive you 00:43:59.719 --> 00:44:02.239 but the anointing which you have received from 00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:05.300 him abides in you and you do not need that anyone 00:44:05.300 --> 00:44:08.099 teach you but as the same anointing teaches you 00:44:08.099 --> 00:44:11.480 concerning all things and is true and is not 00:44:11.480 --> 00:44:14.739 a lie and just as it has taught you you will 00:44:14.739 --> 00:44:19.880 abide in him and now little children abide in 00:44:19.880 --> 00:44:23.260 him that when he appears we may have confidence 00:44:23.260 --> 00:44:27.860 and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." 00:44:27.860 --> 00:44:30.780 But He is righteous. You know that everyone who 00:44:30.780 --> 00:44:35.340 practices righteousness is of Him. Now, it speaks 00:44:35.340 --> 00:44:38.539 of Jesus. It speaks of Him, but notice that there 00:44:38.539 --> 00:44:42.780 is an action that's given to you to do and to 00:44:42.780 --> 00:44:47.820 do in order to have this boldness. What is that 00:44:47.820 --> 00:44:58.280 action? That action is To abide in him So what's 00:44:58.280 --> 00:45:00.880 my confidence in judgment my confidence is I'm 00:45:00.880 --> 00:45:06.480 abiding in the Lord I'm abiding in the Lord your 00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:08.960 confidence in judgment is you're going to abide 00:45:08.960 --> 00:45:11.500 in the Lord. Well, what does it mean to abide 00:45:11.500 --> 00:45:18.460 in the Lord? Well when we go to John 15 verse 00:45:18.460 --> 00:45:23.469 4 Jesus says, abide in me and I in you as the 00:45:23.469 --> 00:45:26.190 branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it 00:45:26.190 --> 00:45:29.150 abides in the vine, neither can you unless you 00:45:29.150 --> 00:45:34.210 abide in me. So what does it mean to abide in 00:45:34.210 --> 00:45:39.030 the Lord? It means that I'm doing what? Bearing 00:45:39.030 --> 00:45:43.789 fruit. You see that? I'm bearing fruit when I 00:45:43.789 --> 00:45:46.849 abide in the Lord. Isn't that the purpose for 00:45:46.849 --> 00:45:50.360 which God Save me? Yeah. So if I'm fulfilling 00:45:50.360 --> 00:45:53.000 the purpose for which God saved me, can I have 00:45:53.000 --> 00:45:57.900 confidence? Yes. And if we go back to our verse, 00:45:57.900 --> 00:45:59.840 if you'll notice the last statement here in verse 00:45:59.840 --> 00:46:02.760 number 29, if you know that He is righteous, 00:46:02.920 --> 00:46:05.699 you know that everyone who practices righteousness 00:46:05.699 --> 00:46:08.900 is born of Him. He's righteous, you practice 00:46:08.900 --> 00:46:11.159 righteousness. If you're practicing righteousness, 00:46:11.400 --> 00:46:13.840 you can have boldness in the day of judgment. 00:46:14.099 --> 00:46:20.550 You're abiding in the Lord. that you do. Now 00:46:20.550 --> 00:46:25.190 again, and I get it, we don't want to make ourselves 00:46:25.190 --> 00:46:31.550 sound too great, but we have an active responsibility 00:46:31.550 --> 00:46:35.179 and role in our confidence. to abide in him to 00:46:35.179 --> 00:46:39.300 bear fruit. You know, I think of the words of 00:46:39.300 --> 00:46:41.340 the apostle Paul whenever he was at the end of 00:46:41.340 --> 00:46:44.019 his life. He said, I fought a good fight, I finished 00:46:44.019 --> 00:46:46.219 the course, I've kept the faith, henceforth there's 00:46:46.219 --> 00:46:51.579 laid up for me a crown of righteousness. In some 00:46:51.579 --> 00:46:53.760 places Paul would get called on the carpet for 00:46:53.760 --> 00:46:59.079 that statement. Paul, what do you mean? thinking 00:46:59.079 --> 00:47:01.079 that you're going to be crowned for something 00:47:01.079 --> 00:47:07.019 that you did. It's all about Jesus. And it is 00:47:07.019 --> 00:47:10.860 all about Jesus. And that's why Paul fought the 00:47:10.860 --> 00:47:12.900 good fight. That's why he finished the course. 00:47:13.119 --> 00:47:15.599 That's why he kept the faith. Because it was 00:47:15.599 --> 00:47:19.159 all about Jesus, but Paul was the one that was 00:47:19.159 --> 00:47:24.659 active in doing that. And so if you look at your 00:47:24.659 --> 00:47:26.840 life, and I look at my life, and then we look 00:47:26.840 --> 00:47:29.199 at the good things that we do, and you look at 00:47:29.199 --> 00:47:31.159 the good things that you do, and it gives you 00:47:31.159 --> 00:47:38.719 some confidence, don't feel bad about that. Give 00:47:38.719 --> 00:47:41.599 glory to God for the fruit that's in your life. 00:47:42.519 --> 00:47:45.179 And whenever you say, I've done this, I've done 00:47:45.179 --> 00:47:48.420 this, I've done this, henceforth the Lord's going 00:47:48.420 --> 00:47:55.219 to do this. That's not being boastful that's 00:47:55.219 --> 00:47:57.960 acknowledging the reality of the responsibility 00:47:57.960 --> 00:48:03.780 that God has given to you to bear fruit In order 00:48:03.780 --> 00:48:07.500 to have confidence in heaven abide in him do 00:48:07.500 --> 00:48:13.199 what the Lord says produce fruit Boldness love 00:48:13.199 --> 00:48:16.639 has been perfected among us in this that we have 00:48:16.639 --> 00:48:19.119 boldness in the day of judgment because as he 00:48:19.119 --> 00:48:22.219 is so are we in this world There is no fear in 00:48:22.219 --> 00:48:24.699 love, but perfect love casts out fear because 00:48:24.699 --> 00:48:28.159 fear involves torment. But he who fears has not 00:48:28.159 --> 00:48:30.960 been made perfect in love. We love him because 00:48:30.960 --> 00:48:33.719 he first loved us. If someone says I love God 00:48:33.719 --> 00:48:36.179 and hates his brother, he's a liar. For he who 00:48:36.179 --> 00:48:38.800 does not love his brother whom he has seen, how 00:48:38.800 --> 00:48:41.400 can he love God whom he has not seen? In this 00:48:41.400 --> 00:48:44.000 commandment we have from him that he who loves 00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:47.940 God must love his brother. Here's another way 00:48:47.940 --> 00:48:49.960 that we could have boldness in the day of judgment. 00:48:51.630 --> 00:48:58.269 that has been perfected among us. Now whenever 00:48:58.269 --> 00:49:02.090 we look at this, especially verse number 18, 00:49:03.340 --> 00:49:05.380 We'll read this verse a lot of times where it 00:49:05.380 --> 00:49:07.860 says there is no fear in love But perfect love 00:49:07.860 --> 00:49:10.400 cast out fear a lot of times we'll read that 00:49:10.400 --> 00:49:13.239 and we'll take it or I know I'm over generalizing 00:49:13.239 --> 00:49:16.079 you may not do that But it happens a lot. Well, 00:49:16.079 --> 00:49:18.239 that means that whenever your love for God it 00:49:18.239 --> 00:49:20.699 becomes perfect and complete You don't have any 00:49:20.699 --> 00:49:25.340 more fear of God That's not what that means We 00:49:25.340 --> 00:49:28.460 should never lose our fear of God. We're commanded 00:49:28.460 --> 00:49:33.079 to fear God Your love for God should never dispel 00:49:33.079 --> 00:49:35.940 your fear for God. You can have those at the 00:49:35.940 --> 00:49:39.260 same time and in fact to effectively love God 00:49:39.260 --> 00:49:44.159 must fear God. The fear that John is talking 00:49:44.159 --> 00:49:50.739 about here is what? The day of judgment. And 00:49:50.739 --> 00:49:53.900 there are people that live in torment of the 00:49:53.900 --> 00:49:57.909 thought of judgment. But there's a way that we 00:49:57.909 --> 00:50:01.389 can have boldness in Jesus. Number one, we can 00:50:01.389 --> 00:50:06.250 abide in Him and be fruitful. And then number 00:50:06.250 --> 00:50:13.010 two, love can be perfected among us. What's it 00:50:13.010 --> 00:50:16.789 mean for love to be perfected among us? That 00:50:16.789 --> 00:50:20.670 means that the love that God has for us, we have 00:50:20.670 --> 00:50:24.050 and we share with others that are around us. 00:50:25.210 --> 00:50:28.409 That when I mature in my life and you mature 00:50:28.409 --> 00:50:31.269 in your life in the love of God to the point 00:50:31.269 --> 00:50:34.469 to where we are loving each other The way that 00:50:34.469 --> 00:50:37.090 God loves us we can look at that and say yeah, 00:50:37.090 --> 00:50:41.650 I'm ready for the Lord to come I'm ready for 00:50:41.650 --> 00:50:44.550 the Lord to come That's what it means for the 00:50:44.550 --> 00:50:47.449 love to be perfected Go down to verse number 00:50:47.449 --> 00:50:50.389 20 says I love the Lord and hates his brother. 00:50:50.750 --> 00:50:53.989 What's the subject of this love? It's loving 00:50:53.989 --> 00:50:59.349 your brother. He who loves God must love his 00:50:59.349 --> 00:51:03.349 brother also. If I can't love my brother and 00:51:03.349 --> 00:51:06.070 I don't want to be around my brother and I just 00:51:06.070 --> 00:51:08.789 assume that my brother go away and leave me alone, 00:51:10.710 --> 00:51:14.550 I don't have any confidence in judgment because 00:51:14.550 --> 00:51:17.369 that's a manifestation that God's love towards 00:51:17.369 --> 00:51:20.469 me is not complete in me to be shared with other 00:51:20.469 --> 00:51:24.480 people. Should I have confidence in judgment 00:51:24.480 --> 00:51:27.420 if I don't love my brother? Should I have confidence 00:51:27.420 --> 00:51:32.559 in judgment if I'm not? No. No. But what we do 00:51:32.559 --> 00:51:35.519 so many times is we look for ways to have confidence 00:51:35.519 --> 00:51:40.619 that absolves us of any responsibility. And we 00:51:40.619 --> 00:51:43.920 have responsibility in the realization of that 00:51:43.920 --> 00:51:46.679 boldness in judgment I've got to abide in him 00:51:46.679 --> 00:51:49.059 and be fruitful and I've got to love my brother 00:51:49.059 --> 00:51:52.280 And if I can if I'm doing those things then hey, 00:51:52.400 --> 00:51:56.380 you know about those that love his appearing 00:51:56.380 --> 00:51:59.880 If I'm fruitful and you're fruitful and we love 00:51:59.880 --> 00:52:02.940 each other the way that God loves us We're looking 00:52:02.940 --> 00:52:06.690 forward to the Lord coming But if you don't love 00:52:06.690 --> 00:52:08.789 your brother and you're not being fruitful you 00:52:08.789 --> 00:52:17.409 rue the day that the Lord comes Matthew 5 48 00:52:17.409 --> 00:52:20.530 therefore you shall be perfect just as your father 00:52:20.530 --> 00:52:25.409 in heaven is perfect Whenever he talks about 00:52:25.409 --> 00:52:30.389 perfect there context of what love Love your 00:52:30.389 --> 00:52:34.010 enemies love like God loves Do you love like 00:52:34.010 --> 00:52:36.030 God loves? Then you're perfect. You know, again, 00:52:36.050 --> 00:52:37.969 we look at that and think, I can't be perfect 00:52:37.969 --> 00:52:40.130 like God. How can anybody be perfect like God? 00:52:40.289 --> 00:52:42.389 Well, just look at the context. It's just about, 00:52:42.409 --> 00:52:44.610 okay, God loves his enemies, you love your enemies, 00:52:44.650 --> 00:52:46.429 then you're loving like God. You're perfect in 00:52:46.429 --> 00:52:50.789 that sense. Because notice what he says up here, 00:52:50.829 --> 00:52:53.010 you may have boldness in the day of judgment 00:52:53.010 --> 00:52:56.449 because as he is, so are we in this world. You 00:52:56.449 --> 00:53:01.630 mean I can be in this world? Well, yeah, because 00:53:01.630 --> 00:53:05.170 John said that. I can be like God is in this 00:53:05.170 --> 00:53:07.349 world in the sense that I can love my brother 00:53:07.349 --> 00:53:12.110 like God loves me. There's confidence in that. 00:53:13.789 --> 00:53:15.590 Another verse about boldness. We read there, 00:53:15.590 --> 00:53:18.510 we studied this Sunday. Make your call and election 00:53:18.510 --> 00:53:21.389 sure. If you do these things, you'll never stumble, 00:53:21.510 --> 00:53:23.809 for an entrance will be supplied to you confidently. 00:53:24.429 --> 00:53:26.789 If I'm adding to my faith virtue, virtue knowledge, 00:53:27.030 --> 00:53:30.360 knowledge temperance, temperance patience patience 00:53:30.360 --> 00:53:32.760 godliness godliness brotherly kindness brotherly 00:53:32.760 --> 00:53:35.099 kindness charity if I'm adding those things and 00:53:35.099 --> 00:53:37.480 I'm supplying those things in my faith I can 00:53:37.480 --> 00:53:40.579 have confidence that an entrance will be supplied 00:53:40.579 --> 00:53:45.780 to me abundantly but if my faith is dead and 00:53:45.780 --> 00:53:48.139 I'm not doing any of that should I have confidence 00:53:48.139 --> 00:53:53.260 in going to heaven so whenever we look at our 00:53:53.260 --> 00:54:00.119 picture this evening when the Lord comes Here's 00:54:00.119 --> 00:54:04.639 the question. Have you obeyed the gospel? Have 00:54:04.639 --> 00:54:07.900 you obeyed the gospel? Because whenever our Lord 00:54:07.900 --> 00:54:10.619 comes if you haven't obeyed the gospel as you 00:54:10.619 --> 00:54:15.300 stand before the judgment seat of Christ He's 00:54:15.300 --> 00:54:21.739 going to see you in all your sin Because the 00:54:21.739 --> 00:54:25.860 price hasn't been paid and it doesn't matter 00:54:25.860 --> 00:54:29.699 what you've done in your life You're guilty before 00:54:29.699 --> 00:54:33.960 the Lord and you'll be condemned. That's why 00:54:33.960 --> 00:54:37.659 Paul said in 2nd Thessalonians 1 that he's going 00:54:37.659 --> 00:54:40.380 to come in flaming fire taking vengeance on those 00:54:40.380 --> 00:54:42.639 who do not know God and on those who don't obey 00:54:42.639 --> 00:54:45.760 the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These will 00:54:45.760 --> 00:54:47.820 be punished with everlasting destruction from 00:54:47.820 --> 00:54:49.659 the presence of the Lord and from the glory of 00:54:49.659 --> 00:54:52.000 his power. If you're here tonight and you have 00:54:52.000 --> 00:54:55.380 not been baptized, you have not obeyed the gospel, 00:54:57.590 --> 00:55:02.909 That's what you have to look forward to. The 00:55:02.909 --> 00:55:05.349 next question we ask is, are you being fruitful? 00:55:07.150 --> 00:55:09.889 Christian, are you being fruitful? Are you purposefully 00:55:09.889 --> 00:55:14.010 and intentionally being fruitful? Notice what 00:55:14.010 --> 00:55:23.739 Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5. of Christ. Paul 00:55:23.739 --> 00:55:25.519 said, I'm going to appear before the judgment 00:55:25.519 --> 00:55:27.360 seat of Christ, so I want to be well pleasing 00:55:27.360 --> 00:55:29.400 to him. Well, Paul, what does it mean to be well 00:55:29.400 --> 00:55:34.280 pleasing to him? Colossians chapter 1, number 00:55:34.280 --> 00:55:38.260 10. Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, 00:55:38.579 --> 00:55:41.059 being fruitful in every good work and increasing 00:55:41.059 --> 00:55:44.039 in the knowledge of God. Do you live every day 00:55:44.039 --> 00:55:46.579 with the awareness that you're going to be in 00:55:46.579 --> 00:55:49.139 the seat of Christ, and does that motivate you 00:55:49.139 --> 00:55:54.420 every day to be fruitful? abounding in His grace 00:55:54.420 --> 00:55:59.340 and in His knowledge. So what will it be? If 00:55:59.340 --> 00:56:01.820 you're over here as a sinner, this is what you 00:56:01.820 --> 00:56:05.019 need to do. If you're here as a saint, this is 00:56:05.019 --> 00:56:08.280 what you need to do because this day is coming. 00:56:12.880 --> 00:56:15.079 Thank you for listening to today's sermon from 00:56:15.079 --> 00:56:17.440 the Church of Christ Wheeler area. We hope this 00:56:17.440 --> 00:56:19.800 message encouraged you and strengthened you in 00:56:19.800 --> 00:56:21.980 your faith this week. Don't forget the doors 00:56:21.980 --> 00:56:25.699 always open at 1500 South Allen L. Bean Boulevard 00:56:25.699 --> 00:56:29.480 at 1030 a .m. on Sundays, 230 p .m. on Sunday 00:56:29.480 --> 00:56:33.139 afternoons and recharge with us midweek on Wednesdays 00:56:33.139 --> 00:56:36.780 at 7 p .m. For more information or to hear past 00:56:36.780 --> 00:56:39.380 messages, follow us on your favorite podcast 00:56:39.380 --> 00:56:42.400 platform. Look us up on Facebook and Instagram. 00:56:42.940 --> 00:56:44.940 We hope you have a blessed week and we'll see 00:56:44.940 --> 00:56:45.559 you next time.