Judgment

RV185-01

Judgment

Legal Judgment

So, the angel uses this simple little phrase: "Fear God and give Him glory because the hour of His judgment has come." This word "judgment" is a very sobering word. Without the absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to a person's account, that individual will not escape from God's condemnation of eternal death in hell, so he will be forever in suffering, and forever separated from God.

Memory in Eternity

The believer in heaven will also carry his memory. He will remember this kind of life that he lived as a Christian, and the degree of investing that life in God's service, so that the result was gain or loss: to please God; or, not to please God. How tremendous it was that God could say of His Son, "This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased."

Bring Pleasure to God

It isn't just the fact that we do something great, and something noble, and something powerful, and God says, "I'm pleased in you." It is the fact that we are consistent in the honor code of God, and that we use the capacities and the abilities that we have in His service. This will be a painful memory at the Judgment Seat of Christ for many believers of what might have been, with the resources they had at their disposal, and how they squandered it. The whole book of James was written to plead with Christians. See to it that God takes pleasure in you. See to it that you do not waste your life. Don't talk to us about your being born-again. Don't talk to us about the life that you have as a Christian, and the quality of God in you. Rather, show us, by the way you live and what you are doing, that you are preserving your life. What good is it to have a life and you squander it so that God is never pleased? But what value there is to preserve your life by doing that which causes God to take pleasure in you?

Every parent can understand that. Every parent can understand when his children are a pleasure to him, and when they are not. We forget that God is a person of great emotions, and that indeed that is a word that is well-placed – that He is pleased with us, or that He is not pleased.

The believer and the unbeliever have the truth of Bible doctrine. And in eternity, it will be clear to all of us – the foolishness of having rejected what we have learned. An enormous shock wave will pass through the human race when God's judgments are executed, as people realize what false religious voices they followed, to their sorrow. This is true for believers and unbelievers. And at the false voices of the opinion-makers in our society, a great shock wave will flood over the human race.

I now understand better, I think, day-by-day why the United States will very shortly become a fourth-rate power in the world. There are laws which are being passed in this nation now that are so horrendous. I cannot take time to go into them today, but they are all cleverly designed in order to make it not only impossible for Christians to speak the truth of the Word of God, but to make it a criminal act. There are laws now that the president signed concerning things that were simply civil violations: something that was said; or, something that was done, or not done. Now these have been carefully categorized such that they have become criminal actions. And among those is for you to stand up and say that the judgment of God rests upon homosexuality and lesbianism. That is considered a criminal act under this new law. The Americans are sitting there like the frog in the water. The water is getting hotter, and they are getting cooked, and they don't know what's going on.

The man who will be the Democratic nominee for president has a wife who is a rabid feminist. She is a proponent of daycare centers sponsored by this government. So, as she said the other day, "Women can do something more with their lives than sit at home baking cookies and holding teas." What an insult! What a degrading remark this was to make toward all the mothers who think that it's great to marry a man who says, "I'm going to take care of you; I'm going to provide for you; and, I want you to sit at home and raise these small children. And when I walk in the door, I want you to stand there looking like you just stepped out of the Queen's Ball to greet me and say, 'How are you, big boy? We've been waiting for you all day.'" Instead, many husbands are greeted by their wives saying, "Oh, are you home? Take the garbage out while I get supper. Boy, am I bushed," because the husband has shot up his wife's capacities to something that should not have received that first choice."

The nominee's wife believes in insulting all those mothers who follow the biblical principle, because she thinks the biblical principle is degrading. Boy, is she in for a big surprise? She thinks that sexual perversion is an accepted lifestyle, and should not be penalized. She thinks, "God, how is it that You're so balled up and can't get it straight?" Please listen to this lady. She's a lawyer. Lawyers know everything, you know. Therefore, she knows what she's talking about. This isn't like some bumpkin preacher quoting the Bible.

The Republican nominee for president is a zealot for world government, and is pressing with might and main to establish a military force which can impose its will upon any nation that steps out of line with United Nations edicts. The business people of this country are now under such enormous burdens of regulations and pressures that this country cannot continue. Businessmen are dropping out, and other parts of the world are taking up the slack and becoming rich, because the American government is determined to impose socialism upon its people, and take the fruits of their labors to distribute as per their wisdom.

There is so much going on behind the scenes of legal action and laws that are being passed in this nation that you wouldn't believe it. But it does answer the problem, and the question I've had for many years: How can the United States just collapse as an economic force? Now it is easy to see, and the fix is in, and it is impossible to turn it around. The Lord Jesus Christ is on the horizon. The events of the tribulation are about to start ticking off, just as soon as you and I have left this world scene in the rapture.

Yes, in heaven, we're all going to remember about ourselves personally. We're going to remember about our nation. We're going to remember about the splendid heritage we had. And we're going to remember how it has been prostituted by opinion-makers and people in powerful positions, because Americans, once they've lost their knowledge of the Word of God, and once they've lost their determination to be a pleasure to God, now do not know that they are slowly being cooked to their deaths. An enormous shock wave someday will hit that humanity when it's too late to do anything about it.

It is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to clarify the gospel to unbelievers and to illuminate vital doctrine to believers. There is no understanding of doctrine apart from this teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. That's why we remind you before a service to get your sins confessed, and to clear the decks so that you're ready for the action of this spiritual combat of learning what the devil does not want you to know about the mind of God. Most people take very lightly the knowledge of Scripture, so they are the victims of their own human viewpoint delusions which they esteem higher than they do the mind of God.

Religious zeal is not then guided by the knowledge of doctrine. And when that happens, this leads to self-righteousness and a lot of human good works. Knowledge of doctrine guides one into godly living, and it alerts us to the self-destructive ways of living. It is the knowledge of doctrine that enables us to do that. That's our frame of reference. The first thing, therefore, that God desires of each of you as a Christian is to know Him and to know His ways through your knowledge of doctrine. He does not, first of all, want you to serve Him. He does not want you, first of all, to give your money to His work. He does not, first of all, want you to go around witnessing. He wants you, first and foremost, to grow up into spiritual maturity so that He can look down upon you, and He can see in you (like He could see in His Son Jesus), someone who is going about His Father's business, so that He could say, "I take great pleasure in you." Once he starts taking great pleasure in you, then He wants your money. Then He wants your witnessing tongue. Then he wants your capacities and gifts and abilities. Then he wants your time.

Of course, this indifference toward doctrine is so evident when you walk into a church service, and you see these empty chairs, and you see all those faces who should be here, who are not. What arrogance! What contempt! What a price!

The love of God operating in the doctrinally functioning believer results in right human relationships. That is the only thing that changes us from being an animal to being in the image of God. I try to teach the kids on the campout that they can either be animals, or they can be princes and princesses in the image of God. Which do you want to do?

The Tribulation Gentiles

In the Greek language, you would make that mistake. We need to have a little grammar here: In the Greek language, the word "nations" is a neuter word. It's not feminine; it's not masculine; but, it's neuter. But a little later in the verse, He says that He will separate "them" one from another, referring back to this word "nations," and the word "them" consistently in grammar should also be neuter. But it's not. It's masculine, because it's telling you person-by-person and individual-by-individual.

So, these are individual gentiles. They've survived the tribulation. They're gathered before Christ sitting on His throne, and He's going to separate these gentiles one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats: "He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left, and He's going to simply say, "Look at this person. See that this is a born-again gentile who trusted in Christ during the tribulation. He's not part of the church now. It's a different era, but he is born-again." He said, "I want you over on My right side. Step over here with My sheep." Then He looks at the next person, and He sees that this person also survived the tribulation, but he never accepted Christ as Savior. He said, "I want you to step over here on My left where the goats." And when Jesus Christ comes, He makes this separation, and notice where it takes place – on this earth. This is not something that's being done in heaven. This is being done in order to decide who goes into the earthly kingdom of Christ.

So, the sheep are then ushered by the angels alive into the kingdom, the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, whereas the goats are taken out, and they are executed, and they enter Hades. Notice Matthew 25:34: "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come you who are blessed of My Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'" There are no afterthoughts. God has worked all this out from eternity past.

However, notice verse 41: "Then He will say to those on His left (the goats), 'Depart from Me, O cursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (the demons)." What a sobering tragedy that is! Can you see why the angel flying through the upper atmosphere says, "Listen people, this is it, one more time? This gospel has been true from the Garden of Eden throughout the centuries, and it's true today. You may go to heaven, or you may go to the lake of fire. Now you will make your decision one more time. What's your choice going to be?"

The gentiles who believed (and there will be many indeed who do) are going to be very happy to discover what they have escaped, and what they have inherited in the kingdom. The goats, who stubbornly refused to consider the pleasure of God, and focused only on their pleasure, will have all eternity to regret it, with Satan and his demons in the lake of fire.

The Tribulation Jews

When does this take place? This takes place when Jesus Christ is on earth, not in heaven. He's on earth as King over the nation of Israel. Go back up to Ezekiel 20:33: "'As I live,' declares the Lord God, 'surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you. And I shall bring you out from the peoples, and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, and with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, I shall bring you into the wilderness of the people. And there I shall enter into judgment with you face-to-face. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,' declares the Lord God."

Then, in verse 37, which we read, He causes them to pass under the rod His evaluation.

This is clearly an earthly scene with Jews brought back from all the nations of the world to face Christ. God the judge will judge each tribulation Jew individually relative to his salvation. The unsaved Jews will then be put to death. They will not be permitted to enter the Millennial Kingdom. The born-again Jews will go alive into the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ on this earth in their natural bodies. This is the way that the millennium will continue with life as it is now, with people in their natural bodies. You and I will have different bodies. We, as born-again believers of the church age have already received our glorified bodies. There will be no more sin capable in us: no more sickness; no more sorrow; and, no more tears. All that will be behind us. We will be in glorified bodies like Christ, and there will be a glow around us because we will now be carrying the glory of God.

However, these people go into the millennium with the same kind of bodies like we have now, but they go in as believers. So, when the millennium begins, everyone is born-again. And a whole new political, social, economic, and educational era begins on the face of the earth. It is indeed earth's golden age.

The angel is trying to alert people that this is about to happen because the tribulation is almost over. When its time has run out, Jesus Christ will come down from heaven in His Second Coming, and this is the first thing He will do – execute this judgment.

Other Judgments in the Bible

Christ Paid for the Judgment of Sin of Mankind

We tell you that sin is no longer the issue with God. The issue with God is simply whether you will accept the price that has already been paid for your sin. You're covered. This is made very clear in 1 John 2:2, where John says, "And He Himself (that is, Jesus Christ), is the propitiation for our sins" (the satisfaction of the justice of God for our sins). Then he adds, "And not for ours only (not only for the sins of we who are born-again – we Christians), but also for those of the whole world." All of the unsaved world has had its sins paid for. What a verse – 1 John 2:2! The justice of God against sin is satisfied. That is no longer the issue. But Christ, having done this for us, this then becomes the basis upon which God can forgive the sin of anyone who is willing to accept the payment that has been made for him.

In Romans 4:25, the apostle Paul sums it up this way: "He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. ... He could be brought back to life. If Jesus were never raised from the dead, then that would tell us that He did not satisfy the justice of God. So, one of the divine judgments that we should be aware of is that of Christ for the sin of mankind.

The Judgment of the Demonic Angels of Genesis 6

In Revelation 20:10, this judgment is referred to, on these angels, and all those who followed Satan: "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also. And they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever." After the millennium, this judgment is executed against these angels loyal to Satan.

The Judgment of the Believer's Works

This is what the government does. Government produces good that they call good works, but it's evil in the sight of God. It's all a production of the sin nature. And what it does is undermines the principles of the Word of God, and it destroys life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the human race, because mankind has still not learned how to deal with the evil nature of man, and how to be consistent with the principles of God's establishment for human government.

Hebrews 10:17 makes it clear that this is not dealing with your sins as a believer. Those are forgiven and forgotten. Hebrews 10:17: "And their sins and their lawless deeds," God says, "I will remember no more." This is so true of us – that God never remembers our sins and our lawless deeds.

For divine good works, a Christian will receive rewards, but for human good works, he will suffer a great loss. That is the principle enunciated in 1 Corinthians 3. And I must remind you that you should not kid yourself that you are going to judge yourself. God is not going to give you your report card and say, "Please fill it out." We have many students who wish our teachers would do that: "Children, it is report card time. I'm going to pass out your report cards. Would you please give yourself a grade?" Who wouldn't like to do that? And there are some Christians who always keep conning themselves that they're going to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, and they're the wheeler-dealer type here on this earth. And they're going to be smooth, and they're going to be vocal, and they're going to con the Lord and distract Him. And pretty soon, they have gotten themselves a good grade.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 describe for us that we have a foundation for our life, which is Jesus Christ. Verse 12 says, "We can build on that foundation in our works." And some of those works are very valuable: gold, silver, and precious stones; or, human good works that are worthless – wood, hay, or straw.

Verse 13 tells us that God's judgment and evaluation comes onto that like fire out of a blow torch and all the trash gets burned up. But the good quality materials are preserved. God does His own evaluating.

Verse 14 says, "If any man's work, which he has built upon it (upon his salvation in Christ) remains, he shall receive a reward."

Verse 15 says, "If any man's work is burned up (all human good which is exposed for what it is), he shall suffer loss. But don't misunderstand me," God says. "He himself shall be saved so as through the fire of God's judgment." So, if you don't like to hear me say that there are going to be second-class Christians in heaven, you can debate it with God, because that's exactly what that verse says. Some Christians in heaven will be much richer than others – those who, like Eric Liddell, have devoted themselves to giving pleasure to God. It's just that simple. They have devoted their lives to giving pleasure to God. And that will be quite evident to everybody at that point in time.

This takes place at the point of the rapture when this judgment is brought down upon us. 1 Corinthians 4:5 says, "Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in darkness, and disclose the motives of men's hearts. And then each man's praise will come to him from God." This verse warns us not to try to judge people's motives. When somebody says something, we can judge what they said. When somebody acts in a certain way, we can judge what they did – that that's wrong, or that's right. But I cannot look into your heart, and you can't look at the mine or anyone else's, and say, "This is what's motivating you. This is why you're doing this." They can't make a judgment about your capacity or your integrity or anything else. God says, "You better go very slow on that, because you don't need to settle that. That's what we talked about last week – those Christians who like to bring glory to themselves instead of to God, because they like to play little gods, and straighten out the people who need straightening out in the human; instead of getting out of the way and letting God do it. He will expose all the little con jobs that are being played by Christians.

Revelation 22:12 also says, "Behold, I'm coming quickly. And My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done." I find this very interesting, that here we come to the last chapter of the Bible. God the Holy Spirit is closing it down. He has completed the canon of Scripture. He's got a few more verses to write to the believers, and, of all things, what does He interject at that point? Of all the things you could finish on! You know, when you write a letter, you want to finish on some very significant high point. Well, He has done that. Of all things, He says, "I'm coming quickly. I have rewards to distribute to every Christian man and woman according to what you did with your life." Does that tell you something about how important bringing pleasure to God is? That's the name of the game.

Judgment on the Carnality of the Christian

If you judge yourself rightly, and stop kidding yourself, then God says, "I don't have to judge you." There's one thing any parent knows: You'd rather the kid straightened up and flew right himself than your having to punish him to do it. You're quite happy when he comes to you and says, "I'm very sorry for the way I acted, and I was wrong." And that settles it. That's the end of it. There's nothing more to be done.

Verse 32: "But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world." But if you don't come back into temporal fellowship, then God the Father says, "I'm going to put the screws down on you, and I will discipline you, and I will punish you. And if you push Me far enough, and you persist in this, then I'm going to take you home to heaven. If you become no earthly good, then I'm going to take you to heaven." You get yourself into temporal fellowship, and when you get out, you get back in as fast as you can. That is the place of security. That's carnality – when you're out of the inner circle. Self-judgment is executed through confession to God the Father, and the result is that you will avoid an enormous amount of personal chastisement.

The Great White Throne Judgment

This is all unbelievers facing their great and final judgment. Revelation 20:11: "And I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead (the unbelieving dead), the great and the small standing before the throne. And books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life." The book which was opened was the book of all your good works. These are all your claims to justify you before God – your human good.

Then there's the other book, which is the Lamb's book of life: "And the dead were judge from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds." On the one hand, the computer brings up all the good deeds you have done to justify yourself before God. And God says, "That's not enough." Then He comes over to the Lamb's book of life and says, "Yes, when you were born, your name was put into the book of life. But when you died without Christ, the angel erased it. That's the Scripture. Do you remember it teaching about erasing your name from the book of life? So, the names that are finally left in what is called the Lamb's book of life are the names of all of you born-again people. And if your name is not in there, then you face the eternity that is inevitable – being in a lake of fire with Satan and his angels. This is the final divine judgment of all the unsaved at the end of the millennial era. Human good does not count. It does not bring salvation. And those who are not found in that book will be destroyed forever.

So, the angel comes along, high in the heavens, and this angel has remained loyal to God when Satan invited him along with the other angels to join him in the rebellion. This angel chose not to go with Satan. This angel has a great deal of knowledge and understanding and background. This angel has been dealing with demonic powers, his counterparts in Satan's realm, and he knows where their destiny lies. And he knows God, and he knows the glory of God, as we have learned it now, and the essence of God. And he knows how God is going to act. And he knows that human beings are such trivial, ridiculous creatures when they stand up in arrogance against Him. Do you see why it is so important for us to teach our young people, in the context of Christian camaraderie with one another, that they are the beautiful people; they are the smart one; and, that all the public entertainers are strictly lowlife types? They're powerful; they're money; and, they're in prominence, but they are the people of Satan, and they should not have a young person's loyalty.

It is so much easier for a youngster to stand up and say, "I stand with Christ," when he sees other kids his age standing right next to him, saying, "You bet. Me too." Then the time comes when, as adults, they can do that on their own, whether anybody stands with them or not. The judgment of God is according to truth; it is according to righteousness; and, it is according to justice, and He will not deny His Holiness in evaluating us, and in executing His judgments, whether we are unbelievers or whether we are believers. Respect God; fear Him; give Him the glory; and, do right.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1992

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