What He Will Do with His Own, Part 1

The Devil's Attack on the Truth of Christ's Return

0:00 The more vital any aspect of truth is to the salvation and the edification of the souls of men, the more vicious will be the attacks which Satan makes upon that particular truth. If the devil can move men to deny, to distort, or to discredit these central truths of the Word of God, He is filled with fiendish glee. And this is precisely what He has done throughout the course of church history and continues to do with respect to this foundational truth of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

0:46 That is, the return of Jesus in power and glory at the end of the age. He is continually seeking to move men to deny, to distort, or to discredit this truth, because he knows that when it is held as a matter of faith and in its biblical balance, it shakes many, many of the very pillars of his kingdom. However, we must not allow the distortions and abuses of a truth to cause us to shy away from that truth. Rather, we must be all the more determined to attain and maintain a solidly biblical and balanced understanding of such truths,

1:37 and then to live in the light of them. According to Ephesians 4, that's one of the cardinal marks of Christian maturity, that we are no longer tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but we become established in the truth as the truth is in Jesus. and I've already said that this is what the devil has sought to do regarding the truth of the return of Christ and so for several weeks now we have been considering together this subject the return of Christ in New Testament belief and experience and in seeking to open up this subject from the scriptures the first thing we did was to examine six passages in the New Testament

Review of Previous Sermons: Certainty, Centrality, and Timing of Christ's Return

2:26 which clearly demonstrate that eagerly awaiting and loving the return of Christ was an essential element in ordinary New Testament Christian experience. We then sought to answer the question, why do true believers who are in a healthy spiritual state eagerly await and love the return of Christ? and I set before you four strands of an answer to that pressing question. And then last Lord's Day we began to address what I named as four major issues relative to the Lord's return.

3:09 Before we turn to a number of passages and see how it has a motivational pressure upon every facet of the Christian life, I want us to be clear in our minds, as clear as the Bible allows us to be, with respect to some of the fundamental issues pertaining to the Lord's return. And we looked at several of those issues last Lord's Day. As to the event of the Lord's return, we saw that it is certain. The dogmatic assertion of the angels in Acts 1.11 that we've read again this morning, this same Jesus shall so come in like manner, that dogmatic assertion is echoed again and again throughout the entirety of the New Testament.

4:00 Secondly, as to the place of the Lord's return in redemptive history, we saw that it is central and climactic. All that God has done and is presently doing in redemptive grace and judgment, and everything that He will yet do, finds its culmination in the second coming of the Lord Jesus. The other side of Christ's coming is eternity. The outworking of all that came to consummation at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power and in glory.

4:42 And then thirdly, as to the time of the Lord's return, we saw that to us it is always imminent, indefinite, and unknowable. The words of Jesus have timeless relevance to his people. Be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man comes. One commentator has beautifully brought together the biblical perspective that each generation must live with the sense of the imminence, The coming of the Lord is at hand, and yet the realism that we may go into the presence of God by the rough door of death.

5:26 And he writes as follows, this double possibility, that is, death or bypassing death alive at the Lord's return, this double possibility has been present to the minds of Christ's faithful followers in every age. It has at all times been a powerful incentive to holy living. Neither the day nor the hour of the bridegroom's coming is known to us. Therefore, it is an event which is always imminent, near at hand for the church.

5:59 It is always possible that death will be forestalled by the coming of Christ. And in accordance with our Lord's admonition to watch, we should live now and every moment as we would wish to be found living at the sudden instant of our Lord's return. Or should that be delayed in the hour of our death? And to that I say, Amen.

6:28 Then we began to take up this fourth category of concern. The event, certain. Its place in redemptive history, central, climactic. Its time, imminent, but unknown and unknowable to us.

Events Connected with Christ's Return: Manifold and Clearly Revealed

6:49 Then fourthly, as to the events connected with the Lord's return, they are clearly revealed and manifold. I did not say they are easily understood.

7:03 Things can be clearly revealed that are difficult to understand. Scripture clearly reveals that the God who is Is one God And yet He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit He is not a monism He is the three in one and the one in three That is clear But none of us would sit here and say Our little pea brains can encompass the mystery Of how He can be one in three And three in one And likewise, with the events surrounding the return of our Lord Jesus, they are clearly revealed, though some are difficult to understand, and they are manifold.

7:51 And as we began to take up that fourth category last Lord's Day, I urged you to think not in terms of a sequential numerical checklist. Once we hear the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 things are going to happen. But think in terms of a circle. Think of a pie.

8:14 And within that circle, God has placed a number of events that will occur in conjunction with the return of Christ. And I suggested under that imagery that I find it helpful to think of three main slices in the pie. And during my study this week, I began to be tempted to say, no, it should be four. And I'll tell you where my temptation lay.

8:36 But the first thing is what he will do with his own when he comes. Second slice, what he will do with his enemies and those who are not his own when he comes. Thirdly, what he will do to the created order when he comes. And the fourth one I was tempted to put in, but presently I have it fitting in under number one, is what he will do for himself.

8:59 That is coming. Or you may want to think in terms of a cluster of grapes. I couldn't help but think of that because there's always a Tupperware bowl full of grapes in our fridge. My wife loves her grapes.

9:12 And when you pull out a cluster of grapes, you have the main stem and then all these grapes are hanging on it. Now you ought to think of the revelation of what will happen at the Lord's return in terms of a cluster of grapes. His return is the main stem. And then all of these various activities are said to be connected with His coming.

9:33 But in certain passages, it would seem that this event fits here on the cluster, whereas another here. Don't trouble yourself that you can't get it into some kind of a rigid mathematical checklist. Glory and revel in the fact that these are events that are certain to accompany the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I tried to illustrate this principle by comparing 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-17 with 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1-11.

10:09 The same man writing to the same church, speaking of the same second coming, in the first passage you wouldn't even know that the wicked are even considered in his second coming. All the focus is upon what he's going to do with his own. whereas in the second Thessalonians passage he mentions obliquely and by way of a side reference our gathering together unto him but the focus is on what he's going to do with the man of sin and all who are deceived by him so you would think well the coming is primarily judgment upon the man of sin and the wicked well you see there's the principle there were specific pastoral concerns that needed to be highlighted and Paul picked off one of the greats In one passage, He picked off another with the other, but it's the same return of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.

What Christ Will Do with His Own: Glorification

11:03 And then we began to look at the ingredients of the first slice. What will Christ do with His own at His return? And we had time only to open up this one glorious strand of biblical truth. All who are truly in Christ, whether dead or alive, shall at the coming of Christ be fully conformed to the image of Christ forever to be with Christ.

11:34 That's what he's going to do with his own. All who are truly in Christ, whether dead or alive, shall at the coming of Christ be fully conformed to the image of Christ forever to be with Christ. And we saw this clearly established in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-17, Philippians 3, 20-21, 1 Corinthians 15-35, 42-49, verse 52 and following 1 John 3, 1-2. That will be our glorification.

12:14 And in my ongoing study this week, I came across this wonderful definition of glorification by Dr. J.I. Packer.

12:22 Glorification is a work of transforming power. Whereby God finally turns us into sinless creatures in deathless bodies.

12:35 Then the goal of redemption is realized. You remember in Romans 8.29 whom he did foreknow. He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son.

12:46 That was God's purpose in the very womb of eternity. He wants to have a vast multitude who reflect the perfections of His own dear Son. And the next verse says, Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called. He put them in the orbit of experienced grace.

13:07 He also justified, declared them righteous in the court of heaven. And whom He justified, them He also, and it's put in the past tense, it's so certain to come to pass, He also glorified. Sanctification is not mentioned because God looks to the end of the sanctifying work. Glorification.

What Christ Will Do with His Own: Appearing at the Judgment Seat of Christ

13:30 And then His sovereign purpose in electing loving grace will be fully and blessedly realized. Now then we come to the second thing that Christ will do with His own at His return. And this is what he will do. Please don't be turned off.

13:49 It's a long sentence, but then we're going to break it down. I want you to have, when we're done, a comprehensive picture of the events connected with the Lord's return that are clearly revealed, but also manifold.

14:05 At the return of Christ, all who are truly in Christ shall be brought to the judgment seat of Christ in order to be openly identified, vindicated, and confessed by Christ and to receive the rewards of grace from Christ. Now that mouthful is what I hope to open up in the preaching of the Word this morning and again this evening. What is going to happen at the return of Christ? In addition to our being finally glorified at the return of Christ, All who are truly in Christ shall be brought to the judgment seat of Christ in order to be openly identified, vindicated, and confessed by Christ and to receive the rewards of grace from Christ.

15:01 Now everything under this heading focuses on the issue of believers appearing at the judgment seat of Christ. Now because some have made an artificial distinction between what they call the bema of Christ, the bema seat should be pronounced in the Erasmian pronunciation. It's an eta, the bema of Christ. They've made a distinction between the judgment seat of Christ and they say that's the award place.

15:32 That has nothing to do with the judgment of the great white throne, the judgment of the nations. There is a beam of seat of Christ and with a little tinge of apparent knowledge, we are told that that is fundamentally different from the judgment seat of God. Well, if any of you have heard that, sooner or later you may, I want to give you the biblical stuff to show that that has absolutely no foundation in the Scriptures. Look at Romans chapter 14 with me.

The Unity of the Bema of God and the Bema of Christ

16:02 Paul is here dealing with believers. And believers who have a different conscience about what they can and cannot do in matters not strictly commanded or forbidden by the Word of God. Matters indifferent, as we call them. on the one hand he's telling those who can indulge in certain things not to look down their snoot at these who have a more tender conscience about those matters and he's telling those who are in that position not to judge those who can do what they can't do now he's going to bring that exhortation to a focused point and notice what he says in verse 10 of Romans 14 but you why do you judge your brother That the weak man judges the strong Or again why do you set it not or despise your brother That what the strong were doing with the weak

16:53 Now he says, you're both wrong. You fellas that can't do certain things, and because you can't, you think if anyone else does, they're sinning. Stop it. You're playing judge.

17:03 And you who look down your snoot who can do certain things that they can't do, stop despising them as though they're a bunch of silly, weak-minded people. Stop it, both of you. Stop it. Stop it and up and up already.

17:15 All right? Now, notice what he says in that context. Why do you do this? For we shall all stand before the Bema seat of God.

17:29 For it is written, as I live, quoting from Isaiah 45, 23, As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God, so then each one of us shall give an account of himself to God. Here he says, stop this mutual judging, because each one of us, believers, he's not talking about unbelievers, each one of us shall stand before the Bema seat of God, the tribunal of God in fulfillment of God's word in Isaiah 45 and verse 23. And there each one of us shall give account of himself to God.

18:17 Now when we come to 2 Corinthians 5,

18:21 we are told Paul giving a rationale for the fact that he has a single-minded ambition, whether he is alive at the Lord's return and his mortal is swallowed up by immortality or whether he must die and be absent from the body present with the Lord. He said it makes no difference, verse 9, that wherefore we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, whether in the body when Christ comes or out of the body. This is our ambition to be well-pleasing unto Him For we must all be made manifest. An aorist passive of the verb fanirao.

19:06 To make manifest. To make open and plain. We must all be made manifest before the bema of Christ. That each one may receive the things done in the body according to that he hath done.

19:23 Whether it be good or bad. He's speaking of himself as a believer. And all believers with him, he says, we must all be made manifest before the bema of Christ. The bema of God and the bema of Christ are one in the same judicial benches.

19:46 There are not two different judicial benches. And we know this because, and this is vital to grasp, The work of final judgment is the crowning act and responsibility assigned to Jesus in his role as mediator. Let me repeat that. Christ will administer the judgment of God at the bema of God that becomes the bema of Christ because the crowning act and responsibility laid upon Christ, which He has taken as the obedient servant of God, is this act of judging men.

20:34 John 5, verses 22 and 23 and 27. Jesus was very conscious of this. John chapter 5, verses 22 and 23. speaking to the Jews in the context where they refuse to recognize Him for who He is as the Father's unique Son, God the Son.

20:58 We read in verse 22, For neither does the Father judge any man, but He has given all judgment unto the Son. To what end? That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father that sent Him.

21:19 Verse 27 And He the Father gave Him the Son authority to execute judgment because He is Son of Man. He has given Him this because of His identity, Son of Man. Son of Man is a Messianic title. He has given Him judgment because it is a function of Messiah to sit in final judgment upon all men.

21:47 And therefore Peter says in his preaching in the household of Cornelius in Acts 10 in verse 42, these very significant words.

21:57 Beginning with verse 40, he says, Him, that is Jesus, God raised up the third day, gave Him to be manifested openly known, not to all the people, but unto witnesses that were chosen before of God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead and he charged us to preach unto the people and to testify that this is he who is ordained of God to be the judge of the living and the dead. To him bear all the prophets witness and through his name everyone that believes on him shall receive remission of sins. Here Peter says that in this one alone there is remission of sin, but this one has been ordained of God to be judge of the living and the dead. Why? It is his crowning act as the messianic king.

22:55 Paul preaches the same thing in Acts chapter 17, verses 30 and 31. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked, but now He commands men that they should all everywhere repent inasmuch as He has appointed a day in which He, that is God, will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained, whereof He has given assurance unto all men in that He raised Him from the dead. And Scripture could not state the issue more clearly than it does in these and similar passages. So Christ, in His messianic role, will be the one who sits upon the throne of judgment.

23:46 And we have seen in the two passages read that believers will appear at the judgment seat of God. At the judgment seat of Christ. God's judgment mediated and administered by Jesus Christ, the crucified, risen, and exalted Messianic King. In that sweeping description of what will happen at His coming, Jesus says in Matthew 25 and verse 31 that at His coming the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory and before Him will be gathered all the nations.

24:32 and then they are identified in two classes, sheep and goats. And the sheep are obviously his own to whom he will eventually say from that judgment throne, come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world. Well, what have I sought to do? I've sought to disaffect your mind of any notion that the bema of Christ is something different from the bema of God.

Three Actions at the Judgment Seat: Identification, Vindication, and Rewards

25:06 And why it is that Christ himself will sit as judge for all men including believers. Including believers. Now we go back to my opening statement. At the return of Christ, all who are truly in Christ shall be brought to the judgment seat of Christ.

25:32 I hope now you're persuaded of that first phrase. In order to be openly identified, that's the first thing Christ will do. Vindicated and confessed by Christ, that's the second thing he'll do with his people. And thirdly, to receive the rewards of grace from Christ.

25:54 When summoned before the judgment seat of Christ, true believers will be openly identified, number one, vindicated and confessed, number two, and receive the rewards of grace from Christ, number three. Alright, let me seek now to demonstrate from the Scriptures why we put all of these things together in this cluster of glorious grace of what the Lord will do at His return. First then of these three, they will be openly identified by Christ. Turn please to Matthew 25.

Open Identification of True Believers by Christ

26:34 Here they are, glorified already. they are gathered with the assembled nations in their glorified bodies and in their perfected spirits we have seen from the previous passages he will take care of his dead saints and then his living saints then they will be brought before him at the judgment seat verse 31 but when the son of man shall come in his glory And all the angels with him then shall he sit on the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all the nations. Now notice.

27:17 And he shall separate them one from another. As the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. and he shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on the left. What is the imagery?

27:38 The Lord Jesus sits upon his throne, looks over the mass of humanity and he openly identifies his own and says, you're a sheep, you're a sheep, you're a sheep, you're a sheep and all the sheep he sets on his right hand. As surely as any competent eastern shepherd was able to identify sheep from goats and even distinguish among his own sheep, as surely as any competent eastern shepherd could separate sheep from goats, so will the Son of Man identify

28:23 and openly, publicly separate His own. And the Bible makes it clear that we are not able infallibly to discern who are really the sheep of Christ. Jesus said in the day of judgment there will be many who appear not only as sheep but were recognized by the sheep as their public shepherds. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name?

28:53 And Lord, have we not in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name done many mighty works? While on earth they bamboozled everyone. Why, look at the power of God when He preaches. Look at the amazing work of God in casting out demons.

29:13 Why, look, there are people who have been healed by His instrumentality. Then Jesus says, I will say to them, depart from you. I never knew you. You that work iniquity.

29:24 What you were outwardly was religiously kosher and active. And you had what appeared to be the Spirit's validation upon your identity as true sheep. But I do not know you. Go with the goats.

29:41 Go with the goats. Jesus knows His own. He said in John 10, 27, My sheep hear My voice and I know them. And they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

30:00 He said, I know them. 2 Timothy 2.19, the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal. The Lord knows them that are His, and only the Lord infallibly knows those that are His.

30:14 There are many of you, as I look out into your faces, I believe if push came to shove. I'd be willing to spill my blood for you in the confidence that you are my brother that you are my sister and a man ought to lay down his life for his friends but I may be wrong you could be wrong in your assessment of me I could be wrong in my assessment of you we may in the judgment of charity recognize one another as sheep But our recognition is not infallible. And thank God it is not determinative of our eternal destiny. But His will be infallible.

31:05 His will be determinative of your destiny and of mine. Then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. The very one of whom it is said in John 2, he needed not that any should testify of man for he knew what was in man. He knows what's in you.

31:27 He knows whether what you project yourself to be as a sheep is a projection of who and what you really are or a projection of what you hope others think you are.

31:45 But he knows his own. infallibly. And in that great assise, that great gathering before the judgment seat of Christ, those who are truly His own will be openly identified by Christ. And He will say, you're one of my sheep.

32:13 Get over here with my sheep. And it will not do. to hastily grab a felt marker and a piece of cardboard and write on it, Hey Jesus, I'm a sheep. Don't forget me.

32:27 Your placard will do you no good.

32:33 No good. He knows infallibly who are His sheep. And it's very interesting that in several passages dealing with the return of Christ and his sitting in judgment, the wretched possibility of coming to the judgment as a hypocrite or self-deceived, these things are highlighted in those very passages. In the Matthew 25, 1-13 passage, the parable of the ten virgins.

33:07 All of them seem to be associated with the bridegroom. All of them seem to be attached to him in some degree of loyalty and affection. The people you and I choose to be attendants at our weddings are not our enemies or strangers. They are our friends. And Jesus says the kingdom of heaven shall be likened unto ten virgins He took their lamps went forth to meet the bridegroom If you found any of them on the way where are you going Oh going to meet the bridegroom Who the bridegroom Well he my closest friend He my first cousin He's my older brother.

33:43 They all seem to be attached to him by some ties of more than casual association.

33:52 But by the time the bridegroom comes, half of them are shown to be sham. And it's in conjunction with the Lord's second coming. because he says in verse 13, the clincher of the whole passage, watch therefore, for you know not the day nor the hour. What day or hour?

34:08 The one he's been talking about in the Olivet Discourse in the previous chapter. The day and the hour of His coming. And he says the time of His coming will mean the exposure of the hypocrite who has the name of profession but has no life, no vital union with Christ. What He is outwardly is not the extension into the stuff of life of what He really is inwardly.

34:35 It's the plastic, the ordered, the structured, the theatric playing of a role.

34:46 Exposed in that day. Likewise, in the Luke 13 passage where the Lord says, agonize to enter the narrow gate. He says, for many will seek to enter and shall not be able when once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door. And he says that's in conjunction with his coming because later on in the passage he says, many shall come from east and west and north and south and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom and yourselves cast out.

35:15 1st Timothy 5.24 very searching text that I had not thought of for a long time until in preparation for the ministry this morning look at these searching words 1st Timothy 5.24 some men's sins are evident going before unto judgment some people make no profession or if they make a profession their sinful lifestyle absolutely counters and negates it before the eyes and in the judgment of anyone who knows his Bible. Oh yeah, I trusted in Jesus.

35:48 I was born again ten years ago. Born again, but still a lecher, still a drunkard, still a covetous man, still a thief, still a curser and a swearer. Ridiculous. Some men's sins are evident going before them to judgment.

36:05 Everyone sees their sins are leading them to the judgment throne. And there they will answer not only for what we've seen, the evident ones, but the ones only God sees. But now notice the next statement. And some men also, they follow after.

36:22 They follow after. We see them die and say, surely Absinthe from the body is present with the Lord.

36:32 He knows something we don't. The sins that they willfully, deliberately, continually indulged while all the while openly having the semblance of the righteous and the godly and the Christian those sins will follow after and will meet them in the day of judgment. Hence the language of 2 Corinthians 5.10 For we must all, it doesn't say we must all simply appear or stand we must all be made manifest.

37:07 I mentioned that earlier. It's the verb fanirao, which means to be openly displayed. We shall all be made manifest. It will be made clear.

37:20 And it's a passive. We shall be manifested for what we really are. And that's the wonder again of being a true child of God and being able to say, Oh God, with all my sins, with all my failures, with all my shortcomings, Oh God, You know what I know. That I'm not a hypocrite.

37:44 I'm not playing games. Lord, I mourn the evil thoughts that only You know and I know. I mourn the pride that only You see and I know. I mourn the hypocrisy that I know and You know.

38:01 Oh God I mourn the lack of love for you that I know and that you know. And oh God I mourn that I don't serve you more devotedly.

38:17 Can you look into the face of the very God whom you'll encounter in the day of judgment and say oh God you know what I know.

38:26 That I have more than a mere profession. Lord Jesus I can't wait for the day when you will as the righteous judge openly identify me as one of your sheep I tell you you can take a lot of cussing and sneers and nasty letters and slanderous words when you know an hour is coming when he who knows us all together will say that's one of mine Put them over here with the sheep. Put them over there with the sheep.

Open Vindication and Confession by Christ: The Crucial Question

39:04 God's people will be openly identified by Christ. But then secondly, they will be openly vindicated and confessed by Christ. They will be openly vindicated and confessed by Christ. Now my dear people, if you ever have put on your thinking cap and said, now I'm going to hang in there, I'm going to try to follow the track the preacher is laying out, please do it now.

39:35 My wife will tell you that I wondered if I was going to be able to preach this this morning. Because as I began to wrestle afresh and at levels I never had before, my own thinking was just not crystallized enough to feel I could stand and say, these are the things that will certainly happen to the people of God when He comes. I believe I can do that now. So please, hang in there with me as I try to open up what I think is crucial to the conscience of a true believer.

40:06 You as the child of God can look forward not only to being openly identified by Christ, but openly vindicated and confessed by Christ. Now as I try to open up what I mean by that, we've got to look at two foundational facts that press upon us a crucial question. Two facts that squeeze a question into our minds if we're grasping the two facts. Fact number one, the Bible clearly teaches that the judgment seat of Christ is a place where an impartial judgment according to works will be the rule of assessment and action by the judge.

40:48 The Bible clearly teaches that at the judgment seat of Christ, where we will stand and be made manifest, it's a place where an impartial judgment according to works will be the rule of assessment and action by the judge. It'll be a judgment according to works for everyone. Matthew 16, verse 27. The Lord Jesus speaking, and this is what he says, in unmistakable terminology.

41:20 For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels and then shall He render unto every man according to His deeds. Most translations have a plural but it's a singular to His doing. A singular of the noun proxis. He shall render to every man not according to all the specific deeds but the pattern and the scope of his doing, his lifestyle.

42:00 Who and what he is in the pattern of his life. Romans 2 verses 4 to 6 One of the richest sections in all of Scripture on judgment as Paul is preparing people to appreciate the gospel of God's grace. a gospel of salvation in Christ alone by faith alone he's showing that all men stand under the judgment of God and we have some rich insights as to the nature of that judgment look at verse 4 or do you despise Romans 2 4 the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance but after your hardness and impenitent heart treasure up for yourself wrath

42:45 in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to every man according to his works. One of the few places where you have it in the plural. The Greek word ergos, you have the plural. He will render to every man according to his works.

43:11 But then notice how he then describes that principle in terms of basic patterns of life. Verse 7, To them who by steadfastness in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, for them eternal life. But unto them that are factious and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath, indignation, tribulation, and anguish upon every soul of man that works evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. Only two kinds of people.

43:46 Those that are steadfast in well-doing and those that persist in evil-doing.

43:55 Now I know that you're thinking, yes, but none of us absolutely, perfectly does well. That's right. That's right. Paul himself acknowledges that was his state.

44:05 Romans 7. But in terms of the overall pattern of life, we are either among those who by steadfastness and well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruption and have a well-grounded hope of attaining eternal life. Or we are among the factious who do that which is evil and who will receive a just recompense of reward. We already looked at 2 Corinthians 5.10.

44:32 We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ. That each may receive the things, plural, done in the body. Whether, and then he uses two adjectives in the singular. Whether good or bad.

44:47 The things will comprise a good pattern or a bad and worthless pattern. Singular. this is what broke the back of my wrestlings so please don't be impatient with plurals and singulars they're crucial to our understanding of this 1 Peter 1 17 if you call on him as father who without respect of persons judges according now notice to each man's and here it's translated in the singular each man's work not works plural but each man's work. Past the time of your sojourning in Pierre, there will be a judgment according to each man's

45:33 work. The pattern, the scope, the overarching direction of life. And then Revelation 22, 12. All texts to show incontrovertibly that the judgment even for believers will be according to work.

45:53 Revelation 22.12 Jesus is speaking and He says Behold, I come quickly and My reward is with Me to render to each man according as singular again according as not His works are but according as His work is according as His work I will render when I sit upon the judgment throne It will indeed be a judgment impartial according to works as the rule of assessment and action by the judge. Now think with me. Think with me.

46:34 According to the Bible, what's included in our works?

46:38 According to the Bible, our looks and even our unspoken and unfulfilled desires. Matthew 5, 28. Whoso looks with an intent to lust upon a woman hath committed adultery already in his heart. Our work, our deeds, the good, the bad, not only encompass what men can see, but looks known only to God and desires seen only by God.

47:11 Thoughts and even imaginations behind the thoughts. Genesis 6, 5. It's an interesting passage. When God first announces to Noah that He's going to send the flood, He tells him why He's going to send the flood.

47:25 In Genesis 6 and verse 5, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And how does He describe it? Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. God focuses upon the imaginations of the thoughts.

47:44 At the deepest spring of the human psyche. Where sin is born. God sees it. And he says it's evil.

47:54 Only evil. Evil continually. Now what could everyone else see? Well what's described in verse 13.

48:01 And God said unto Noah. The end of all flesh has come before me. For the earth is filled with violence through them. and behold I will destroy the earth everyone could see the violence God saw more than what men saw he saw that the imagination of the thoughts of the heart so when it says it will be a judgment according to works the works are not only the external deeds the looks and desires the thoughts and imaginations the secret deeds Luke chapter 12 there is nothing covered that shall not be known What is done in secret shall be proclaimed from the housetop.

48:41 The man that sneaks down to the study and lets his eyes drink in the filth from the internet. When wife and kids are sleeping, no one knows. He's effectively scrubbed it from his computer. It'll be proclaimed from the housetop.

49:00 When the judge says, you willful, deliberate, uncleaned lecher. Who me? God, yes. He'll name the dates.

49:08 He'll name the sites. And your mouth will be stopped in the presence of Christ.

49:16 Even words. Matthew 12. By thy words thou shalt be justified. By thy words thou shalt be condemned.

49:26 What my mouth does in framing words will be all Jesus needs to justify the designation. He's a real sheep. His words prove them. He's not a sheep, he's a goat.

49:37 His words proved it.

49:41 Bitter, acrimonious, biting, sarcastic words that cut and wound. Rather than words of kindness, gentleness, loving exhortation that heal and help. Well now we've got that fact. You've got all of that?

49:59 The Bible's clear. It's an awesome fact. But now there's another fact. the Bible is equally clear that no one of the fallen race of Adam is ever saved on the basis of his own works.

50:12 And I hope you can say amen to that. The Bible is equally clear that not one of the fallen race of Adam is ever saved on the basis of his own works You can quote the text to me I hope Ephesians 2 8 and 9 For by grace you have been saved through faith And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Titus 2, 4 to 6.

50:39 Not according to our works, but according to His mercy He saved us. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ. Romans 4, 4 and 5, To Him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, His faith is counted for righteousness. Know the Bible is unequivocally clear that any of the fallen sons and daughters of Adam who is ever saved is saved by grace alone, in Christ alone, through faith alone.

51:16 Now here's the two facts. The judgment will be according to works. No one is saved by his works. The question then that presses in upon us is this.

51:28 Why then at the judgment seat is Christ going to judge us according to our works? Shouldn't the only issue be whether he sees saving faith and union with himself? and the imputation of a perfect righteousness that enabled him to receive us as his own? Why does Christ go to the trouble of judging his own by their deeds and by their works?

The Purpose of Judgment According to Works: Vindication

52:00 Well, I answer in these words, because he wants them to be openly vindicated to be exactly what they profess themselves to be.

52:15 And he wants to vindicate his own sentence that they are indeed his people. Now the word vindicate means to clear from suspicion, to uphold by evidence, to justify or validate the rightness of an action. Now you guys that like baseball, it's the last of the ninth. Your team is behind, the score is tied.

52:39 You come up for your last at-bats. Bases are loaded, and your best slugger is due to come up. The guy knows how to hit singles and doubles, as well as home runs. He's batting at about 320.

52:51 Middle of the year, he's got 23 home runs. He's got about 19 doubles. He's even got a couple of triples. And lo and behold, the manager chooses to pull him back from the on-deck circle.

53:01 and he puts out there this guy that's a punching duty. He got an average of about 100 and he's batting about 150. I mean, he's known to be one of the poorest hitters on the team. And he pulls back this guy that's got good average, can slug the ball as well as hit the singles, and he puts in this guy with a batting average of 150.

53:27 And when they see this guy step up to the plate, people in the crowds begin to boo and hiss the manager. They say the guy's crazy. But you know what happens? He happens to know that this guy comes out to the ballpark and practices hour after hour on laying down the perfect bunt.

53:45 And the manager's called the suicide squeeze. You guys know what the suicide squeeze is. He's going to lay down the bunt and as the pitch is coming the guy breaks from third. You better make contact or he's going to be out at the plate.

53:56 And sure enough, he lays down the perfect bunt. The guy comes in from third, slides in, game's over. Now what happens? When people talk about the decision of the manager, they now what?

54:06 They now say he was vindicated in his decision to put that Punch and Judy guy up at the plate instead of our best slugger. He was vindicated. His action was visibly shown to be the right one, to be the just one, to be the best for all involved. Now I'm saying that that word vindicate captures what the Lord Jesus will do when you and I who are his people stand before him.

54:36 He will not only identify us as his own, but he will vindicate and confess us to be his own. And with respect to us, he does that work of vindication by showing that the salvation that he himself purchased with his blood, that he himself described in his word, and that his apostles describe and open up and fully explain in the scriptures, that that salvation is a salvation that did something far more than readjust the records in heaven. It is a salvation that changes the sinner. It not only declares him righteous on the basis of the perfect life and death of Jesus,

55:25 by the indwelling of the Spirit, he begins to make them righteous. And they begin to pursue holiness and walk on the narrow road that leads unto life. They begin to be conformed to the image of Christ. So the pattern of their life changes from the evil to the good, from the worthless to that which is well-pleasing unto God.

55:50 So in the day of judgment, He's going to vindicate us and openly declare us to be what we said we were and what many thought we were. What He is glad to acknowledge that we are in truth and in reality. Hence, when you come to the Matthew 25 passage, what is Jesus describing? Look at it with me.

56:19 He has set the sheep on His right hand.

56:23 And now He's invited them into His everlasting kingdom. Verse 34. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry.

56:38 You gave me to eat. I was thirsty. You gave me to drink. I was a stranger.

56:42 You took me in naked and you clothed me. Sick and you visited me. Prison and you came to me. Then shall the righteous answer saying, Lord, when in the world did we see you hungry, feed you, thirst, and give you drink?

56:53 When did we see you a stranger? When did we see you sick or in prison? And the king shall answer and say to them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did it unto one of these, my brethren, even the least you did it unto me, then shall the righteous enter into eternal life. 46b.

57:11 What's the Lord saying? Is he saying, You know all those good things you did to my people, they have cancelled out all your bad things. come into heaven now because by these benevolent acts you've earned eternal life. Of course not.

57:25 Jesus is about to die when He speaks these words because there's no other way to purchase redemption for hell-deserving sinners but the immolation and the vicarious curse-bearing of the Son of God. What's He saying? He's saying, I vindicate to all the assembled universe that when I say to these, you are sheep, it's not because I have altered forever the record books of heaven alone on the basis of my perfect life and death, which was credited then the moment they believed. Their faith was a faith which worked by love.

57:59 And that love to me manifested itself in a love to my people, which my apostle John will tell you is an inevitable concomitant of loving me. He just says he loves God and loves not his brother. He's a hypocrite, John says. the scripture tells us by this we know we've passed from death into life because we love the brethren and love is not a dormant feeling in the soul but an active principle so what the Lord is doing is vindicating these people that they are for real and the pattern of their lives manifested it that's what he's doing that's why the scriptures do not scruple at all to tell us if you by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh you shall live.

58:46 The Scriptures are not reluctant to say, be not deceived, God is not mocked. What a man sows he shall reap. He that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. He that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

59:00 With no thought of a works salvation, those texts are plainly set before us in the Scriptures. By thy words thou shalt be justified. Well, I thought I'm justified on the basis of the work of Christ. Yes.

59:16 In terms of settling the issue of the guilt and hell deservingness of my sin, my justification, my being declared righteous is all in Christ. But in terms of the external validation that I was made a righteous man by grace and the transforming power of the Spirit, my words will be sufficient to vindicate the declaration that I'm a true sheep. For my words will be the basis to condemn me that I was a pseudo-sheep, a goat with a sign around my neck, I'm a sheep and I belong to Jesus. What the impartial judge will bring forward

60:01 as evidence from the mass of humanity is the pattern. Hence John 5.28. I want you to look at another key text in these closing moments.

60:15 5.28. Marvel not at this, for the hour comes in which all that are in the tomb shall hear His voice and shall come forth. They that have done good to a resurrection of life, they that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

60:34 The Lord is saying none will find life in the last day but those that have done good. It's plain. Jesus said it. Not as the ground of their acceptance, but as the undeniable proof and evidence that they were truly made His people.

60:54 And so we can multiply text. I read the Romans 2. Those who continue persevering in these patterns of godliness. and then the final passage troubled me for years and I just didn't ignore it but I was afraid to look at it too closely.

The Righteous Acts of the Saints as a Garment of Grace

61:14 Revelation 19, our final passage and we'll just have to leave the confessing part to tonight.

61:21 Revelation 19, verse 6 I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and the voice of many waters the voice of mighty thunder saying Hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad. Let us give glory unto Him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and His wife has made herself ready. And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

62:01 I thought the only robe of righteousness was Christ's righteousness.

62:09 Here John says their pure white linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

62:17 That's their dress. But notice what John says. It was given unto her. It was given unto her.

62:26 The grace that clothed her as it were with the perfect undergarment of Christ's righteousness is overlaid with the garment of the righteousness of their righteous acts which it was given to them in grace to do and to perform. for we are His workmanship created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works which He before ordained that we should walk in them. And it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. So it is a judgment according to works without any undermining of the biblical doctrine of a salvation that is apart from works by grace alone in Christ alone

Pastoral Application: Self-Examination for Identification and Vindication

63:14 received by faith alone. Now I ask you as we close, are you one whom Christ will infallibly identify as a true sheep?

63:27 You see, you and I have got to get to the place where the opinion of our wives, of our husbands, our siblings, our friends, fellow church members, we get to the place where we say, as nice as all that is to be received and treated as a brother or sister, At the end of the day only one thing matters. Will Jesus Christ upon His throne openly identify me as one of His?

63:58 Have you come to the end of all self-efforts to make yourself acceptable to God? Have you come to that radical repudiation of all confidence in your own works and thrown yourself upon Christ and Christ alone as He has offered to us in the Gospel.

64:18 That's the first thing He does in making us fit for that day. And in that casting of ourselves upon Him He unites us to Himself and gives us the disposition of sheep to hear His voice and to follow Him. But I ask you to leave asking yourself the question Am I one whom Christ will infallibly identify as a true sheep? Second question, are you by the grace and power of God giving to the Lord Jesus the materials by which He can vindicate you in the last day?

64:57 You see, He doesn't create these as a fiat of creation. He takes what is in the pattern of their lives and says, this is what they were. This vindicates my identification of this one as a sheep. What have you given to Christ this past week that He can bring forward in that day to vindicate that you're truly His?

65:18 What have you given Him? What have you given Him?

65:24 Never thought of Him? Never sought Him?

65:28 Never consulted His Word? Never sought to speak a word that would heal and help and support and encourage?

65:38 Are you, by the grace and power of God, giving to the Lord Jesus the materials for your vindication by Him as the all-knowing impartial judge?

65:51 The last question we'll have to leave to tonight, are you making Him anxious to confess you before the Father? We're going to look at some passages that show Jesus longs to do that. To those who've confessed Him, he wants to confess that dear folks it's a sobering thing to think of standing before the Lord Jesus but what a blessed thing if we are truly his and we're not playing games and we're not trying to project an image and we can say in the most secret chambers of the soul in the consciousness that God sees us through and through Lord I know I'm no hypocrite my repentance my mourning, my grieving for sin, my hungerings, my pantings after You.

66:38 God, You know them should the whole world deny they exist in Me.

66:45 May God grant that we'll be able to love His appearing, because we know that in that day we will not only be glorified, finally made perfected saints in deathless bodies, that by the Lord Jesus the Judge will be openly identified,

67:06 vindicated, and confessed as His own. Let's pray.