WWUTT 1672 Before the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10-12)

Every person will be judged by their works. Yes, believer or unbeliever.

But those who are believers, it'll be seen that the works that they did were carried out in Christ, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the Word of God that we may be conformed to the image of Christ.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of 2 Corinthians this week in Chapter 5.

I'm going to pick up reading in verse 9, and we'll go through verse 17 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

This is the word of the Lord, through the Apostle Paul, writing to the church in Corinth. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

So then, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. But we have been made manifest to God, and I hope that we have been made manifest also in your consciences.

We are not again commending ourselves to you, but are giving you an opportunity to boast of us, so that you will have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.

For if we are out of our mind, it is for God, and if we are of right mind, it is for you.

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died.

And he died for all, so that they who live would no longer live for themselves, but for him who died, and rose again on their behalf.

Therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we have known

Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way no longer.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old things passed away, behold, new things have come.

That's a passage you're familiar with, right? You know that verse. Of course, we've got more great verses to come.

Just a few more left here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, but I wanted to read that far at least today, keeping these thoughts in context.

So let's come back to verse 9. Verse 9 is what we ended with yesterday. Therefore we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him.

Where is at home? It's with God. Where is absent? That's our current state.

To be present in these bodies is to be absent from the dwelling place of God.

It doesn't mean that we're separated from God. We have God dwelling within us. His Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of every

Christian. So we are temples of the living God, the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Christ came whose name is

Emmanuel, which means God with us. So we have God dwelling with us. But Paul is speaking here about being in that place of God forever, in his presence, in his holiness, praising his name for eternity.

We're not there yet. So therefore we're absent from the presence of God. We are present in these bodies in which we live.

We would be at home if we were present in God's presence.

Yeah, present in his presence sounds redundant, but yeah, okay, you get the point.

That's what Paul is saying in verse nine. So we have that as our ambition. And Paul says we also have as our ambition to be pleasing to him, whether we are with him or whether we are in these bodies.

Now how would we be pleasing to God in his presence? Well, that was exactly what I just stated.

That we would be celebrating him. We would be praising him and glorifying in his name forever.

So we want to be pleasing to God in his presence, absolutely. But we want to be pleasing to him in these bodies that we are presently in because we are to live as holy sacrifices unto the

Lord. Christ sacrificed himself for us. He gave his body for us.

So we must also give our bodies as living sacrifices. He died for us.

We are to live for him. That's Romans 12, 1. Therefore, in view of God's mercies, present yourselves to God as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God in your bodies.

And this is your spiritual act of worship. So we want to be pleasing to him in these bodies.

We want to be living sacrifices unto God for, Paul says, going on into verse 10, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body.

So Paul is pointing out here, why is it good that we live for God? Because we are all going to receive at the final judgment according to the deeds that we did while we were in the body.

According to what he has done, verse 10 says, whether good or bad. So everyone, when they die, will stand before God in judgment.

We often think of it as, no, only those who did not know Christ will stand in judgment, right? Well, no, they'll fall in judgment.

We will stand in judgment because we have Christ whose righteousness has covered over us so that we will not perish on that day of judgment.

Those who do not have Christ will perish. We're still going to receive judgment. We will not receive wrath.

So recognize the difference between the two. We'll stand in judgment before God. Each one will receive according to the deeds that he has done.

If we are in Christ, it will be demonstrated that the deeds we did were of Christ, not of ourselves, not self -righteousness, but it was a demonstration of Christ's righteousness, which we wear.

As Paul is going to get to at the end of the chapter, verse 21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

As Paul says in Romans chapter 13, we are to put on Christ.

And Jesus said to the churches in Revelation chapter 3, to the church at Laodicea, I tell you to buy from me white garments so that you may be clothed and your nakedness will not be seen.

This white garment that we are to clothe ourselves in is Christ's righteousness.

We will be judged for our works. Now if you are of the

Reformed persuasion, that statement might seem a little bit kind of like, uh, to you.

And I can't believe you just said that we'll be judged by our works. I thought we're saved by grace through faith and not of our works.

Yes, we are. Absolutely. We're saved by the grace of God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. This is the justification that we have before God by faith in Jesus Christ.

We are justified, but we're still going to be judged by our works. Everyone's going to be judged by their works.

But what kind of works did we do? Were they works that were done out of our own righteousness?

Or were they works that were done out of Christ's righteousness? Because see, we have no righteousness of our own.

As it says in Isaiah 64, 6, even our best deeds are as filthy rags before a holy

God. But if we're attempting to attain salvation through our own righteous deeds, like what we think is righteousness, we're going to fall far short.

We will be self -condemned because we claim to be righteous when we were not. We thought we could save ourselves by our works, and our works will never meet the standard of God's holiness.

You can never work yourself to that level of holiness that is

God. It is only through Christ that we are washed and made holy in the eyes of a holy

God. So the works that we do, may they be done in the righteousness of Christ.

Not of our own righteousness, but of a borrowed righteousness, that which is given to us by faith in our

Lord Jesus Christ. Titus 2, 14 says that Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for himself a people for his own possession, who are zealous for good works.

So if you belong to Christ, you will desire to do the works that Christ did.

As it says in 1 John 2, if we are his, then we ought to walk as Jesus walked.

And I mentioned Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 a moment ago, going on into verse 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which

God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And I mentioned also

Jesus addressing the churches in Revelation. It's in chapter two, where Jesus is addressing, hang on here.

It was the church at Thyatira, where he says, I am he who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

That's Revelation chapter two, verse 23. And in fact, at the end of the book of Revelation, we read about great books being opened up.

And the people being judged by the works that are written down in the books.

This is Revelation chapter 20, starting in verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sits upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them.

Then I saw the 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. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them.

And they were judged every one of them according to their deeds and death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

So our works, the things that we have done are being written down in heaven. Jesus said that everyone is going to have to give an account for every careless word that he has spoken.

The words that you have said are being logged in heaven. Woo. How I did, what does that make you tremble to know that that God is keeping track of every word that you have said,

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. They ain't got nothing on you. The CIA, the

FBI, the NSA, whoever it is that's reading your emails, keeping track of any of the things that you have said online.

God knows every word. He knows every word that you have said. He knows every word that you have typed.

You know, the stuff that you say on social media is not somehow exempt from the instruction that we have in Ephesians 429 to build one another up with our words instead of tear each other down.

Well, that's only what we say out of our mouths. It's also what you type. It's also what you text.

Every word that you have spoken or texted or typed or whatever else, you will have to give an account for those things before God.

When we are judged according to these works, is it going to be that the works that we did were in Christ or were these works that we did in and of ourselves?

Our works are going to demonstrate who we belong to. Do you belong to Christ or do you belong to Satan?

But don't think, hey, as long as I do enough of these works, then I belong to Christ. No, you put your faith and your trust in the

Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross for sins who rose again from the grave so that whoever believes in him will not perish under the judgment of God, but will have everlasting life.

You put your trust in Christ for salvation. And it's because of that submission unto the

Lord that you'll be clothed in his righteousness and then you will do things that demonstrate that you belong to God.

You're not doing things to earn God's favor. You won't ever get there. You have

God's favor in Christ. And now you will show yourself a worker approved, as Paul said to Timothy, 2

Timothy 2 15, present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

This is one who belongs to Christ is going to do those things. You are able to keep the law, to follow the instructions of God, to do so unto his glory and his name because you have

Christ. It is by his righteousness that we are received by God.

And so if we wear his righteousness, we're therefore going to demonstrate his righteousness that these things have been carried out in Christ.

We desire in our bodies to be pleasing to him. As Paul said again in second

Corinthians five, nine, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Now this isn't the first time that Paul has said that to the Corinthians. When you go back to the previous letter, first Corinthians chapter three, beginning in verse nine,

Paul says, we are God's fellow workers. He's talking about himself and Apollos here in context.

You are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God, which was given to me like a wise master builder,

I laid a foundation and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it for no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is

Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident for the day will indicate it because it is revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.

If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved.

Yet so as through fire, do you not know that you are a sanctuary of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you?

So we will be, we will stand before God in judgment.

Our works will be tested. They will be examined by fire and those things that we have done, which are good will remain and will be our treasure and our reward for eternity.

But those things that we did not do that were unto the Lord, they will be burned up and we will suffer loss.

Now what Paul is saying here in second Corinthians five, five or five, 10 rather, where he says, each one may be recompense for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

This is probably talking about those who've done good works have done so in Christ. Those who've done bad works were not in Christ.

But again, Paul had said to the Corinthians before about this testing, this examination that would be done before God, that even we as Christians must stand before him in judgment.

If we are in Christ, we have nothing to fear of that judgment. But may the things that we do even in our bodies still be unto the

Lord for it will be unto our reward if we do those things that Christ has instructed us to do.

Verse 11, so then knowing the fear of the Lord, Paul says, we persuade men, but we have been made manifest to God.

In other words, everything that we have done, the genuineness of our hearts is known before God, that this is not about ourselves, but it is to the glory of his name.

And Paul goes on to say, and I hope that we've been made manifest also in your consciences so that you may know this has been for you.

We are not out here doing this for us. Keep in mind that Paul is contrasting himself with the false teachers and the

Corinthians would know that they know exactly who Paul is, is contrasting himself with because many of those

Corinthians there in that church have been taken by these super apostles who come boasting in themselves instead of boasting in Christ.

Their consciences are not clear because what they have done has been self -centered, whereas Paul has been sacrificial in that he is given even of his own health, of his own body, that he might bring the gospel to the

Corinthians and they may know the truth and so be saved. So I hope that we've been made manifest also in your consciences,

Paul says. Verse 12, we are not again, commending ourselves to you, but are giving you an opportunity to boast of us so that you will have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.

So whenever these super apostles come in and they're boasting in themselves, you can say to them, you've not ever done anything for us.

What have you done? What have you done for us? What have you given for us? You come to us to take from us that you might better yourselves.

Look at the garments you wear. Look at the way you parade yourself around. You want these certificates of authenticity from us, as Paul had talked about earlier in the letter.

Do we need these certificates now from you? No, you are our letter. So the

Corinthians can say to these men, we're not giving anything to you. What have you done for us?

Look at what Paul has done for us. Look at what he sacrificed for us.

Look how he has given himself so that we would know the truth and be saved.

That's been his motivation for our benefit and for God's glory. It's never been about himself.

So Paul says, here's an opportunity for you to boast of us so that you'll have an answer for those who boast in appearance.

They're boasting in what they look like, how they carry themselves, their reputations. They boast of themselves, not in their hearts.

They do not have the genuineness of heart. They do not have the clear conscience. As Paul said to Timothy, the aim of our charge is love.

That echoes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. But those false teachers don't have pure hearts.

They're in it for themselves. May our desire be ultimately for Christ.

And may we consider others' needs ahead of our own. Their need for the gospel especially, because it is only by the power of the gospel that we may be saved.

Every person will be judged according to their works. God knows every deed that we have done. He knows the condition of every single person's heart.

So we can't put on airs. As long as we're convincing other people that we're

Christians, then I must be saved. No, God knows the real condition of the heart. And the transformation that happens in the heart is a work of God.

And it comes by the power of the gospel. So it is only by the gospel that a person can be saved.

That a person does good works unto the glory of God. That it may be seen that their works have been carried out in God.

And all through the gospel of Jesus Christ. So boldly preach so that others might hear and be saved.

Let's stop there. We'll come back to this section of 2 Corinthians 5 tomorrow. Heavenly Father, thank you for the goodness you have shown to us.

The gospel that was proclaimed to us. So that we, in our hearing, would be convicted of our sin.

We would put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now being followers of Christ, may we follow in his ways.

We do what Christ has commanded us to do. We follow his example. We live unto the

Lord. Not for ourselves, but for Christ. And in so doing, we also desire to share the message of the gospel that saved us with other people.

So that they may be saved. Their hearts would be transformed. And they also would live unto

Christ Jesus. Come quickly Lord. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

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