Salvation From 30,000 Feet - Part 4 - Jay Loyd

Welcome to the official podcast of the Church

of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've

tuned in for today's message. Whether you're

on your morning commute or if you're relaxing

at home, we're here to share the strength and

truth of God's Word with our community. If you're

in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in

person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean

Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather

every Sunday morning at 1030 a .m. and in the

afternoon at 230 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays

at 7 p .m. Right now, let's open our Bibles together

and dive in to today's sermon. Throughout this

week, beginning Monday night, we started what

turned into a series, salvation from 30 ,000

feet. I'm taking a high -level view of salvation.

And generally, whenever you take a high -level

view of something, you just try to get the big

picture. And my wife... told me last night that

I may be getting too detailed for an overview

but and I appreciate her insight she was very

wise and so but we are going to go ahead tonight

and get a little bit more into what we talked

about last evening the judgment and hopefully

tonight we'll land this plane so this is the

picture that we've been putting together so far

Monday evening we started with just a center

Okay, we're going to take a sinner and we're

going to look at salvation all the way from the

time that that sinner lives out the process of

salvation until ultimately the judgment and the

resurrection to condemnation or the resurrection

to life. And we studied how that the sinner can't

do anything for himself, that a sinner cannot

be saved by his own works of righteousness. And

we were very specific about what a work of righteousness

was. A work of righteousness is a work that we

perform in order to try to earn salvation apart

from God's grace with no faith in Jesus Christ.

The Bible is very clear in defining for us what

a work of salvation is by which we are not saved.

And we try to bring clarity to that because throughout

the course of talking about salvation, you're

going to be talking about works. You're going

to be talking about works a lot and we're going

to talk a lot works tonight. And so it's very

clear that we understand that whenever Paul is

talking about works of righteousness that we

are not justified or saved by, he's not talking

about works that Christians are to do. but rather

he's talking about works that sinners do again

in order to earn salvation apart from God's grace

with no faith in Jesus and we want to be very

clear about that and so since there's nothing

that a sinner can do all a sinner can do is look

to the one who can save him Jesus Christ Jesus

being perfect died on the cross it was an atoning

sacrifice that Jesus being sinless dying the

death of a sinner is able to take upon himself

all of the sins of those who will put their faith

and trust in Him and atone for the sins of those

who will come to Him in faith. We come to Him

in belief and in repentance. The scriptures teach

us that we are to be baptized. To be baptized,

Paul tells us, puts us in Jesus's death, which

is where we be so that Jesus' death is our death,

our sins are atoned for, and we can be righteous

and we can be holy before an infinitely and eternal

perfect God. And then after we are baptized and

God operates in raising us up from the dead to

be alive with Jesus, we become saved. And so

then the next thing that we looked at in salvation

is now that we've been What are we justified

for? Yippee, we can go to heaven now. Well, yeah,

we all want to go to heaven, but God's got more

in store for His people that He saves. And that

whenever we think about going to heaven and we

make salvation all about us going to heaven,

we're making a grave error in making salvation

all about us. Salvation, even though God is working

for our salvation, salvation is still all about

Him. And our salvation is to be something that

glorifies and magnifies Him because after all

that's the purpose for which He created us. And

so the Bible, as we looked at in several instances,

whenever it talks about us being saved, the next

thing that it talks about is as saved people,

we are to be fruitful to the glory of God. And

you look at all of these other passages that

talk about sinners being justified, the next

thing that the writer, the Apostle Paul, talks

about is not going to heaven, but, okay, what

are we supposed to do now? in Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

2 after he said we're saved by grace through

faith not of works lest any man should boast

then he says in the very next verse for we are

his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto

good works which God has before ordained that

we should walk in them God saved you and God

saved me if you're a Christian to walk in good

works to walk in works that are a result of our

salvation They're not works that we try to earn

salvation apart from God's grace with no faith

in Jesus Christ, but rather they are works that

we walk in because we have received the gift

of salvation because of God's grace through faith

in Jesus Christ. And so whenever Paul says that

works don't save us or justify us, don't confuse

the works that we're saved to do with the works

that don't save or justify and again we really

want to be clear about that because sometimes

we want to conflate the two and again like we

said the other that it's apples and oranges there's

no there there's no similarity between the works

that we can't be saved by and the works that

we are saved to do we want to be very We talked

about how we're to have a relationship with the

Word. We went through and we looked at several

scriptures that talked about being fruitful and

how that our fruitfulness is tied to the Word.

And that we want the Word of God to abide in

us so that we can abound in fruit. In all this

time that we're walking in the light, we look

to the cross of Jesus Christ to cleanse us of

our sins because we know after we become saints,

we're still going. The Bible is very clear about

that. John himself said that we are to walk in

the light as he is in the light, and we have

fellowship one with another, and the blood of

Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our sins.

Well, we might think, well, if we're walking

in the light, we're not sinning. No, that's not

what that means. Because whenever we walk in

the light... Number one means that I'm going

to walk in the light and I'm going to do what

God's Word says, but also walking in the light

means that whenever I sin and that sin is exposed

by the light, I repent and the Lord forgives.

I'm responding to the Word. in every area of

my life. I respond to it by being obedient to

it and I respond to it by being repentant whenever

the word convicts me of sin. And God is faithful

as we go about our time being fruitful to the

Lord, working for the Lord. All of that time

he is keeping our soul cleansed so that we can

be holy and be justified before him. And then

last evening we talked about at the end of our

walk to come a day and that's going to be the

day of judgment where we're all going to stand

before the judgment seat of Christ. And last

evening we talked about some misconceptions about

the judgment. One of the things that we talked

about is that the judgment seat of Christ is

that. It is a seat of judgment. Again, popular

doctrines about the judgment seat of Christ is

that it's a place where we just all come together

and we get our reward for finishing the race.

Well, we looked at scripture and we looked for

historical evidence and we see that it's very

clear that when Paul says the judgment seat of

Christ, he's talking about a place where Jesus

sits in a judicial decision to make a judgment

about how you have lived your life. And we also

talked about how that in the judgment, Jesus

is not going to be standing by us in the judgment.

Jesus is not going to be standing by us in the

judgment to plead and to intercede to God on

behalf of us in order for us to go to heaven.

Well, why is that? Well, we studied again. The

Bible tells us that Jesus isn't going to be standing

beside us. Jesus is going to be sitting on the

judgment throne. So who's going to be standing

beside us? What are we going to have in judgment

whenever we stand before Jesus? We're going to

talk about that tonight. And then if we have

any ideas of somehow we're going to get into

judgment after we've rejected Jesus all of our

life, in some way somehow we're going to pull

a rabbit out of the hat and get to go to heaven,

we need to understand that's not going to happen.

Because one thing that we read over and over

about the judgment of Jesus is that it is a righteous

judgment God has to judge you and judge me in

a way that honors his Righteousness and God is

not going to go against his righteousness For

me to go to heaven as much as he wants me to

go to heaven as much as he wants you to go to

heaven There's a righteous way for us to go to

heaven and if we don't honor that When we stand

before the Lord in judgment, we're not gonna

go to heaven And we see the Bible is very clear

that the righteousness of God is revealed where

in the gospel Because it's in the gospel that

we see the atoning death of Jesus Where your

sin and my sin can be paid for to satisfy the

anger and wrath of God towards sin so that he

can righteously look at us and say, you're a

just person. That's the only way that it works.

That's the only way it can work for God to be

just. So tonight we're going to look at how does

the Bible judge. The Bible is very clear about

how the Lord judges. In Romans chapter 2 verses

Romans 2:6–11

6 through 11 Paul says speaking about the judgment

he will render to each one according to his deeds.

Eternal life to those who by patient continuance

in doing good seek for glory honor and immortality

but to those who are self -seeking and do not

obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation

and wrath tribulation and anguish on every soul

of man who does evil of the jew first and also

of the greek but glory honor and peace to everyone

who works what is good to the Jew first and also

the Greek. It's very clear from this explanation

that Paul gives us about the judgment of our

Lord that it's all about what? Our deeds. Our

doing. Do we obey? Do we not obey? What we do.

The works that we do. That's how God judges.

That's how Jesus judges according to our obedience

our and our doings and our works and That is

the way that God has always judged He doesn't

have a new way of judging in the new covenant

as from some other time Whenever you look at

script, it has always judge that way. Jeremiah

17 10 I the Lord search the heart I test the

mind even to give to every man according to his

ways according to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah

32 19 you are great in counsel and mighty in

work for your eyes are open to all the ways of

the sons of men to give everyone according to

his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.

Matthew 16 27 the son of man will come in the

glory of his father with his angels he will reward

each according to his work, 2 Corinthians 5 10,

we must all appear before the judgment seat of

Christ, that everyone may receive the things

done in the body according to what he has done,

whether good or bad." Notice in all of these

texts that talk about the judgment of the Lord.

Our ways, our doings, our ways, our doings, our

works, what we've done, what we've done. If we

have a view of salvation, that causes us to think

in the judgment that somehow our works and the

things that we do are going to be inconsequential

in our judgment then we need to go back and look

at our view of salvation again. because the Bible

is very clear and very explicit about how the

Lord judges. Revelation 20 verse 12, I saw the

Revelation 20:12

dead small and great standing before God and

books were open. Another book was open which

was the book of life. The dead were judged according

to their works by the things which were written

in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were

in it and death in Hades delivered up the dead

who were in them and they were judged each one

according to his works. Revelation 22, 12 and

Behold, I am coming quickly. My reward is with

me to give to everyone according to his works."

So whenever we look at these passages and other

passage in scriptures that talk about the way

that the Lord judges, it is always according

to our works. And so because of that we have

to have an awareness of our works or lack thereof,

of our fruitfulness, of our lack thereof, of

our doing good or our doing evil because all

of those things are going to be brought into

judgment and the Lord will judge according to

those. And then we're sitting there thinking,

boy that sure sounds like salvation by works.

And to some people it's almost offensive to say

that. But again, let's remember whenever Paul

talked about not being saved by works, what types

of works was he talking about? Again, the Bible,

he's talking about works that a sinner does to

earn salvation apart from God's grace without

faith in Jesus. But then whenever we look we

see that a saint after he has been recreated

by the Lord is to be fruitful to glorify God

And so whenever we look at all of these works

of judgment that we've been talking about what

we're talking about basically is going into judgment

and the Lord is going to judge us by Did you

fulfill the purpose that I saved you for? I mean,

that's pretty clear, isn't it? If he saves us

for a purpose and we're accountable to him, shouldn't

we expect to be judged? Okay, did you fulfill

the purpose that I saved you for? So, the works

that Paul says has reference to the works that

the sinner does. All of the works that we read

about the judgment of the Lord has to do with

The Lord judging, were you fruitful? Did you

walk in the works that I ordained that you walk

in as a saved person? And again, this is very

clear whenever we look at the scriptures. The

judgment parables of our Lord in Matthew 25 verses

Matthew 25:20–26

20 to 26. the parable of the talents. We know

there was the five talent man, the two talent

man, the one talent man, the five talent man

goes out and he increases his talents by five

times and then he comes in to give an account

and he says I've gained five talents in this

judgment parable. The man says to his servant

well done good and faithful servant and so the

master gave him something He intended for that

servant to take what he was given and to be useful

and profitable for the master's purpose Doesn't

that sound a lot like salvation? He gives us

something Salvation and then he expects us to

take it and to use it for his purpose And so

in this parable, the five talent man does it

and he's well done, good and faithful servant.

The two talent man does the same thing. He was

given something. He was given for a purpose.

It was a purpose that was to serve the purpose

of the master that gave him the talents. And

he goes out and he uses those talents and then

he comes back in to be held accountable. And

then the master says, well done, faithful servant.

And so by looking at these descriptions of these

servants it can give us some insight that the

Lord is looking for in judgment. But in faithful

in Romans chapter 6 verse 22 Paul said after

Romans 6:22

we talked about being baptized into Christ having

been now set free from sin Having become slaves

of God the word slaves that's used there is derived

from the same Greek word that we read in Matthew

25 that is servants So just like those those

men in the parable were the servants of the master

you and I are servants of the Lord now that we're

free from sin and Just like in the parable those

servants were accountable to the master. You

and I are accountable to the Lord And whenever

we look at the description of those good servants,

good and faithful. The word good means to be

upright and honorable, fulfilling the duty or

service demanded. Faithful. Means that those

servants were trusting, they were faithful in

the transaction of business, the execution of

commands, or the discharge of duties. As servants,

we have duties. Can you think of a time where

there was ever a servant that did not have duties?

It's implied by the very meaning and definition

of a servant and if we have duties and as a servant

We have a master our duty is to serve the purpose

of the master and we're going to be held accountable

by the master in Such as it is with the Lord

if we're servants of the Lord the Lord gives

us duties and we're going to be held accountable

to the Lord for those duties In Matthew 25, 20

to 26, the one talent man, he was given something

and he was expected to take that and to use it

for the purpose of the master, but instead of

being good and faithful, he went out and dug

a hole and stuck it in the ground and didn't

do anything with it. So that whenever the master

came back, he had the same amount that was given.

There was nothing, there was no profit. to serve

the purpose of the master and notice what he

how he refers to him you wicked and lazy servant

you unprofitable servant well let's look at those

descriptors to again better help us in our understanding

wicked means bad the other two were good they

did what they were supposed to the third one

he was bad he didn't do what he was supposed

to that's how we define bad here we look at the

good ones we see what they did they were good

and faithful and the bad one wasn't goes on to

say that they were lazy sluggish and slothful

backwards they were unprofessional they were

useless and good so when we go into judgment

Whenever the Lord judges us to see how we have

taken what He's given us and using it to serve

His purpose, to glorify Him, He wants to know,

hey, have you been good and faithful with what

I gave you? Or have you been wicked? Have you

been bad? Have you been lazy? Have you been unprofitable?

That's what God's looking for in judgment. That's

what's implied by this parable. So again, whenever

we look at the judgment, look at our diagram,

he's just going to look back at our works. Jay,

have you been good and faithful with what I gave

you? Or have you been bad, lazy, and unprofitable?

And we may look at that and think, well, I don't

like that. Well, it doesn't matter whether we

like it or not. I think the scriptures are pretty

clear. That's the way that it is. And we may

look at ourselves and we may think, well I can

never be this, or I can never be, but here's

the thing, if the Lord has called us to be that,

then we can be that. If He's called you and He's

called me to be a good and faithful servant,

I can be a good and faithful servant. You can

be a good and faithful servant. Now sometimes

our problem is in our mind we get this this imagination

of what a good and faithful servant looks like

and we think of the most outstanding and most

perfect man and woman that we can think of in

our minds and we look at them and say well I

could never be like them and that's not the way

it works. To be good and faithful to be fruitful

to the Lord You know, what does it mean to produce

fruit? Well, as we studied last evening or the

evening before that, where does fruit come from?

Fruit originates from where? The Word. And we

produce fruit and we do good works whenever we

look in the Word and the Word says, do this and

we go do it. Those of you today that had a job,

if you went to your job and you were respectful

to your boss, you did your job with as unto the

Lord and not unto man you know what you did today

you produce fruit for the Lord husbands whenever

you love your wives father ever you teach your

children you know what you're doing you're producing

fruit for the Lord wives whenever you care for

your husbands and you and guide and direct your

children. You know what you're doing? You're

doing good works and you're producing fruit for

the Lord. You see a lot of times we look at that

and think well that's just you know we think

we know we've got to pack up our bags and jump

on an airplane and travel halfway around the

world before we can ever start to do a good work.

No! Every day you do what the Lord says. You

are producing fruit and doing good works. When

you had that temptation today or you had that

lust and you abstained from it and you said no

You performed a good work You produced fruit

You need to be aware and I need to be aware of

all of those areas of our life where we produce

fruit Are we perfect people? Absolutely not.

Did you sin today? Probably and I did too But

in the course of our seeking to do what the Lord

tells us to do and being faithful to being a

servant to the Lord, those times that we stumbled

because of ignorance or because of weakness,

the Lord is going to continue to wash us and

cleanse us so that we can continue to be fruitful

and work in a bound. You can be a good and faithful

servant. I can be a good and faithful servant.

Another judgment parable, Matthew 20. Then the

king will say to those on his right hand come

you blessed of my father Inherit the kingdom

prepared for you from the foundation of the world

so in this parable this judgment about this parable

about judgment I'll get it straight in a minute

notice that as he pronounced this blessing upon

these people that are on the right hand Notice

the basis of his judgment. I was hungry You gave

me food Good fruit, good work. I was thirsty.

You gave me drink. Good fruit, good work. I was

a stranger. You took me in. Good fruit, good

work. Are you beginning to see the picture here?

I was naked. You clothed me. I was sick. You

visited me. I was in prison. You came to me.

And then they go and then they say, well, when

did we see you that way? It says in that you

did it to the least of my brethren. You did it

unto me. But the point that I want curious is

that in his explanation out there blessedness

in judgment he says it's because you did this

you did this you did this you did this Then to

the others he said depart from me you cursed

well Why because I was hungry and you gave me

no food. I was thirsty you gave me no drink I

was a stranger you did not take me in naked and

you did not clothe me sick and in prison You

did not visit me in other words. You did not

do this You did not do this You did not do this

And so in the parables that Jesus teaches about

the judgment, we see that in both of these parables

in Matthew chapter 25, now he teaches other parables

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

about judgment, but we're just looking at this

one for the point that's at hand, how that the

Lord doesn't have some, you know, secret code

in judgment so that He can save us without us

doing good things. He doesn't have that. You're

either going to obey the Lord or you're not.

You're either going to produce fruit or you're

not. And when we go before the Lord in judgment,

that's what we're going to do. Well, that just

sounds like you're going to heaven all by yourself

and nothing further from the truth. Why was I

saved? Because of the grace of God and the gift

of Jesus Christ. my faith in Him. And then whenever

I was born again, as we studied Sunday morning,

I was given and you were given all things that

pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge

of Him who has called you according to His glory

and His virtue. He continually cleanses me every

day of my sin and I stand upon the promises that

him that he and his infinite grace has given

to me to go about and do good things and Were

it not for the faithfulness of his grace every

day I couldn't produce a raisin and Neither could

you So don't think that because we're judged

based on some things that we do that going to

heaven is just all about us. It's not Because

we would not be there we would not have the blessing

we would not have the privilege We would not

have the honor to serve the God of all creation

You see whenever we go Lord and judgment again,

Jesus is not going to be standing beside me And

Jesus is going to be here interceding saying,

you know God you need to save him. He's a great

guy He's messed up, but I've got it taken care

of let him in that's not the way it works Because

we studied in Hebrews 9 verse number 27 that

whenever the Lord comes back again, he's going

to come back for judgment Apart from sin and

we studied last evening that apart from sin means

that the next time the Lord comes He's not coming

to deal with your sin. He's coming to judge you

and That if you want any mercy in the day of

judgment you have to accept the mercy of God

right now Because God's mercy has to be according

to righteousness And so for him to be merciful

in judgment, then your sins have to be paid for

by Jesus. And that mercy is only extended to

you right now while you're here today living

and breathing. And if you let that opportunity

pass by and you go to your grave outside of Jesus

Christ, there is no hope for you. Now I've heard

people come up with some pretty creative ideas

about how they think they can be saved without

Jesus That they're just so cute and pretty that

once the Lord lays their eyes on them They're

gonna think oh, I just can't send him to hell.

No It don't work that way. We're not that special

We're special in the sense that the Lord died

for us and purchased us by his grace But we're

not special in the sense that if we don't do

what he says, we're not going to heaven. That's

another thing about righteous judgment is that

it's without partiality. Doesn't matter what

family you've been born in. It doesn't matter

what nationality you are. It doesn't matter whether

you're male or female. It doesn't matter if you're

rich or poor. It doesn't matter whether you live

in Texas, Oklahoma or Arkansas. There's one standard

of righteousness. And if we don't honor that,

then we're lost. So why do we need to go into

judgment? You need to go into judgment with your

works. You know, we've read this verse, Matthew

Matthew 6:19

chapter 6, verses 19 and 20. Don't lay up for

yourselves treasures on the earth. And in verse

number 20, he says, lay up for yourselves treasures

in heaven. What does that mean? Lay up for yourselves

treasures in heaven. Well, first of all, what

does it mean to lay something up? The lay something

up means that I take what I have and I put it

up for a future use Like if you're building up

a retirement account, maybe each pay period you

put a you store up a little bit money of money

Not that you're just gonna throw that money away,

but you know Okay, I'm gonna put a little here

a little here a little here because I know down

the road a few years I'm going to need that and

I'm going to use it then. And that's what lay

up for yourself means. It means something in

store for future use. So whenever the Lord says

lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, He's

talking about laying up treasures in heaven for

future use. Word is used in 1st Corinthians 16

verse number 2. On the first day of the week

let each of you lay something aside storing up

as he may prosper that there be no collections

when I come. So when y 'all come together on

the first day of the week each of you, you take

something and you put it away because I'm going

to be coming through here in another week or

another month and then I want that to be ready

for future use. And so whenever we do good works

Whenever we produce fruit in our life, those

works and that fruit doesn't just vanish away.

That's stored away in heaven for you. That each

one of us is filling a treasure chest for heaven.

You ever thought about that? You young people

that went out the other day and did all of those

service projects and you helped all of those

people. When you get old, you may never remember

that again. And then the judgment comes and you

open up your treasure chest or the Lord opens

up your treasure chest and you're going, I did

that? I don't remember doing that. But the Lord

does. The Lord does. And that's evidence of your

fruitfulness. That's evidence of you taking the

grace and the salvation that the Lord gave to

go out and to do a good work and to bring praise

to the Lord. Hearts of men and women in your

community to bring them to know the Lord. Every

day you every day that I live we are making an

investment in our salvation in heaven. Romans

6 verse number 5. It works the other way also.

But in accordance with your hardness and your

impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself

wrath in the day of wrath in revelation of the

righteous judgment of God. You see it works the

other way too. You can treasure up wrath. You

know what the word treasure up means? guess what

greek word it comes from the same one that we

get lay up so we can do good works and lay up

that way or we can live every day in rebellion

and disobedience to god and you know what we're

doing we're laying up wrath for ourselves that

one day that box is going to open and the lord

is going to bring his wrath upon us because we

rejected him and disobedience to him. 1st Timothy

6, 18 to 19 talks about let them do good, that

they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing

to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation

for the time to come that they may lay hold on

eternal life. What's that mean? Storing up for

themselves a good foundation for the time to

come that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Whenever you do good works, I do good works,

whenever you're fruitful and I'm fruitful, what

we are doing is we are building a foundation

upon which to stand before the Lord in judgment.

And again we think, well that just doesn't sound

right, you know, it just sounds like it's all

about us. But it's not. Why are we doing those

works? Because of the grace of the Lord and the

faith that we have in Jesus. How are we doing

those works? We're doing those through the Spirit

and the guidance and the revelation of the Lord

God of heaven. Why are we moved to do those works?

Because we understand the great love that God

has shown towards us and it constrains us to

go... You see our works are all about God so

then how can they be all about us? We're just

a vessel. We're just a vessel. Do you want something

to stand on when the Lord comes? Again, Jesus

isn't going to be standing by you. Jesus is going

to be up on that throne. And what Paul is talking

about is we're going to have something to stand

on. And he's telling those people that are rich,

you do good works and you store up for yourself

a good foundation because there's going to come

a day when you're going to need something to

stand on before the Lord. every day that you

live and every day that I live we're building

that foundation. Hopefully we're building that

foundation. Revelation 14 13 they may rest from

their labors and their works follow them. You

take some you go take them and you feed them

a meal that meal is probably going to be gone

in 15 minutes but your reward is for eternity.

All I did was give them a bologna sandwich. But

that $1 .50 you spent on a bologna sandwich given

in the name of Jesus Christ goes towards an eternal

reward and an eternal value. And see that's the

challenge that is before us that we take all

of the temporal treasures that we have and that

we use them according to the goodness and grace

of God within us to create for ourselves eternal

value before the Lord. How do you use the things

that you have? How do I use the things that I

have? You know I can enjoy some of the things

that I have for a little while or I can take

those things and by the Spirit and by the guidance

of the Lord use them to create an eternal value

for me. When I get that next raise at work, well,

I'm retired now, so it's cost of living. You

know, I can take that extra money and go out

and buy me something to enjoy for a little while,

or I can take that extra money and I can go turn

it into something that is of eternal value. Create

eternal value for yourself by doing the good

works and producing the fruit the Lord has called

us to. So whenever we stand before the Lord,

He's going to be on the throne and in here we

are and there's your treasure. I want to ask

you right now, what are you putting in your treasure?

Husbands, whenever we open up that treasure,

are there going to be the fruits and works of

loving our wives? Children, whenever we open

up the treasure, is the work and fruit of honoring

and respecting your parent going to be in there?

Let's talk about boldness and judgment just real

quickly. You know we always talk about well we

want to have confidence and assurance and saying

that we're going to go to heaven based on our

works that's not really comforting and a lot

real assuring because I just don't know if I'm

going to do enough. How can I know that I'm going

to do enough? Well again as we talked the other

evening don't ask the question am I doing enough

to go to heaven ask the question Am I doing enough

now to glorify God? But nonetheless we can have

boldness in judgment the Bible speaks specifically

to boldness in judgment Now I want to make a

distinction here. Don't confuse boldness or confidence

in judgment with confidence in salvation. You

may think, boy, we're splitting hairs here. No.

Let me ask you. Okay. When were you saved? When

was I saved? I was saved and you were saved whenever

we were baptized into Jesus. Were you saved that

day? I was saved that day. I was baptized into

Jesus. were saved that day when you were baptized

into Jesus. And from that day forward, my confidence

in the fact that I am saved is in Jesus Christ

in His death upon the cross. That's my confidence.

If you ask me what is your confidence and your

assurance of salvation, I'm going to tell you

Jesus Christ. But whenever John talks about boldness

in judgment, He doesn't say the answer is Jesus

Christ He doesn't say that let's see what John

says 1 John 6 or rather 2, 28, and now little

children abide in him that when he appears we

may have confidence and not be ashamed before

him at his coming. In 1 John 4, 17, John says

again, love has been perfected among us in this

that we may have boldness in the day of judgment

because as he is so are we in the world. So here

John speaks specifically to having confidence

at the Lord's coming. to having boldness in the

day of judgment. And the word confidence and

the word boldness come from the Greek word which

means to have a free and fearless confidence.

You mean I can have a free and fearless confidence

about the Lord's judgment? John says we can.

And that's the thing we've got to understand,

you know, is that we think about these things

and we just think, I can never have that. That

can never happen to me. But if the Scriptures

tell us that it can, we have to believe that

it can. Well, how can we have this confidence,

John? 26 to 29 John says these things I've written

to you concerning those who try to deceive you

but the anointing which you have received from

him abides in you and you do not need that anyone

teach you but as the same anointing teaches you

concerning all things and is true and is not

a lie and just as it has taught you you will

abide in him and now little children abide in

him that when he appears we may have confidence

and not be ashamed before Him at His coming."

But He is righteous. You know that everyone who

practices righteousness is of Him. Now, it speaks

of Jesus. It speaks of Him, but notice that there

is an action that's given to you to do and to

do in order to have this boldness. What is that

action? That action is To abide in him So what's

my confidence in judgment my confidence is I'm

abiding in the Lord I'm abiding in the Lord your

confidence in judgment is you're going to abide

in the Lord. Well, what does it mean to abide

in the Lord? Well when we go to John 15 verse

John 15:4

4 Jesus says, abide in me and I in you as the

branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it

abides in the vine, neither can you unless you

abide in me. So what does it mean to abide in

the Lord? It means that I'm doing what? Bearing

fruit. You see that? I'm bearing fruit when I

abide in the Lord. Isn't that the purpose for

which God Save me? Yeah. So if I'm fulfilling

the purpose for which God saved me, can I have

confidence? Yes. And if we go back to our verse,

if you'll notice the last statement here in verse

number 29, if you know that He is righteous,

you know that everyone who practices righteousness

is born of Him. He's righteous, you practice

righteousness. If you're practicing righteousness,

you can have boldness in the day of judgment.

You're abiding in the Lord. that you do. Now

again, and I get it, we don't want to make ourselves

sound too great, but we have an active responsibility

and role in our confidence. to abide in him to

bear fruit. You know, I think of the words of

the apostle Paul whenever he was at the end of

his life. He said, I fought a good fight, I finished

the course, I've kept the faith, henceforth there's

laid up for me a crown of righteousness. In some

places Paul would get called on the carpet for

that statement. Paul, what do you mean? thinking

that you're going to be crowned for something

that you did. It's all about Jesus. And it is

all about Jesus. And that's why Paul fought the

good fight. That's why he finished the course.

That's why he kept the faith. Because it was

all about Jesus, but Paul was the one that was

active in doing that. And so if you look at your

life, and I look at my life, and then we look

at the good things that we do, and you look at

the good things that you do, and it gives you

some confidence, don't feel bad about that. Give

glory to God for the fruit that's in your life.

And whenever you say, I've done this, I've done

this, I've done this, henceforth the Lord's going

to do this. That's not being boastful that's

acknowledging the reality of the responsibility

that God has given to you to bear fruit In order

to have confidence in heaven abide in him do

what the Lord says produce fruit Boldness love

has been perfected among us in this that we have

boldness in the day of judgment because as he

is so are we in this world There is no fear in

love, but perfect love casts out fear because

fear involves torment. But he who fears has not

been made perfect in love. We love him because

he first loved us. If someone says I love God

and hates his brother, he's a liar. For he who

does not love his brother whom he has seen, how

can he love God whom he has not seen? In this

commandment we have from him that he who loves

God must love his brother. Here's another way

that we could have boldness in the day of judgment.

that has been perfected among us. Now whenever

we look at this, especially verse number 18,

We'll read this verse a lot of times where it

says there is no fear in love But perfect love

cast out fear a lot of times we'll read that

and we'll take it or I know I'm over generalizing

you may not do that But it happens a lot. Well,

that means that whenever your love for God it

becomes perfect and complete You don't have any

more fear of God That's not what that means We

should never lose our fear of God. We're commanded

to fear God Your love for God should never dispel

your fear for God. You can have those at the

same time and in fact to effectively love God

must fear God. The fear that John is talking

about here is what? The day of judgment. And

there are people that live in torment of the

thought of judgment. But there's a way that we

can have boldness in Jesus. Number one, we can

abide in Him and be fruitful. And then number

two, love can be perfected among us. What's it

mean for love to be perfected among us? That

means that the love that God has for us, we have

and we share with others that are around us.

That when I mature in my life and you mature

in your life in the love of God to the point

to where we are loving each other The way that

God loves us we can look at that and say yeah,

I'm ready for the Lord to come I'm ready for

the Lord to come That's what it means for the

love to be perfected Go down to verse number

20 says I love the Lord and hates his brother.

What's the subject of this love? It's loving

your brother. He who loves God must love his

brother also. If I can't love my brother and

I don't want to be around my brother and I just

assume that my brother go away and leave me alone,

I don't have any confidence in judgment because

that's a manifestation that God's love towards

me is not complete in me to be shared with other

people. Should I have confidence in judgment

if I don't love my brother? Should I have confidence

in judgment if I'm not? No. No. But what we do

so many times is we look for ways to have confidence

that absolves us of any responsibility. And we

have responsibility in the realization of that

boldness in judgment I've got to abide in him

and be fruitful and I've got to love my brother

And if I can if I'm doing those things then hey,

you know about those that love his appearing

If I'm fruitful and you're fruitful and we love

each other the way that God loves us We're looking

forward to the Lord coming But if you don't love

your brother and you're not being fruitful you

rue the day that the Lord comes Matthew 5 48

therefore you shall be perfect just as your father

in heaven is perfect Whenever he talks about

perfect there context of what love Love your

enemies love like God loves Do you love like

God loves? Then you're perfect. You know, again,

we look at that and think, I can't be perfect

like God. How can anybody be perfect like God?

Well, just look at the context. It's just about,

okay, God loves his enemies, you love your enemies,

then you're loving like God. You're perfect in

that sense. Because notice what he says up here,

you may have boldness in the day of judgment

because as he is, so are we in this world. You

mean I can be in this world? Well, yeah, because

John said that. I can be like God is in this

world in the sense that I can love my brother

like God loves me. There's confidence in that.

Another verse about boldness. We read there,

we studied this Sunday. Make your call and election

sure. If you do these things, you'll never stumble,

for an entrance will be supplied to you confidently.

If I'm adding to my faith virtue, virtue knowledge,

knowledge temperance, temperance patience patience

godliness godliness brotherly kindness brotherly

kindness charity if I'm adding those things and

I'm supplying those things in my faith I can

have confidence that an entrance will be supplied

to me abundantly but if my faith is dead and

I'm not doing any of that should I have confidence

in going to heaven so whenever we look at our

picture this evening when the Lord comes Here's

the question. Have you obeyed the gospel? Have

you obeyed the gospel? Because whenever our Lord

comes if you haven't obeyed the gospel as you

stand before the judgment seat of Christ He's

going to see you in all your sin Because the

price hasn't been paid and it doesn't matter

what you've done in your life You're guilty before

the Lord and you'll be condemned. That's why

Paul said in 2nd Thessalonians 1 that he's going

to come in flaming fire taking vengeance on those

who do not know God and on those who don't obey

the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These will

be punished with everlasting destruction from

the presence of the Lord and from the glory of

his power. If you're here tonight and you have

not been baptized, you have not obeyed the gospel,

That's what you have to look forward to. The

next question we ask is, are you being fruitful?

Christian, are you being fruitful? Are you purposefully

and intentionally being fruitful? Notice what

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5. of Christ. Paul

said, I'm going to appear before the judgment

seat of Christ, so I want to be well pleasing

to him. Well, Paul, what does it mean to be well

pleasing to him? Colossians chapter 1, number

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

10. Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him,

being fruitful in every good work and increasing

in the knowledge of God. Do you live every day

with the awareness that you're going to be in

the seat of Christ, and does that motivate you

every day to be fruitful? abounding in His grace

and in His knowledge. So what will it be? If

you're over here as a sinner, this is what you

need to do. If you're here as a saint, this is

what you need to do because this day is coming.

Thank you for listening to today's sermon from

the Church of Christ Wheeler area. We hope this

message encouraged you and strengthened you in

your faith this week. Don't forget the doors

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