Tom - Judgement Seat of Christ

Welcome to His Story, Our Story, a fresh podcast series

of interviews, testimonies, messages and anecdotes where a range of

people from all walks of life share their journey as

they've traveled with Jesus. Here at Southland Church and Pasaden Adelaide,

our heart and mission is to pursue the presence of

God through a Christ centered, Bible based, spirit filled church.

We disciple and equip people to make a positive difference

for the Kingdom of God and impact every area where

God places them. So sit back, grab a cup of

tea or coffee, unless, of course, you're driving where both

hands are needed on the wheel, and enjoy this episode.

We pray that you are blessed and encouraged as you

listen to His Story Our Story.

As I've prepared for this message, a lot of scriptures

came to me surrounding the judgment seed of Christ and

you can almost hear it already when I mentioned the

judgment seed of Christ. What do you think about? And

what I want us to really be aware with my

heart for today is that today is an encouraging word,

but it's also going to be a challenging word. And

so this is not to bring condemnation, guilt or shame,

but we need to look at the whole counsel of

God's word and take it seriously. It's love and truth.

So Lord, I just want to thank you so much

for this precious time together. Lord, I thank you that

we can meet free in such a wonderful facility. I

thank you for your presence, and we just declare you

as Lord of our lives. And Lord, I just pray

for your spirit to speak through me, to speak grace

and truth in love. And I pray that we wouldn't

stay the same, that we would grow closer to you,

not only now, but in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

In Jesus' name, Amen, I just want to start in

Jeremiah seventeen ten because it sets the topic, sets the

theme for the whole course of history, whether it's the

Old Testament or the New Testament. God says I, the

Lord search the heart and examine the mind to reward

each person according to their condent conduct, according to what

their deeds deserve. Just remember that the Lord searches our

heart and our mind. Every individual that's ever lived. God

searches the heart and the mind, and he rewards us

according to their conduct according to what our deeds deserve.

So then the question is, well, what is the requirement

for salvation? Romans ten nine thirteen says, if you declare

with your mouth Jesus's Lord, and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Amen.

For it is with your heart that you believe and

are justified, and it is with your mouth that you

profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, anyone

who believes in Him will never be put to shame. Hallelujah,

for there is no difference between jew and gentile. The

same Lord is Lord of all, and richly blesses all

who call on him, for everyone who calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved. The Lord searches

our hearts and minds because we are flawed, and praise

be to God that he sent the solution, and that

is Jesus. And it's very clear that the only requirements

for salvation is the response in our heart and the

declaration of our mouth. Who is Jesus to us? Is

he Lord or is he not? And depending on how

we answer that in our hearts through faith, depends whether

we are saved or not again, for by grace you

have been saved through faith, and this is not your

own doing. It is the gift of God, not a

result of works, so that no one may boast. So

when I want to be very clear with from this

scripture that I started with, it says to reward each

person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.

I want to be very clear that there's nothing that

we can do to earn our salvation, because it is

a gift of God. We have to receive Jesus by faith.

None of us can make ourselves holy by trying to

be a good person. No one may boast in themselves.

I want to propose that the Bible teaches that there

are two judgments, and the first judgment surrounds how do

we respond to Christ? How does everyone who's ever lived

respond to Christ? And this is the teaching of Jesus himself.

He says, when the Son of Men comes in glory

and all the angels with him, he will sit on

his glorious throne, All the nations will be gathered before him,

and he will separate the people one from another, as

a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will

put the sheep on his right and the goats on

his left. Then the King will say to those on

his right, come, you who are blessed by my father.

Take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the

creation of the world. Then he will say to those

on his left, depart from me, you who are cursed

into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

Skipping a few scriptures a few lines, then it says

that then they will go away to eternal punishment, but

the righteous to eternal life. And so Jesus himself taught

that there is heaven and there is hell. Okay, there's

a yes and there's a no. There's nothing in between.

And it's important that we don't try and twist that

because we'd be twisting the truth. What's beautiful is all

of us have the opportunity to be saved. And it

says for everyone who has on the name of the

Lord will be saved. Christ has made it available. Christ

has made salvation available for all. But how do we

respond to that. You can be invited to a wedding,

but if you don't IRSVP, your name's not going to

be on the list. Is that fair? What we see

is that God has a vision from the beginning, because

in verse thirty four, Jesus says, come, you're blessed by

my Father. Take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you

since the creation of the world. Before God created the world,

he knew that we would stuff it all up, and

he'd already predestined Christ to come as the atoning sacrifice,

and he just slowly revealed it throughout time, and then

Jesus came, and then we live in this new age,

this new era, this new covenant. Do you know that

before God created the world, that before God created you,

he had you in his sights to receive an eternal

inheritance that is a blessing, that is a privilege. And

no in verse forty six, in verse forty one, sorry

where it's said, where Jesus says, depart from me, you

who are cursed into the eternal fire, prepared for the

devil and his angels. So Jesus says, I didn't prepare Hell,

I didn't prepare eternal judgment for humans. He actually prepared

it for Satan and his angels. However, because of sin,

unless something pays the price, for our sin. We're going

to go where Satan goes, We're going to go where

his angels go, demons and darkness. Because at the end

of the day, God has to deal with sin, he

has to deal with evil. And I've heard people say

to me, Tom, how can a good and loving God

send people to hell? What's interesting is people like the

idea of heaven, and people like the idea of paradise,

but they're not willing to pay the price. Because, yes,

I understand where you're coming from. The people that you meet,

they treat you well, you feel loved by them. They

might even purchase you a meal. And so so many

of us, whether we're Christians or not, can do good things.

But at the end of the day, what do we

do with sin? What do we do with evil? And

if someone has their whole life to respond to Christ,

and whether they say that's nice, but no thanks, or

whether they say I hate Jesus, I don't want anything

to do with him, does Jesus not have his right

to say you rejected me all your life. I'm going

to send you where you've chosen to go. Because how

we deal with the blood of Jesus, how we deal

with our sin is a choice. If God didn't deal

with human sin, he would actually be unjust because he'd

actually be unfair to Satan and all the demons. Shouldn't

They have an opportunity to turn, but they've already made

their choice. So let me be very clear that God

has all of us in his sights to receive an

eternal inheritance even before this world was existed, and our

minds can't even grasp it. That's how amazing it is.

And we'll find that out one day. So the first

judgment is how God deals with all people, and that

is related to what did you do with Christ's death

and resurrection, and did you believe in his heart and

acknowledge him with your mouth. Now, I will also want

to propose that there is a second judgment, and that

is specifically for us as believers, And I'm just going

to walk through some scriptures to provide evidence to support that.

Two Corinthians five nine to ten, Paul says, so we

make it our goal to please him, whether we are

at home in the body or away from it, for

we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

so that each of us may receive what is due

us for the things while done in the body, whether

good or bad, for we must all appear before the

judgment seat of Christ. He's actually speaking to the church.

He's speaking to Christians. And the Greek word used for

the judgment seat is called bema, and it is a

platform to which someone walked up to receive judgments. My

notes say that it's an administration of justice where rewards

and punishments are given, and this was well known to

the corinth in contexts. So it's almost like this small

platform with a couple steps where you would go up

there and your name would be called and a verdict

would be given over your life. And so the reality

is for all of us, we are called to stand

before Christ, face to face, and He's going to talk

to us about the way we conducted our life as believers.

It was interesting when Sarah preached last week. She talked

about being careful not to judge others and if I'm

going to be honest, when I felt God wanted to

share me, yeah, sorry, share with you on this topic.

Part of me didn't really want to do it because

it's slightly confronting, isn't it. But I promise you that

it's actually a beautiful thing, and we're going to keep

getting to that. But this follows on from what Sarah

shared last week Romans fourteen ten to twelve. You, then,

why do you judge your brother or sister, or why

do you treat them with contempt? For we will all

stand before God's judgment.

Seat.

It is written, as surely as I live, says the Lord,

every knee will bow before me, every tongue will acknowledge God.

So then each of us will give an account of

ourselves to God. The same word is used for judgment.

Seat Bemma is this stuff needs to become clear that

we will stand before God and we will have to

account for our lives. Let's look at another scripture one

Corinthians three ten. By the grace God has given me,

I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone

else is building on it. Note this, but each one

should build with care, for no one can lay any

foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones,

would hay or straw, their work will be shown for

what it is, because the day will bring it to life.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will

test the quality of each person's work. If what has

been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If

it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss, but

yet will be saved, even though only as one escaping

through the flames. And we see that Paul the apostle,

he built his life, he built his ministry on Jesus Christ,

nothing else. And he says for us to do the same.

What's the significance of gold, silver, and costly stones when

they go through fire? What happens to them? They get refined?

But what happens with wood, hate, or straw, It gets

burnt up. The scripture says that our God is an

all consuming fire. And so what Paul is saying is,

once you've received Christ, is your life built on Him

as your foundation every area of your life. The gold,

the silver, the costly stones represent the things in our

lives that have eternal value. The wood, the hay, and

the straw in our lives represent things that have no

eternal value. And the enemy is a genius because he

distracts us with so many things that don't hold eternal value.

God is going to judge us for did we sow

into eternity or did we live for this world? Their

work will be shown for what it is. Just remember

we don't work to become saved. We're saved freely by

the blood of Jesus. But it's our response to that.

What do we do with that? And when it says

because the day will bring it to light. The day

is also another reference from the Old Testament to the

day of the Lord, which refers about God's judgment. If

you read the prophets and the minor prophets in the

Old Testament, they all talk about the day of the Lord,

the coming of God's judgment. When we are on the Bamer,

when we are on the judge seed of Christ. His

fire is going to test our lives, the qualit quality

of our lives. And verse fourteen, if what has been

built survives, the builder will receive a reward. Now the

Greek where there is a mysthos, which is a reward

or recompense that appropriately compensates a particular decision or action

depending on how we live our lives. Christ is going

to give us a reward. Now what is that, tom

what is the reward? And I'm going to say I

don't know because I don't need to know, because I

want my motive to serve God and to serve His

people out of a heart that isn't looking for a reward,

because Christ is my reward. I don't want to entertain

what that could be, because my earthly mind thinks of

a Christmas present, or it thinks of a voucher. So

what this reward is, it's some payment. God's the judge.

I'll let him deal with that. But for me, my

passion is I want to stand before the judgment seed

of Christ and here, well done, my good and faithful servant.

And I hope that's your heart too, if it is

burned up. Note the builder will suffer loss, but yet

will be saved. This is clearly not judgment one. Remember,

judgment one is every human being. What's your response to Christ?

If you reject him, there's hell because you chose that.

For all of us that have chosen Christ, our life

will be judged. And I don't, to be honest, I

don't understand how you can suffer loss yet still be saved.

And then it's like, isn't heaven a place where there's

no you know, crying or weeping or regret, Like my

mind goes, if I presented myself before the judgment seat

of Christ and I was building on Hay and I

suffered loss, wouldn't I feel guilty about that? But that's

still my earthly human mind. At the end of the day,

Jesus is a righteous judge and he teaches us. The

scripture teaches us that he will give us what we

deserve with how we lived our life as Christians. And

even if things in our life do get burnt, get

burnt up, it's just such a blessing to be with

Christ in eternal glory that there is going to be

no guilt or shame if we approach the judgment seat

of Christ right now. Would our life reveal one that

has invested in eternity or one that has invested in

this day? In this age Again, I've focused on Paul,

I've talked about Jesus and then John. He says, watch

out that you do not lose what we have worked for,

but that you may be rewarded fully. Now if you

had a full reward, the implication is you could also

have a partial reward. And I believe that that substantiates

my claim from this scripture here in this context, John

is warning about people departing from the truth of the

Word of God and the Gospel, and for accepting false

teachers as well. That was the context for that. But

clearly when we approached Jesus there might be a full

reward or there might be a partial reward, and the

partial reward is salvation. What the full reward is? Like

I said, I don't care, because if we look back

to Genesis, God yahweh, he says to Abram, do not

be afraid to Abram, I am your shield, your very

great reward. God says, I am your reward. And Abraham's like,

immediately after that, well, what about this promise of my son.

Didn't you promise me his son? How is that going

to happen? And then God doesn't like slap him there

and be like, what's your problem? Like, on't either reward?

He actually says, no, this is how it's going to happen.

Have faith. But do we live in our hearts with

the reality that Christ is our reward? Because if we

don't believe Christ is our rewards, something else is our reward.

We need more of Christ because He is the reward.

So how does God judge us. That's a great question.

That's for him to ultimately decide. But what we can

see from this scripture is, once we receive Christ, did

we build with care? Did we lay on the foundation

of Jesus Christ, or did we lay on our own foundations?

To put it really simply, I believe we were judged

in accordance with the person that we become. Jesus says,

love the Lord your God with all your heart, and

with all your soul, and with all your mind. This

is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is

like it, love your neighbor as yourself. All the law

and the prophets hang on these two commandments. You know,

so many of us could recite that love the Lord

your God with all your heart, with all your soul,

all your mind, all your strength. But do we really

grasp what that means? And so I believe that what

Jesus is getting at is that God has to be

everything in our lives, I mean everything, all of our heart,

all of our soul, all of our minds. God has

to be everything, and we would be judged before the

judgment seed of Christ as to whether He was everything

in our life. You know, God isn't just meant to

be the one that we turn to when we make

a coffee in the morning and we sip on a

latte and we do our morning divo. You know, we

do our little devotion and then that's it. You know,

I just go about my day. It's like the morning

devo and coffee is amazing. I do that. But is

God everything? And I think the challenge that we have

is we actually compartmentalize God in our life. Oh, He's

just here, and then this is me here, and then

in the evening, this is my relationship with God. Is

God everything? And I want you to be very aware

that I'm also speaking to myself. God is challenging me

with this as well. Is Christ everything to me? And

to love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus says, this

is all that the law and the prophets testify about.

If we have to reduce it, love God with everything

and love people out of the overflow of the love

God's given you. Jesus also says in John thirteen thirty four,

a new command. I give you love one another as

I have loved you, so that you may love one another.

By this, everyone will know that you're my disciples if

you love one another. But notice how it says love

as I have loved you. Jesus's love is costly. Jesus's

love is not cheap. Jesus's love is a sacrifice. Are

we people that love others the way that Christ love

loves us? And I know I've got a long way

to go with that. I also believe will be judged

about our kingdom impact? Did we actually impact God's kingdom?

Paul says, let's actually go back a little bit. No.

Ephesians two eight, For by grace, you've been saved through faith,

and this is not your own doing. It is the

gift of God, not a result of works, so that

no one may boast. Okay, we've established that. But immediately

after that, it says, for we, for we are His workmanship.

We are God's masterpiece. We are created uniquely by God,

created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared,

prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. How many

of us know that God has written a book about

our life because it says that He's prepared things for

us to do beforehand. God has prepared for us things

to do today, things to do tomorrow, things to do

in five or ten years time, that we should walk

in them, That we should walk in them. And that's

why Jesus is amazing, because it ain't forced do what

you want, but just remember that our actions have consequences

and that will be revealed at the judgment seat of Christ.

If he's not everything to you, then don't walk in

what he has for you. But if we say he

is everything, then shouldn't our actions support our words. I

was really blessed in the prayer meeting this morning. Can

Bill stand up? Bill? Bill? How long have you walked

with Jesus? For? Just sure of fifty years? Wow? Do

you know what he said in the prayer meeting this morning?

He said, I have a confession. Every night I pray

the Lord's prayer, Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven. And he said,

but the Lord had to let me know that recently

I've been praying that just with my words and not

with my heart, and so now He's inspired me to

pray that from my heart. Is that a fair comment?

Is that what you said? It did? Thank you? Yes,

I was going off my memory. Is that not amazing

that someone has walked with the Lord for fifty years

and was willing to actually journey with the Lord and say,

you know what, my heart's not in it right now, Lord,

help my heart be reconnected to you. And that's what

it's all about, because if we're willing to spend that

time with God and the Holy Spirit lives in us,

we should be being convicted throughout the week and we

can repent where we need to repent on the go.

It's part of our sanctification. And even if we've walked

with the Lord a touch on fifty years, we're still

teachable with the Lord. And then so one day when

Bill stands before the judgment Seed of Christ, the Lord's

not going to say, you honored me with your lips,

but your heart was far from me. He's going to say,

well done, Bill, because those times where you know that

your heart wasn't quite in it, you came to me

and you confessed, and my blood covers you. Well done,

my good and faithful seven. Now I have a question

for all of us. If I gave my heart to

the Lord when I was a sixteen year old and

I had an amazing encounter with the Lord that changed

my life fast forward twelve years later. Should I love

God more twelve years later than when I first met him?

What's your answer? Should I love the Lord more and

more when I'm forty than when now? Twelve years from now?

Do you think I should love God more? And when

I'm eighty? Do you think I should love God more

when I'm eighty than when I'm forty? Amen? And do

you think that I should be a more forgiving person

now than when I first met Jesus when I was sixteen?

And do you think I should be a more forgiving

person when I'm forty than when I am now? And

do you think I should be a more forgiving person

when I'm eighty than when I'm forty? Yes? Amen? Because

guess what. Our walk with God is not a sports career.

We don't hit our prime in our twenties, and when

our hamstring falls off when we're thirty two, we're no

longer good at football. Irrespective of what happens to our body,

Hey Bill, does the body get a little bit so

when you get older it's a little bit less movable? Yes,

But we love God more. Our body is experiencing that brokenness,

but our spirit is being restored and So my challenges

to you think about when you first came to the

Lord and who you are now. Do you love God

more now than then? Amen? And are you more forgiving

now than you were then? Are you less bitter now

than you were then? Amen? Kingdom impact really is believing

and walking our Father, who are in heaven, Hallowed be

your name, your Kingdom. Come. Your will be done on

earth as it is in heaven. Our walk with God

doesn't have to be spectacular. It's just be faithful with

what He's given you. Because sometimes we say, well, I

don't preach, I don't have a big ministry. I'm not

really impacting his kingdom. That's an absolute lie. We're impacting

God's kingdom when we partner with Him in prayer, when

we seek him, when we serve others, when we use

the gifts God has given us, when we build on

the eternal foundation of Jesus Christ. And our challenge for

us moving forward is are we committed to building God's

kingdom here on earth or do we get so distracted

by the day to day that we lose that? And

ultimately God, that's for you to answer with the Lord,

and my heart is that all of us are committed

to doing that now, rather than just assuming everything's all

good and getting a little bit of a shock at

the judgment seat of Christ. One thirs Salonians five twenty three,

twenty four. May God himself, the God of Peace, sanctify

you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and

body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord

Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and

he will do it. This word says that God is

committed to our sanctification. He wills that we are holy,

He wills that we are like Christ, and says, and

he says that he is faithful and he will do it.

He will keep us blameless so that when we're before

the judgment seed of Christ, we're here. Well done, my

good and faithful servant. And so my question to you

is who is your biggest threat to your sanctification?

Hey, that was good, Margaret, too good.

It's not God, is it. Because he's the creator, God,

who has authority over everything, over all darkness, over the devil.

He has all authority, and he is committed on his

end to honoring our relationship. He is faithful. The devil

can't be our biggest threat, because what does that say

about God? If we say God the Devil's our biggest

threat to us, succeeding in this life means that he

has authority over God, which is a lie. What we

have to be really careful is we don't blame others

for the way we are, because if we do that,

no matter what we've gone through, no matter what pain,

no matter what trauma, no matter what's suffering, are we

then saying that that is greater than God, That God

doesn't have the ability to restore us and redeem us

and deliver us. And so my challenge to all of

us is take responsibility for your own faith, take responsibility

for your own heart, because God will help you. It

says he will do it. We just have to receive

that wedding invite an RSVP. It's time to stop blaming

others and to take responsibility because God is above it

all and he will do it. Jesus himself gives us

a glimpse of what we can experience at the judgment

Seed of Christ. Well done, good and faithful servant, you

have been faithful with a few things. I will put

you in charge of many things. Maybe that's the reward.

Come and share in your master's happiness. See if we

still heard our salvation right now? Well, we don't need

to fear the judgment seed of Christ. It's a celebration,

it's joy, it's a triumph. We don't need to fear

it unless we've got something to hide and we're not

willing to deal with it. The end of Ecclesiastes. Now

all has been heard. Here is the conclusion of the matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the

duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed

into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good

or evil. Amen. And that's true for us. Who are

we behind closed doors? Who are we when nobody's watching?

Who are we when we're not at church? What do

we do? What do we say? What do we think?

What do we entertain? And God will bring into judgment

every little hidden thing in our heart if we're not

willing to deal with it. I'd rather deal with that

now than face to face with God, and I don't

receive his full reward. He's going to bring every hidden

injustice in our families, in our workplaces, in churches. He's

going to bring every hidden thing out of darkness into

light in the world, economy, in nations. We look at

the world, all the injustices in the world, it's all

going to be made clear, and it's all going to

be made right by the righteous King Jesus, who will

judge everything because he is good. Let me tell you,

the judgment seed of Christ is a wonderful reality unless

we reject him. And I just as I finish up,

as I was praying about Lord, what do you want

to do? I felt that he wants to deal with

apathy and unbelief in our lives, because when we let

unbelief come in, it breeds apathy and then we start

to become indifferent. We don't really we actually don't really

care about God and his kingdom. We say we do,

but if we really search our heart, it's like, I'm

not really bothered. If you look at Jesus, it says

that he was moved in his spirit, and God wants

us to be moved in our spirits regarding our relationship

with him and regarding his kingdom Come and his will

be done on earth as it is in heaven. Guys,

life happens unbelief, apathy, it affects us all. That's why

we need to keep coming back to the Lord, being

filled with him, repenting where we need to. But I

really feel that many of us we've allowed apathy and

unbelief into our hearts and it's holding us back. It's

actually holding us back, it's putting us in a cage

when the line of Judah wants us to role with

him and come out of that cage. You know, what

was the theme of the worship, like, we're stepping out

into something. We're stepping out into God's victory, into God's plan,

his redemptive plan for creation. He's chosen for all of

us to play a part in that. And so the

thing that cures unbelief and apathy is an infusion of

the Father's love and an infusion of his fear, the

Holy fear of God, which isn't to be afraid of him,

but it's to respect him in reverence. And Gary sheff

that with Queen Elizabeth. You know, if Queen Elizabeth was

still here and walked into the room, we'd all be

we'd have this reverence for who she is. But that's

a human being. When we come in here, do we

have reverence for Christ? Do we have reverence for Christ

when we're at home. Do we have reverence for Christ

wherever we are. Remember it's the love and fear of God.

You can't have the love of God without the fear

of God. And you can't have the fear of God

without the love of God. So we need fresh fire

from the Holy Spirit. We need fresh hunger, we need

fresh love, we need holy fear and a mindset of faith.

Thank you for joining us today for his story, our story.

We hope you've enjoyed this episode and have been encouraged

and uplifted. If you would like to learn more about

Walking with God or Southania Church and Pasadena Adelaide, please

visit our website at www dot Southland Church dot com

dot au to be notified of future episodes. Follow us

on Spotify or the podcast app. To connect through YouTube,

click the subscribe button until next time.