The Gospel of Luke - Deaths, Resurrections & Judgments II

Good morning. We're taking a purposeful detour as we go through the Gospel of Luke. Having been through the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. We're taking that as a point to look at what does the Bible teach in total in the area of deaths, burials, and resurrections. And we covered the deaths and resurrections last week. We'll touch on that, of course, but looking at judgments here this week in great part. And so that's why we had 1 Corinthians 3, 10 through 15 will be kind of an area we'll hover over, but we'll be looking at a number of different passages here.

Last week's handout had some printing problems, so if you would like to get a corrected copy of that, you can download it. That would be one place, or see if Nancy can get you a copy here. Also, there's a four-page supplement on where believers go after earth.

We ran out of those, so we got more of those available. It's on the cabinet to the right as you exit this room here. Sometimes it's called the sound box, only it doesn't make any sound. So anyway, we also have more of the handout we had last week. It's sort of a quick graphical summary of future things, key places, events, resurrections, judgments, and people groups. And then there's also a two-page supplement, What Happens to Babies Who Die, dealing with everything from miscarriages and, you know, not just babies, but those children who die young. And so anyway, you might find that of interest as well.

And there's copies of that on the cabin to the right as you exit the room here. So this is your eyesight chart. Please read two lines from the bottom up. Fortunately, you have it on the front page of your handout, and you can get out the magnifying glass if you need to. We'll be going through this one item at a time and using larger print, which you'll be thankful for, I'm sure.

So we'll be looking at judgments largely. Last week we did an overview of the deaths and resurrections in the Bible. Today we'll do an overview of the judgments of the Bible, in great part touching on deaths and resurrections as well. From Christ's cross forward, there are actually judgments in earlier times that we won't be addressing. So this is from Christ's cross forward in great part here. So there are several ways in which taking a look at these kinds of things is of value to us here and now, and that's why the Bible contains these sorts of passages so that we can understand the distinctions.

Resurrections and judgments are not evident in the experience and knowledge of most people. I don't know, how many of you have been resurrected? You know, it's one of those things where We don't have experience to go by, but we do have revelation in God's Word. It has to be revealed by God, or we wouldn't have any idea what was being said. It's important to know which judgments are meant for us, and what those judgments are about. One of the things that I find as I talk to Christians, they'll read about different judgments in the Bible, and sometimes it'll be frightening.

Plus, there is a variety of teaching among different Christian groups. There's one Christian group that I'm aware of that says that those who go into the kingdom who are overcomers will rule and reign with Christ. The rest of the Christians, this is not my teaching, but this group teaches it, the rest of the Christians will be in outer darkness. with weeping and gnashing of teeth. And so that teaching is around and taught in various places. That's not what we teach here. So it's important to get these things clear and discerned. It's also essential to be settled that in the end, God will deal justly and completely with every single injustice and inequity for all times and places.

One of the things during my middle to late teens, I had quite a problem with rage. I would get really angry about things. And a lot of it was not getting settled on, hey, God's going to deal with everything. And I had to come to a place of recognition, hey, look, it's not up to you to set everything right all the time. But instead, to understand God is going to deal with everything justly in the end. There will be no injustice left untouched. So it's not up to me, this I had to learn, it's not up to me to set everything right.

Now you have this on page two. These are, and this is something we've gone over in more detail at other times, These are six of the reasons or the things for which Christ died on the cross. We're not going to be going over each of those, but particularly the first one, every person on the planet for all time.

Christ died for our sins. He died in our place. So to use the words of the song, Jesus paid it all, right? Jesus paid it all. Christ's death on the cross paid for the sins of everyone on the planet for all time. From Adam to the last one to be born, Christ died for the sins of every single one. Every single one. The Father's righteousness and justice and holiness was totally satisfied as Christ died in our place. Let's ask this question.

Why couldn't he have just put a lamb up there? Just get a lamb on the cross and that'd do it. Why not? It needed to be a like kind. Like kind. So all the sacrifices of lambs done in the temple and other animals was to point to Christ, but they didn't get it done. year after year after year of sacrifices, and they just didn't get it done. Why? Because it took Christ to pay it all.

The sin nature was also condemned right where it stood in the flesh. By the way, if I ever get tattoos, and I probably won't, but the sin nature will be tattooed right here, because that's where I always grab. So, each person who takes advantage of Christ's payment for all sins when he believes that Christ died for his sins was buried and rose again. You believe that, that Christ died for his sins, was buried and rose again, you're saved. That's it. God does the rest. The sin nature was condemned in the flesh, but Christ paid for all sins. Does that mean everyone is forgiven? No, only those who believe.

That's where the payment is applied. To use an analogy, it would be like if all humanity was put into a prison cell and say, you guys are going to die here, unless you pay four trillion dollars, right? Well, there's nobody has that kind of money, right? So, but somebody comes in and they say, I got checks for all of you. And I got a check for four trillion dollars for each and every single one of you. And it's in the account. All you got to do is take the check, turn it over, sign it, hand it in at the door, and you're free. You're out of here. That's it.

And some people take the check, and they say, eh, they just throw it down the floor. Some people take the check, and they say, you're kidding me, and they just rip it to shreds. Somebody else takes the check and they put it in their pocket that I don't have. They put it in their pocket and say, I'll think about it when I get older. But some people take the check, sign it, turn it at the door, and walk free. Jesus paid it all. The money is in the account for every single person on the planet. But only some take advantage of it. All you've got to do is believe it.

Now, so one of the things, and this is a judgment, to judge oneself. Both Jesus and Paul use the word judge as an imperative at some point or another. You must judge. Paul told the believers at Corinth that they must start with themselves. So, interesting.

So, does God intend that we judge ourselves to condemn ourselves? And the answer is no. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He wants us to reckon ourselves dead to the sin nature and alive to God. That alive to God, another way to put it, as Jesus said, abide in me. So we're going to be talking about that this next week. Abide in me.

By the way, that should be John 15.1.

So what if a believer doesn't judge himself? Okay, so here are the believers at Corinth. They were not judging themselves with regards to taking the Lord's table and their gathering together at meals and they were using it to be a piggy me time, right? So if a believer does not judge himself, there's a place for what's been called church discipline.

The goal of which is to restore a believer. By the way, that's important. The goal is restoration, right? So that New Testament teaching on church discipline was included in our policy and procedures manual adopted by the elders last year. Scripture sets forth some very specific steps for how that's done, and actually our policy and procedures is essentially about five pages of just teaching on what does the Bible teach with regards to churches disciplining people within their membership with the goal being restoration. The goal is restoration.

And so if a church does not do that, and the church at Corinth did not, then that's the next step. God has to step in. Sometimes, and for various reasons, a church may not carry out biblical church discipline. Sometimes it's because the church has no idea what to do. They don't have an understanding of what the Bible says.

Sometimes it may be because they just don't want to deal with it. They don't want to touch it. It's too sensitive. It's politically difficult, whatever. They may be unaware of it. So there could be various reasons. if the person doesn't respond in a positive way to church discipline. We've had some people where church discipline has become necessary and they just leave. They're just gone, right? And so that could be one of the things that happens. They just walk away. In that case, God will have to bring His own discipline. And people might not like that, right? God will bring his own discipline.

In the extreme case, and we have some instances in the New Testament, the extreme case could result in the taking of an erring believer's life. I've seen a situation in the church where I grew up and where Nancy and I attended for a while. I've seen one instance where church discipline went all the way to the point of announcing it to the church when one of the fellows who'd been a part of the church insisted on, you know, going into a homosexual lifestyle. And so it was announced before the church.

A couple years later, we had a welcome home party for him. And he came back into fellowship. And he said, the way things were handled biblically left the door open for him to come back. And so it's a good example of how it worked out well. Another instance, however, in that same church, there was a fellow who had been kind of among the teachers at that church, and he decided to kind of, you know, question the Bible and question the authority of Scripture and the validity of Scripture. And he was being rather outspoken about it. And so they had to try to work with him.

Well, one time, one of the pastors at the church was driving a VW Bug, and this guy was in the passenger seat, just right to the right of him. And they were going down El Camino Real in the San Francisco Bay Area. And just as they were going down the road, a large truck veered into the oncoming lane and hit the VW Bug on the passenger side, instantly killing the fellow who was causing trouble. The pastor who was driving had a few scratches. So, it's kind of amazing. It appeared to be an instance where this erring believer was actually taken out by the Lord. So, rather astounding.

Okay, so here's 1 Corinthians 3.10. We're going to be going over this in a little more detail than some of the other points.

So, 1 Corinthians 3.10, 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."

So here's this word pair, grace given, eleven times in the New Testament and all of those times are in the letters of Paul. So here they are in Romans and 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians and Ephesians, and in some cases several times in each of those passages. So Paul very well understood this grace that was given to him. Paul, the former Pharisee. Paul, the man who was adamant about the law, understood that there was a grace that was given to him.

In most cases, this word here refers to a ministry within the body of Christ. So grace is a really big word, aside from the large green letters on the screen. Grace was a word that among Greek-speaking peoples was typically used for favors done for a friend or relative with no expectation of repayment. It was also used as a greeting. Charis, right? Grace was adopted by the Christians who greatly expanded its meaning in the context of the New Testament. God's grace is even for those who do not begin as friends.

So while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5.8.

So Paul writes, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation. And that's one thing, while this is a passage about rewards, and certainly we get that message, it is a passage that's based on rewarding those who are teaching in the church body. So he brings in the wisdom theme here. that he had addressed before. In this passage, he puts that wisdom into the designing and building of a building, picturing the church body as under construction. So do you feel like you're under construction? So this is the picture that the Apostle Paul uses, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation. All right, so for us who are under construction here, the church is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

He says that in 1 Corinthians 3.16, right after this passage. The church is a temple. We are being built up. We're in progress. We're in process.

The foundation that Paul laid was Christ and Him crucified, and that foundation is not optional. nor is it incidental to the building foundation. And so Paul saw that. Christ is essential. It's essential that we build upon Christ and Christ alone. And another is building on it. So Paul would teach and then he would move on to another church to establish it and have others left to teach. And that was the case here. So he'd come into Corinth, establishing the only foundation that was possible for the church. Christ crucified. Christ crucified. Now that Apollos and others are building on that foundation, they should be what? Careful. Careful. We seek to be very careful here at Holly Hills in terms of what we teach and how it's conveyed.

And so every one of us in the body of Christ has to have a place in building the body of Christ. So Paul's talking here about teaching, but the reality is that there are other gifts and other activities aside from just teaching, isn't there? Teaching is very important, but it's not the only thing going on. And also the other thing, the quality of the materials with which we build matters. Each of us has a place in this building up the body of Christ. So how do we be careful? Careful is not the same as fearful. Not the same. So we don't build fearfully, we build carefully. Carefully.

Paul was making a spiritual analogy, so he wanted people to be careful to build up the body of Christ with the kind of ministry that would last. The kind of ministry that would last. You know, when the Romans came in to tear down the temple, they had to work really, really hard to tear down the temple. It was a lot of work, because a lot of those blocks are like 50 tons. There were some that were over 500 tons that they couldn't move and they left them in the perimeter retaining wall.

So ministry among ourselves is done with the intent to glorify Christ, or it certainly ought to be, is done with faith in and dependence upon Christ. That's the kind of ministry that has enduring value on into eternity. We're not about just doing things here at Holly Hills just for the here and now. Oh yes, I'm glad we have the building and it's great to have this new carpet and those are all great, but really this is a getting ready kind of place. We're getting ready for eternity.

1 Corinthians 3.11, For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Not if you're going to build a church anyway. Nobody can build up the body of Christ apart from Christ Himself and Him crucified. Now, did Peter get the assignment to build the church? Jesus says, I will build my church. So, the construction that's going on is being done by Christ. The construction in the church body.

So the world's best wisdom will not substitute for God's wisdom, and he talked about wisdom earlier in this letter, expressed in and through Christ. So it's critical that believers discern between what God intends and desires for us in the body of Christ and that which only appears to be successful and satisfying to the world or to self. Now you've got people who will consult with churches, Here's how you need to build up the church. And these guys have MBAs and all sorts of things. I was speaking at a church at a conference of pastors a little over ten years ago, and I said, I have an MBA.

Don't do that to your church. Right? Don't do that. Because what is the world's key to success is not God's working and not God's intent. It needs to be Christ-wisdom. Okay. So, it's critical that believers discern these things and that we hold up the Word, not do things that are just simply playing games, not simply putting on a show. Only Christ. It needs to be Him and nothing else.

1 Corinthians 3.12, Now if any man builds on the foundation, Christ, with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, So he has kind of two categories there, doesn't he? So the gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw.

Here is, for example, the temple that was in place when Paul wrote. This would be the temple that was upgraded starting by Herod the Not-So-Great. But this was a temple. It was finished just years, a few years, before it was destroyed completely. They laid off 18,000 workers, and there was a riot, as you can imagine, when they finished that temple. But gold and silver and precious stones. Matter of fact, a lot of the very visible gold was those things up on top of the roof, and they was put up there to keep the unclean birds off, right? So that they wouldn't land there. The Jews made lots of Mud bricks, and what did they strengthen the mud bricks with? Straw, right? They stomp straw in there.

So in the same way that a designer or builder can choose various materials, a critical aspect of the quality of a material is how well it endures. How well it endures. So we believers choose what we build with. What we build with. So gold and silver and precious stones represent building into the body of Christ with what is enduring and of value. Wood, hay and straw would have a more temporary nature and they just don't last. It is necessary to build in the right things, just like you see this picture of a kid who's not getting the right material to build a strong body.

Ever hear of a church split? Those are two words that shouldn't go together, but we all have heard that. Right? It's not God's intent. There's at least one person walking fleshly if there's a church split. Right? It's not what God has in mind. It's building with wood, hay, and straw instead of gold, silver, and precious stones.

And so, verse 13, 1 Corinthians 3.13 reads like this.

Each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." So what do we do? We live this day for that day, that day when we go before the Lord. So we live this day for that day. Human beings, as we've seen, have seen many days come and go. And so it's amazing. I haven't sat there and counted up, OK, how many days have I been alive? But it's been a lot, right?

There will be a day that will be more important than all the days that we've ever had here. That one day will be more important than all the days we have here. That day when we go to see Christ the Lord. that day when he takes the church up to be with him. It's possible to have days here on earth that seem pivotal and valuable and very important, and we celebrate special days, don't we? We celebrate birthdays, we celebrate anniversaries, we celebrate graduations, we celebrate special days. But only the days here that are lived for that day when we go to see the Lord are the days that are really valuable.

Days live this day for that day. So we can ask the question, what is God looking for? So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God, Romans 14, 12. And we could point out other factors. So here's an example we saw in the last chapter of Hebrews. Hebrews 13, 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give and account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. In 1 Corinthians 3, 13 says the Lord will test our works by fire. Notice He tests the works by fire, not the people. So what is he looking for? What does he want to see in that test?

What will endure is that which is done in dependence upon Christ. If I am to live this day for that day, it's dependence upon Christ that matters. While we are living in fellowship with Him, in which He grace motivates us, And He empowers what we do to His glory as a work of the Holy Spirit. This day in dependence upon Him, this day in fellowship with Him, for that day when we see Him face to face.

1 Corinthians 3.14, if any man's work which he has built on remains, he will receive a reward.

We have previously presented, and we'll do here this morning, biblical crowns and rewards. There are five crowns that are identified in Scripture. We have the victor's crown. We have the church founder's crown, which, of course, Paul qualifies certainly in that, but one does not have to be an apostle to do that. A rapture lover's crown. Do you realize just looking for the Lord's coming is something He's going to reward you for eternally? An elder's crown for service.

And by the way, I don't think everybody who gets the name, you know, elder, just getting the position doesn't get a crown. I don't think that's the case. But it's an elder's crown for service because remember what we said there out of Hebrews 13, the elder must give an account. And some don't have much to account for, right?

A trial crown. So this is going through a trial which could be all the way to giving one's life, right? But a trial crown. Three rewards not specified as crowns. Solid foundation reward. This is out of this very passage. A solid foundation. A voluntary service reward and an inheritance reward. And by the way, as we look at these rewards, this crown is literally a Stephanos. It was a victor's crown in athletic competition.

It was not a royalty crown, you know, the kind with all kinds of gems and that sort of thing, although sometimes royalty was depicted with this kind of crown. So, just that clarification. As you look at these, is it possible that there are other crowns? Yeah, it could be. It's possible that this is not exhaustive. And we may find ourselves, you know, surprised when we, oh, I get that crown? Wow, I had no idea, right? And the rewards that we have, there could be others as well.

So I don't see this list as exhaustive, but certainly this is representative at least. So, to put it simply, God rewards us for what He does through us. Isn't that amazing? He's so gracious, He rewards us for what He does through us. He motivates by grace what He also empowers, and He enables and energizes through each of us to His glory. God does not ask us to do anything for which He has not already outfitted us by our position in Christ. for which He is not already determined to empower, enable, and energize us to carry those things out. And so His working through us, motivated by grace, empowered, enabled, and energized by Him, that's eternally rewardable. Isn't that amazing? He says, let me do it through you and I'll reward that. If you try to do it yourself, I can't reward that. That's Woodhey and Stubble.

So what are the rewards we believers will be receiving? The grace-given capacity to glorify Him for all eternity. It's Revelation 4, chapter 4, verses 4 and 10. It's the capacity to glorify the Lord for eternity. So imagine, I get to live this day for that day and all the infinite number of days that follow. And it's what He does in and through me during that time that He'll reward forever.

That is really amazing. So it's not my trying my best, it's not my best efforts. It's His. And He doesn't just try. So here the 24 elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne and will worship Him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before the throne. It is a capacity to glorify Him on into eternity.

1 Corinthians 3.15, If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

The believers in Corinth, if they stayed on the path that they'd been taking, would have little to nothing remaining into eternity for all of their time on earth, because they were just spending their time squabbling and trying to build themselves an empire. They'd been relying on earthly wisdom, expecting to use the church to climb the world social ladder. No activity based on self would remain for eternity. It would all be burned up and blown away.

That's why we jokingly say some people will enter eternity naked and smoking. Right? That they'll have basically nothing to say for themselves, but they will be saved. Right? The Lord is motivated to reward us fully. This is a key point here. 2 John 8. A short book. So, 2 John verse 8. Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

And by the way, what is the Lord motivated to do on that judgment day? What does He want? He wants to give you a full reward. That's how He's motivated. And that's why He had John write this. God wants to give you, He wants to reward you to the max. Maximum reward is what God's aiming for.

So when you, I'll use the expression, walk through heaven's gates, and you go to see the Lord, His motivation is not, boy, when I get a hold of Vern, I'm going to make him squirm. I'm just going to tan that guy's hide. No, that's not what He's going to do. He's going to say, how can I reward you to the max? That's a question in his mind.

Revelation 22, 12, the last chapter of all of Scripture, Jesus says, Behold, I am coming quickly, imminently, right? And my reward is with me. And I'm motivated to give it to you to the max. So this passage is about what lasts for eternity, isn't it? Every church-age believer will be judged by the Lord right after the rapture of the church and are going to heaven to be with Him. There will be an accountability, but the aim of this judgment is to reward us as much as possible. That's what God wants.

He says, I want to reward you to the max. That's what He wants. We are told what is rewardable. He says, I want to reward you to the max. I'm telling you what is rewardable, and I will reward for these things. In summary, what Christ the Lord does in and through us in time is rewardable forever. Rewardable forever. So we have this picture. We are going to be taken up to be with the Lord.

And by the way, everybody who is a believer in the body of Christ gets raptured. It's not just those people who are alive when the Lord takes the church home. But everybody who is a believer in the body of Christ, from Acts chapter 2 up until the day of the rapture, they all get raptured. Now, we'll step into the Old Testament and Tribulation Saints, those who believe before the beginning of the church in Acts chapter 2, Gentile and Jew will be resurrected when Christ returns.

These are often referred to as Old Testament Saints, but Old Testament Saints goes to where? All the way up to the day before Pentecost. So the thief on the cross that Jesus said, today you'll be with me in paradise. He's an Old Testament Saint. in this sense.

The same will be true of those who die after the church is taken up and during the horrific seven-year tribulation period. And these are typically referred to as tribulation saints, Jew and Gentile, taken up at that same time, those who have died during the tribulation period and are believers.

So, now we have another judgment. God is right now judging unbelievers. Romans 1, 18-31 gives a spiritual assessment of unbelievers and what they know and what they suppress in their unbelief. And some people are particularly good at that creator suppression. God's eternal power and deity are made known, and they push it down. Don't want to accept that.

So God gives them over. God, rather than stopping all the unbelievers from sinning, God gives them over to reap the consequences of their sin. And that is a judgment that God makes. God gave them over, God gave them over, God gave them over to the consequences of their sin. Impacting their minds, by the way. Impacting their minds.

It's important for us to recognize that all of the justice regarding sin is not dealt with and doled out in this life. And that was something I had to get settled about. That everything doesn't get dealt with and settled in this life, and I don't have to get all cranked about it. In my sense of justice, that got me in trouble at times. I would see a guy bullying a girl, Take them on.

But just realizing, hey, wait a minute, I don't have to be the one that solves every injustice. There are lots of real injustices and inequities that are not addressed here on earth. People will have the consequences come back on them. Will they have all of the consequences eternally come back during this lifetime? No. They will in eternity if they don't know the Lord.

Now, there are some who will go directly to the lake of fire. The lake of fire has already been prepared, Jesus said. At the end of the tribulation period, the Antichrist, the false prophet, and those who take the mark of the beast will all go directly to the lake of fire. There's no intermediate judgment. They go directly and right then to the lake of fire.

The unholy trinity that's described there as you have the Antichrist and the False Prophet and Satan is at the top there. Satan takes the place of the Father, the Antichrist takes the place of Christ, that's in fact what the word means, and the False Prophet takes the place of the Holy Spirit. So you have the Satanic Trinity during that time. So that's during this seven-year tribulation period following the Rapture.

So the lake of fire was prepared, that's in perfect tense, for Satan and his angels, initially. And I believe that's probably so that he would say, there's where you're going. Make your choice now. That's where you're going to end up. And in fact, the demons, when Jesus showed up, said, you're not going to start torturing us yet, are you? They were scared. They know where they're headed. As far as we know, however, it stands empty at this moment.

There is no evidence from Scripture that those who take the mark of the beast can repent and be saved. So those alive at the end of the tribulation period will be judged at that time. There will be an earthly judgment. Those who are believing will enter the Millennial Kingdom. Matthew chapter 25 describes that judgment. The first part is judgment for Jews and the second part is for Gentiles.

And that's the part where, you know, it says I was sick and you visited me and you gave me a drink of water and all those things and Christians go and embrace that. What it is, is did you carry out according to the covenant with Abraham. Did you carry out those who bless you? I will bless. And did you carry out those who curse you? I will curse. And if you curse the Jews, then you'll be in trouble. So that's what that's about.

Those living through the tribulation period and judged favorably will be the ones, Jew and Gentile, that populate the millennial kingdom. Jews will then have the new covenant so as to know and live out the law of Moses. The problem with the law of Moses is not that it's bad, because Paul himself wrote it's holy, righteous, and good. The problem is people can't do it, which is why a lot of people end up studying rocks up close, right? but they can't do it. And so what is the new covenant? It empowers them to know and live out the law and therefore be blessed all the time.

Now, a judgment against Satan and his angels. At the end of the present heavens and earth, Satan and his angels will all be sent to the lake of fire which was prepared for them. Back at the beginning. These are all created spiritual beings. All of them created spiritual beings who made their choice. We have the indication from Revelation chapter 12 that it's a third of the angels chose with Satan and those who followed him. Right? A third of the angels went that route and they will spend eternity in the lake of fire. Are they in the lake of fire now? No. But that's where they're headed.

And they know it, by the way. For these beings there is no death. There's no death, there's no resurrection, obviously, if there's no death, and neither is there a possibility of salvation. There does not appear to be any means for any of the angels who are fallen to be saved. They made their choice a long time ago.

They know what's coming and they fear it. It takes a certain spiritual insanity to know that and still choose it. And people say, well, why would they choose that? It's spiritual insanity to know that and to actually choose that, knowing the consequences and knowing that they're coming.

Now, the rest of the unbelievers of all time, those outside of the tribulation period, all unbelievers who have not been sent to the lake of fire previously, out of the tribulation period, will appear at the great white throne judgment before Christ. They will be there at the great white throne judgment because their names are not written in the book of life to be judged by Christ. So we're going to look at some books here. First one, is your name in this list? No. Okay, then we've got to look at some other books. Here's the book of works.

How did you do? All those things that Christ paid for, but you didn't believe it. So you're going to have to pay for it. Because you wouldn't accept Christ's payment. So you will pay for it forever. So look in the book of works and be judged based on their works. We will be judged based on our works, recorded in the book of works, and then sent to the lake of fire.

For us in the body of Christ, it's important to get clear which judgment are we going through. See, there's a whole list of judgments. There's over a dozen of them in that table. And by the way, that's not all of the judgments biblically, but it's a lot of them. So there's this long list of different judgments, and we're not going through most of them. And it's important for us to get settled in our minds, because you'll read about this judgment or that judgment and go, oh, boy, that's frightening.

Do you want to have your sins shouted from the housetops? Well, guess what? That's not for you. That's not your judgment. For you in the body of Christ, there is an accountability before the Lord, but His intent is to reward you to the max. There will be some who enter heaven naked and smoking, but God's intent is to reward you to the max. We know what He rewards for. He spells it out.

And we know that those rewards are not for my best efforts, but for His work in and through me. And we don't need to go fearing other judgments that don't apply to us. Do we take it seriously? Yeah. But knowing that God is motivated to reward us to the max, and having told us what he's going to reward for, that's a good thing. And we can be settled about that. And we can also realize these other judgments, those aren't for us. And we don't need to worry about them. We may need to be concerned for others. that they're going to go through it, but we don't need to worry about them ourselves.

We can settle that, yes, the Lord really does love us, and the Lord really does want to reward us to the max, because He loves us forever. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word and just laying all these things out clearly. We thank you that in these judgments, it is very apparent that you love us. It's very apparent that you want good things for us. And you indeed want to reward us to the max with things that matter, not just little trinkets and buttons and things of that sort, but a capacity to glorify you forever. We thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen.