On Sunday nights we've been kind of making our way through some different subjects. One of them that we're currently on right now is on the subject of judgments in the scripture, judgments in the Bible. We began in Genesis chapter 3 with the judgment that came as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve. We looked at the flood. We've looked at some of the Old Testament. The judgment that came against the northern kingdom of Israel. The judgment that came against the southern kingdom of Judah. Southern Kingdom of Judah also went into captivity went into captivity for 70 years, but came out of that captivity Matter of fact under Ezra and Zerubbabel when they came back to rebuild the temple and then under Nehemiah When they came back to rebuild the walls and of course Jerusalem And Judah came out of captivity. All right after that 70 year period it was prophesied by Jeremiah and But as you go through scripture, there are some other judgments that are specifically mentioned, such as, and here again, this depends on your flavor of theology, okay? There are some strains of theology who believe that after the New Testament, after Jesus Christ rose from the grave, started the early church, that there's only going to be one more final judgment. That's all there's going to be. Everyone will be at that judgment. Well, and I have a couple of, matter of fact, I've got a dear brother of mine, okay, in the Lord who believes such thing, okay. And so he and I have discussions and oftentimes that discussion is via, boy, they just keep coming in here. Okay. We email back and forth, and one of the subjects that we have been on, is there only going to be one final judgment at the end of the age? He believes that that's all there's going to be. Everything will be judged at one time. oftentimes than to explain to me why Paul would write what he wrote. As a matter of fact, why in the scripture we would see a direct reference to a judgment called the judgment seat of Christ. As a matter of fact, as you look at that and the details surrounding the judgment seat of Christ, Will there be a judgment seat of Christ and who will stand at the judgment seat of Christ? And so what he tells me is, he said, you're just hung up. You're just one of those guys who still hold to a mindset. There's going to be a rapture of the church. And after the rapture of the church, there's going to be a judgment seat of Christ. And then there's going to be a second coming of Christ. And then there's going to be this thousand year millennial kingdom. And then there's going to be a great white throne judgment at the end of all of that. And you're one of those who just still hold to that. And I said, well, yeah, because that's what the Bible teaches. And so we go back and forth. And he said, well, it all depends on how you interpret the scripture. And I thought, OK. So the struggle that's there is not uncommon in our churches. And I will tell you tonight, there are some Baptist churches who do not believe in a judgment seat of Christ. Go figure. They lump everything together in a single judgment. Now, I will say this to you tonight, and please, when I make these statements, don't look at me like I've lost my mind, okay? Just hear me out, okay? There are some standards and practices in our local churches today that are traditional, but not necessarily scriptural. And that's where we've come to. Matter of fact, at one time, there were even some dedicated believers, and believe me, when I say dedicated believers, they were dedicated believers. You can go read about them, okay? Matter of fact, and it's written down, some of the minutes and some of the charters of some of the beginnings of some of our Baptist churches. Well, this was found in one of those set of minutes, okay? Matter of fact, the church took a stand against Christian radio. They refused to listen to Christian radio. Would you like to know the reason why they put in there that they don't listen to Christian radio? Well, here it comes. You ask, I'm gonna tell you. Because Satan was the prince and power of the air. Now some of us laugh at that, but they were dedicated Christians. They were dedicated believers. They honestly believed that. So when you run up across things like that, how do you deal with those? Matter of fact, here's another one. Matter of fact, it even takes place today. There are some who make Bible translations a test of orthodoxy. Okay? There are. But there's an interesting illustration of all of this. If you'll take your Bibles and turn, and y'all are probably wondering, where are you? What does this have to do with it? Just hold on. Okay? Just hold on. Turn with me to John chapter 20, John chapter 21. And we're going to look at an interesting passage of scripture. How many of y'all hear the phrase, and people tell you this all the time, oh, don't judge. Don't judge, lest you be judged. Huh? Well, okay. What does that mean? What does that really mean? Like these dedicated Christians who took a stand against Christian radio, should we judge them as being heretical? They honestly believed it. Matter of fact, it's in the minutes of the church in the position that they took. This is an interesting passage of scripture. It's an interesting illustration of a truth here that is gonna connect all of this together, okay? I want you to keep in mind, Jesus had restored Peter to his place as a disciple, okay? And now as an apostle. And once again, Jesus made the statement to Peter to just follow me. Just follow me. So what brought that about? Well, if you look at verse 20, after Jesus and Peter had had this conversation, matter of fact, if you look back at verse 17, of john 21 and he said to him the third time simon son of john do you love me and peter was grieved because he said to him the third time do you love me and he said lord you know all things you know that i love you jesus said to him then tend my sheep well you come to verse 20 peter turns around now peter's just had this discussion with jesus So Peter now turns around and he saw the disciple whom Jesus loved. And guess who that is? It's John. Following them, the one who also had leaned back on his bosom at the supper and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays you? Verse 21, so Peter seeing him said to Jesus, Lord, and what about this man? Jesus said to him if I want him to remain until I come what is that to you? What is it to you just follow me You leave all of that over there. Just follow me You know Peter began to follow Christ but when he heard John behind him and It's an interesting discourse that's there. Paul, as we think about the judgment seat of Christ, Paul is going to emphasize the believer's union with Christ. Let me tell you what he's going to do. Leading to the judgment seat of Christ, Paul writes this. Turn with me to Romans chapter 14. It's where we will be, Romans chapter 14. Verse seven and verse eight. Sometimes I think we kind of lose sight of this in our own lives, okay? And notice what Paul writes. He said, for no, he says, not one of us lives for himself and not one dies for himself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are who the Lord's we belong to the Lord. Now this begins an interesting, this, this begins an interesting passage of scripture here. Because the next part of Paul's letter here, before he deals with the judgment seat of Christ, Paul leads up with some things to consider as we think about the judgment seat of Christ. Number one, understanding and realizing this, that Jesus Christ is the judge. Jesus Christ is the judge. Now, I know we all struggle with that. Here's what you and I cannot judge in that someone's heart. We cannot. You and I in here cannot judge another believer's heart. But Jesus Christ can. Matter of fact, God knows the very intents of our heart. And so when that day comes, And we find ourselves, verse 9 of Romans 14, notice what Paul writes, for to this end Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. I have a simple question for you tonight. Is he the Lord of your life? That's the question we all have to answer. Is he the Lord of our life? He should be. But also let me interject something else here, okay? Whether or not you make him Lord is irrelevant because he's Lord anyway. What it comes down to is whether or not we submit ourselves or surrender ourselves to the Lordship of Christ. Verse 10, he goes on to say, but you Now this is an interesting, this is all leading up to the judgment seat of Christ issue that Paul's gonna deal with. And notice what he asks, he says, but so why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before what? The judgment seat of God. You notice how he's connected all of this? Oftentimes what we do, we don't connect any of that. What we do is we consider the judgment. Listen, when I stand at the judgment seat of Christ, I'm gonna only answer for those things I've done for the Lord, whether it's good or bad. Have you ever considered what all that entails? Matter of fact, Paul is going to dive pretty deep into this subject. You know, I think sometimes when we consider the judgment, oh man, we got it made. It's gonna be nothing but just a absolute parade. When Jesus Christ returns and all of these things we're gonna go through, hey, for the believer, boy, that first place, it's gonna be the judgment seat of Christ. How wonderful that's going to be. I think you're sadly mistaken. I honestly believe when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we're going to get a real dose of reality. I mean, I want you to notice what he prefaces, verse 10. before the last sentence of verse 10. He says, but you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. That's where we will stand one day. So here's what Paul did. Paul asked the weak Christian, why are you judging your brother? Then he asked the strong Christian, why are you despising or holding your brother in contempt? I mean, that's tough. You know, I've shared this illustration before. I never will forget that night in Jacksonville, Florida. The service was over. It was a tremendous service, just an absolute blessing. I was standing at the back door shaking folks' hands as they were coming out the door. Had a new believer, new believer come up to me, shook my hand, says, I need to talk to you. I said, not a problem. He said, uh, when you get done, he said, I need to talk to you. I said, that's fine. I said, we can go to my office. He said, no, he said, I want you to come outside with me. Matter of fact, so we walked out, we had this drive through on the front of the church. So we walked outside of the drive through. He said, let's go around the edge of the church. And I'm like, OK. A new believer. And he questioned me about something that Brother Ray and I did on a regular basis. But it bothered him. Now I could have very easy pushed back on him. But sometimes we have to consider that are pushing back sometimes may cause greater harm. Were Brother Ray and I wrong in what we were doing? Some of y'all are going, so what were y'all doing? How many of y'all remember, anybody eat at Applebee's around here? How many people eat at Applebee's? Well, listen, they used to have a great lunch special for five bucks. So Brother Ray and I would head to Chili's, I mean Applebee's. We'd head to Applebee's, okay? And so we'd drive up, we'd go in there, we'd get our $5 lunch, we'd head back. I never paid attention to what it said on the outside of the building other than it said Applebee's. Anybody want to take a guess what it says? Neighborhood Bar and Grill. Neighborhood bar. He said, you know what? I just don't believe ministers ought to be going into a place like that and I'm like So the whole rest of the time I lived in Jacksonville, Florida we didn't go to Applebee's So Paul says always remember this As believers, we will stand at the judgment seat of Christ. Please keep this in mind, both strong and weak will stand at the judgment seat of Christ. And they will, listen, they'll not, okay. And oh, by the way, we're not going to judge each other. We're not going to go and look at each other and say, I bet you get in trouble for what you did yesterday. Could y'all hear that? Okay. Was that right, Clint? Anyway, that's not going to happen. That's not going to happen at the judgment seat of Christ. Matter of fact, we will be judged by the Lord. So what is the judgment seat of Christ that Paul makes reference to here? The judgment seat of Christ is that place where believers will have their works judged by the Lord. And I said works. Those things that we've done for the Lord, that's what will take place at the judgment seat of Christ, often and also known as the Bema seat, as the Bema seat judgment. There will, however, be for every believer a judgment of the quality of his or her life." You say, really? Yeah, turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. As Paul writes to the church at Corinth, Starting in verse nine, I want you to notice what Paul writes. He says, in verse nine, he says, therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be what? To be pleasing to him. Verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed rewarded for his deeds in the body according to what he has done and you need to underline the last part whether good or bad now I will say this to you tonight okay has absolutely nothing to do with our sin we will not be judged for our sin but we will be judged for those things that we've done for the Lord, whether it's good or bad. In other words, what is the motive behind what we did? What was the motive that was there? Well, since it has nothing to do with our sin, since Christ paid for them, Um, and they'll not be held against us anymore. Matter of fact, how, how do we know that? We'll flip back to Romans chapter eight in verse one. And you'll see is Paul made it very clear. Okay. And Paul uses a phrase here. And it's a, it's a, it's a Pauline phrase. And we, we, we often, we refer to this as a Pauline phrase because Paul uses it over and over and over again in his letters. Okay. And matter of fact, it is, it's the key to verse one. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. There's no condemnation for those that are in Christ. Our sin has been paid for. Removed as far as the East is from the West never to be remembered any more. So we'll not be judged for our sin. But we will be judged for what we do. Matter of fact Paul writing to the church at Ephesus says for we are his workmanship. Created unto Christ Jesus for what for good works. So that should be a part of our life of things that we do. And so understanding and realizing that one day we'll give an account for those. Now the word for judgment seed in the Greek is bima. meaning the place where the judges stood at the athletic games. And at the end of the games, here's what they would do. They would hand out rewards to the contestants who won at whatever particular event they were a part of. And it's called the BEMA seat. So what does it say for believers? We will receive rewards. Possibly. So when we consider the judgment seat of Christ and the rewards that come as a result of our serving of the Lord Jesus, what does that look like? I mean, what is actually a part of that? Well, let's go back to 1 Corinthians 9. You know, it's interesting. Paul spent a lot of time speaking about the judgment seat of Christ when you look at it. This was not just a passing moment, okay? There's actually a good bit written by Paul when it comes to the judgment seat of Christ. Matter of fact, one of the things he does is he likens our Christian life, the believer's life, to a race. Matter of fact, where we see Bema also, matter of fact, if you look at verse 24, notice what Paul writes. He says, do you not know that those who run in a race run all? They all run, but only one receives the prize run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. A wreath was a reward, okay, that was given to the athlete who was running who would win at the BEMA seat. It would be placed on their head. And so Paul likens it to our life as a believer to a race that we're all running, striving to win. At the end of the day, our desire should be, when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, is to hear the words, well done, thou good and faithful servant. And matter of fact, to receive rewards. Receive rewards for the purpose of what? To keep? No. To put on a mantle somewhere? No. But to do what with them? The rewards we receive at the judgment seat of Christ, what will we do with them? Lay them at the feet of Jesus. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. has a lot of things in it, all right? And what I want to do is make sure you get the context of all of it that's here, okay? Let's start in verse four so that we get the full context of what Paul is writing about here. He said, so for when one says I'm of Paul and another I am of Apollos, are you not mere men? So in other words, you're just, okay, you're just ordinary men. That's all that you are. What then is Apollos and what is Paul? Notice what Paul writes. He said servants through whom you believe even as the Lord gave opportunity to each of us In other words Paul and we're no different than you are Other than servants through whom you believed in other words in our serving and in our Proclaiming and in our preaching you have come to place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we're just mere men and That's all we are. Verse six, I planted, Apollos watered. Okay, this is not in there, okay? This is added, okay? I planted, Apollos watered, okay? But at the end of the day, you need to understand this, but God was causing the growth. Who gave the increase? The increase came from God. Don't ever let us think at the end of the day that the results that come out of ministry, it's a result of who we are. Because it's not. So he goes on in verse seven, he says, so then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his what? His own labor. So in other words, when we come and we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, I hate to tell you this, but you're not going to answer for anybody else around you. You will receive reward based upon what you have done. You alone. You alone. Nobody else. Nobody else. around you. Verse nine, for we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God, which was given to me like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, or straw, each man's work will become evident. I mean, that's interesting. It 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. It's interesting because here's what Paul is doing. He's comparing ministries or serving, okay, with the building of a temple. If we build with the wrong materials, the fire will burn them up. But if we use precious lasting materials, our works will last. Notice what he goes on to say. If any man's work, verse 14, which he built or has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved yet so as by fire. Okay. We will receive reward based upon what we have done, based on the motive. It will be tried by the fire to see what sort it is or what motive it is. The fire is the judging. So if our works pass the test, we receive a reward. If they're burned up, we lose the reward, but we're still saved, yet so as by fire. You don't lose your salvation. You lose your reward. And I, you know, I think about this a lot. You know, I think about this all the time. I don't think we want to go empty handed to the Lord Jesus Christ at the judgment seat of Christ. especially when we consider what all he's done for us in our lives. So the question then becomes, so how do believers prepare for the judgment seat of Christ? Here's something we always have to do. We always have to pray, seek the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives and hope and pray that it's out of the purest motive and honoring the Lord that it can possibly be and not ourselves. That's a hard thing to do. It's a hard place to be. Because we're human beings. Human beings like to be noticed. Human beings like to think that, hallelujah, did you see the results of that meeting? I wonder if I could do that twice in a row. If we're not careful, we can lift ourselves up, allow ourselves to be lifted up with pride, okay? To think at the end of the day that this thing is all about us. Or to think we're even More better, if that's even, let's see, more better? Gooder? More better, more better. BRB. All right, here's what I want you to understand. I want you to see the difficulty in trying to ensure that our motives of serving the Lord are where it should be. Because it's easy for them not to be. One of the things that I have a real difficult time with, okay? And I've struggled with this for all the years I've been in ministry, okay? I want you to understand something I appreciate, I really do. And what I don't want to ever do is to take somebody's joy away. But what makes me more uncomfortable than anything else is when people try to put you up on a pedestal. Because I would never want to get to the place or to the point, because it's not about me. So how do we prepare for the judgment seat of Christ? By faithfully obeying him. That's how. So at the end of the day we had better judge our own lives and make sure we're ready to meet Christ at the beam of judgment. Are we ready to be there? When our motives are tried by the fire to see what sort they are. You see, the fact that our sins will never be brought up against us should not encourage us to disobey God. Now, I've heard some people say, well, hallelujah, I'm not going to be judged for my sin anyway. It doesn't matter how I live. I'm under grace. You better be careful with that mindset. Grace is not a license to live however you want to live. Remember what we read at the beginning of this tonight in Romans chapter 14. For none of us live to ourselves or die to ourselves. Whatever we do. So. Sin in our lives keeps us from serving Christ as we should, and this means loss of reward. Now, I don't know about you, okay? And I can tell you right now, there are probably, and I shouldn't say there probably, I will say there will be some, okay? And I'll say this to you, out of the sincereness of my heart, I'm sure there will be some that was done with the wrong motive. Whether intentional or unintentional. But there have been. And I think everybody in this auditorium at the end of the day, we would all admit the same thing. But however, however. I am thankful. That I'll be at the judgment seat of Christ and not the great white throne judgment of God. Which is the final judgment. Lord willing. not next Sunday, but the Sunday after we'll look at the judgment or the great white throne judgment of God. Amen. Amen.