Heavenly Father, we come before you and we declare we need you every hour. And yet, Lord, we also acknowledge there are those times when we are more acutely aware of this need, like this morning, as we would endeavor to speak about the great day of judgment. Oh, help us. Help us to understand a right. Help us to appropriate your word so that we live in light of its truth. Help us, O Lord, we pray. And we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I ask that you would remain standing as you're able for this morning's sermon text. We continue in our regular study of the book of Romans, and this morning we come to Romans chapter 14, verses 10 through 12. Romans 14, 10 through 12. Please listen now as I read, for this is the very word of God. The apostle Paul writes, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. May the Lord bless to our hearts and minds the reading of his word. You may be seated. Well, if you are paying attention to all the kind of political back and forth that takes place during this election season, then one thing you are sure to hear from a candidate or a reporter is some attempt to question or redirect the issue that is being raised. The candidates running for office, the reporters who cover them are likely to say something like this. Why are you even bringing that issue up? Why are you even raising this question? There are so many more important issues that need to be discussed. Let's talk about the issues that really matter to the American people. Let's redirect the conversation to the issues that really matter. Have you ever heard a politician or a media figure say something like that? Surely you have. You should pay attention when you hear something like that, because on the one hand, it may be that someone is simply trying to avoid answering an important question. It's a question that makes them uncomfortable. They're unprepared to answer it. So they try to redirect to something else that they'd rather talk about. And when they do it in this way, it gives them the appearance, at least, of the moral high ground. Or on the other hand, it may be a legitimate redirection. Because often people do ask questions that are about frivolous and unimportant matters. It's all part of an intentional effort to distract from what really matters. And therein lies the real question. What is it that really matters? Well, what issues, what questions are truly the most important, the most consequential, the most impactful? Well, this morning we turn our attention to what is surely one of the most important issues in your life. And not just your life, but the life of every person who has ever lived. This is an issue that will have the gravest and most significant impact on every person who's ever lived. And it will impact for all eternity. And yet it is an issue that for certain, no politician will bring up in this election cycle. And no reporter will ever ask about it. What is this issue? It is the fact that every person will finally and ultimately stand before the throne of God, the judgment seat of God. And there God will render personal judgment against us. Call us to account for everything that we have done and he will execute his perfect judgment against us. Now, no candidate will talk about it. No reporter will ask about it. But this is the issue that Paul sets before us here in Romans 14, 10 through 12. Now, if you've been with us in our study of the book of Romans, you will know that this is not a new issue in Romans. In fact, if we go back to chapter one, we read that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. We also read there in Romans 1 that the decree of God is that those who practice such ungodliness and unrighteousness deserve to die. In chapter 2, Paul goes on to say that the present revelation of God's wrath in the world is but a foreshadowing of the great day of wrath a day when God's righteous judgment will be revealed, a day on which God will render to each one according to his works and judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. On that day, Paul writes in Romans 3, every mouth will be stopped and the whole world will be held accountable to God. It is this great judgment which then establishes our need for Jesus Christ. And that is why Paul declares throughout this letter that the need for faith in Christ, for it is only through faith in Christ that anyone can be justified before God and stand on the day of perfect judgment. Well, here in Romans 14, Paul is returning to this great theme of God's judgment, and he is doing so as a rationale that should keep the Christian from judging our fellow Christians, particularly, as Paul has said, in the realm of opinions, that is, those matters of thought and practice that are not directly spoken of in Scripture, and where Christians have a certain measure of freedom, but often disagree. This concern about judging other believers is Paul's primary concern here in chapter 14. In fact, we've seen this, we saw it last week, back in verses three and four, where Paul writes, let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another, namely the servant of God? It is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld for God is able to make him stand. Here in our passage this morning, Paul says again in verse 10, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? And then subsequently in verse 13, which we'll look at next time, Paul says, therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer. So here in chapter 14, as part of his ongoing instruction in what he calls the obedience of faith, Paul is commanding us that we must not judge our brothers and sisters in Christ, in the realm of opinions, and his primary rationale as we see is that we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. So Paul's making a rather straightforward argument on this point, which in verses 10 through 12, it's very connected, intimately connected with what Paul's been saying in verses one through nine. And it will flow right into the argument that he makes beginning in verse 13. So as a result of this intimate connection, most commentators treat verses 10 through 12, along with verses one through nine. Which makes a lot of sense because they're part of the same argument and they're intimately connected to one another. But I have chosen to single these verses out for separate treatment this morning because their content is so explicit, so important, and so eternally consequential. I think we will be best served by focusing specific attention on these three simple verses this morning. Now to be sure, I don't want to lose the vital connection that these verses have to Paul's overarching argument in chapter 14. But I do want us to wrestle with the gravity of what Paul is saying here in these verses. So what does he say? Well, the overarching behavioral command that Paul makes is found in verse 10a. And that command is to not despise or judge our brothers and sisters in Christ, particularly in the context here, going back to verse one, not judging them in the realm of opinions. Paul makes this command as we see in a kind of inverted way in that he poses it in the form of a question. He says, why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? Paul's meaning is clear. He's essentially saying, stop it. Don't do this. And to support this command, Paul gives a threefold rationale. You might call it a for, for, so argument. He says, for we must all stand before the judgment seat of God. For, as it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. This for, for, so argument really drives home a single point. That each of us will stand before the judgment seat of God. in which we will acknowledge in our whole being the Lordship of God, we will bow the knee and confess with our mouths. And there we will have to give an account of our whole lives to God. That's a big idea. Dare I say it is the biggest of ideas. So this morning I wanna unpack this idea. What it means? what the Bible says that will entail and what we must do in light of it. So let me tell you what the Bible says is going to happen to you and not just to you, but to each and every one of us. If the Lord tarries, you will die. And when you die, you will stand before the Lord in judgment. Hebrews 9.27 says that it is appointed for man, for a person, to die once and after that comes judgment. Your soul will appear before the Lord. You will sit before, stand before the very judgment seat of God. And this judgment will be a definitive judgment and yet you might say it is even so a preliminary judgment. For in addition to standing before the Lord on the occasion of your personal death, the scripture says in passages like Revelation 20, that the day will come when the Lord Jesus Christ will return in glory. And when that day comes, the bodies of every person who has ever lived will be physically resurrected and every person will bodily stand before the throne of God. And the scripture says, the books shall be opened. These books will have a record of everything that we have ever done. And we will be judged, the scripture says, by what is in the books. We will be judged by a holy, just, and altogether perfect God. And on this day, there will be no arguments from anyone. There will be no battle. There will be no smug dismissals or arrogant claims against God. God's rule will be manifest and evident. His rule, we will witness it in His absolute, unrivaled, majestic character. And before Him and before His greatness and before His majestic holiness, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess to God that He is God. That's the passage Paul quotes from Isaiah 45.23. And on that day, one of the things that will be painfully clear, excruciatingly clear, is that we're all sinners. On that day, we'll be exposed that we're all sinners against God, sinners in thought and word and deed. Scripture says God will not only judge all on that day according to our known public works, but the scripture says in Ecclesiastes 12, 14, God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Romans 2, 16 says God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 4, 5 says that when the Lord comes, he will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. And Jesus himself says in Matthew 12, 36, I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak. And when God opens the books, and exposes every careless word that we have spoken, every sinful thought and intention of the heart that we have ever had, every sinful deed that we have ever committed, every hour that we have wasted. On the one hand, we will know that we are sinners who fall short of the glory of God. And we will have nothing to say in response to these realities. No, every mouth will be silenced, every knee will bow, and on our own, not one of us will be able to stand before the consuming fire of God's comprehensive and all-knowing judgment. What we will deserve in that moment is nothing less than an eternity in hell. But of course, this is why Christ came to save us. This is the gospel that Paul has been declaring to us in Romans, that God, the God of perfect justice, he loved us even while we were his enemies and he sent his only son, the Lord Jesus Christ to be our savior. And in the person of Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God who is God himself became man. And as a man, he lived a perfect law fulfilling life. He was perfect in thought, loving his heavenly father to the fullest at every moment, and he loved his neighbor as himself. He was perfect in word. He never spoke a careless word or a sinful word, and he was perfect in deed. In thought, word, and deed, he perfectly fulfilled the law of God so that he obtained and secured a perfect human righteousness before God the Father. and yet wonder of wonders and marvel of marvels in his perfect righteousness, Jesus chose to bear. Scripture says even to become the sin of all his people. He took our very sin nature upon himself. He took every sinful thought that we ever had, every sinful word we ever spoke, every sinful deed we ever committed. He took it all upon himself so that he who knew no sin became sin for us. And there on the cross, he bore the full punishment and judgment that all our sin deserved. Many of you will know on the day Jesus was crucified, the sun went black at noonday. This was a great Old Testament prophetic sign that the great and terrible day of the Lord had come. That God was in fact pouring out his judgment and condemnation on the sin of his people. And yet, as we sing, see who bears the awful load. Tis the Christ, the Lord's anointed son of man and son of God. And of course, what the gospel declares is that Jesus Christ not only died for our sins, but that he rose from the grave, proving to all that death could not hold him, and that he had not in fact died for his own sin, or he would have remained in the grave, but rather he had died in order to make a full atonement for the sin of his people. And this atonement was accepted by the father and he was pleased to raise Jesus Christ from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. And I say all of this because on that great day of judgment, when you have to give an account of everything you have ever done, the most important thing that will be considered in the book of your life, the very reality that will transform the entire experience of standing before the Lord is this. What have you done with the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you confessed your sin and believed in the Lord Jesus as your savior? Have you received him and rested upon him as your only hope in life and in death? If you have not done this, then I need to tell you with all solemnity and great grief in my heart for you, that you will be sentenced by a holy, perfect, and impartial God to an eternity of torment in the lake of fire. Please do not take my word for this. It is far too important to just listen to me. No, the scripture says, 2 Thessalonians 1, that when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in glory and he is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, all who have not obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus, all who have not believed in Christ as Savior and Lord, it says he will inflict vengeance upon them and they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his might. Revelation 20 declares that everyone whose name is not written in the Lamb's book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire. This is what will happen on the day of judgment when all are called to stand before the judgment seat of God. This is what will happen when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that he is indeed God. This is what will happen when we all have to give an account to God for every thought and word and deed. This is what will happen on that day if we do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. crucified and risen for our salvation. We will be judged and condemned in our sin forever. And we will be ushered into eternal torment, bodily eternal torment at the hand of a righteous, holy, just and impartial God. And yet, on that day, If we do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then that day will be a public vindication that in fact all our sin has on Him been laid. It will be a public vindication that all of His righteousness has been given to us as a gift. So that on that day, we who believe, we will be able to stand in the great day of judgment. Not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus has done for us. We will be able to stand. because by faith we are united to Christ and we receive all his benefits. On that day, we who believe and who are united to Christ, we will know in a definitive, consummated way that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And we will know in a consummated, oh so glorious manner that we are indeed ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. For all those who believe in the words of the old hymn, the Trump shall resound, the Lord shall descend, but even so, it is well with my soul. So I want to take a moment to say to anyone here who has not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has not believed in Jesus crucified and risen as your Lord and Savior. I want to beg you, plead with you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of sinners and your Savior. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Believe and you will not be consumed on the day of judgment. Believe. in order that you might stand with Christ and be found in him on that great day. With every fiber in my being, I plead with you, please, please, please believe in the gospel of the Lord Jesus. And if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, then I call on you from the very depth of your being to rejoice that indeed it is well with your soul. Rejoice because you know that God is able and he has promised and he will most certainly enable you to stand on that day. And yet, if you are a believer, there is something you must still know and understand. And that is this, that even as a believer, the scripture says you and I will still stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5.10, which we read as our prep for worship verse, those verses are clearly directed at believers. Paul's words here in Romans 14 are clearly directed at believers. He says, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, for every knee shall bow and every tongue confess to God. So each of us will give an account of himself to God. Part of what this means is that as those united to Christ, we will give an account of ourselves as believers. And God will sit on his judgment seat and will consider every thought we have mustered, every word we have spoken, every deed we have committed as believers. As the esteemed 18th and 19th century preacher Charmel Simeon said very eloquently concerning these verses, we will give an account for our time. our talents, our advantages, which he defined as the spiritual benefits we have received in the gospel and in the church. We will give an account of our habits, of everything, of everything we have done or not done for the Lord. And on that day, as Christians united to Christ, There will be many things that we have done in faith that will be genuinely pleasing to the Lord. Hebrews 11.6 says that without faith, it is impossible to please the Lord. But the converse then is true, that by faith, there will be many things we have done as believers that are genuinely pleasing to the Lord. And he will commend us for such thoughts and words and deeds and say to us, well done, good and faithful servant. But know this, as believers, there will be lots of things that even as a man or woman united to Christ, there will be many things that we have thought or said or done that are just wrong, sinful, foolish, misguided, utterly unhelpful, and even destructive to the people of God. There will be many sinful things that we knew about, but we thought they were secret. But on that day, it will be clear that those things are known to God and he will expose them. And what is more on that day, there will be many things, many thoughts, many words, many actions that were, that were totally wrong. And yet we were utterly oblivious to that fact. Well, we had rather hard and foolish hearts, we will discover. We couldn't even see all the ways that we were wrong. And maybe some things that we had really thought about, really tried to do our best, we will discover on that day we were wrong. We were mistaken. We were misguided. Let me ask you this very tongue in cheek. Do any of you think that on that day when the books are opened and God judges all your secret thoughts and careless words and manifold deeds, that he will say, hey, hey, everyone, all Christians from all times and all places gather around. I want you to meet Joe. I want you to meet Mary. They're from Westminster Press in Atlanta. They got everything right. They thought the right things about everything. Their speech was exemplary in every context, in every way. Everything they did as a believer was spot on. I mean, I didn't really think anyone would ace the Christian life test, except Jesus, of course, but lo and behold, here they are. They did it. They got everything right. Do you think that will happen to you on that day? Brothers and sisters, on that day, as those believers united to Christ, We will realize that much of our lives did not please the Lord. We will realize that even as believers united to Christ, we were actually far more sinful than we realized. That we were far less kind and loving to our neighbors than we should have been. We were far more self-absorbed and prone to anger. far more prideful, far more foolish and slothful in the use of our time and treasure and resources. Oh, on that day, we will realize we were not as insightful as we thought we were. And that many of the issues and firmly held opinions we had were in fact wrong. On that day, many Christians will realize that much of what we gave ourselves to in this life was foolish and that it will not last. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, speaking specifically of Christian ministries, that no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation of Christ with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest. For the day, the great day of judgment will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he'll receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Now again, 1 Corinthians 3 is speaking about the character of Christian ministries, but I think the same principle applies to all our deeds in the Christian life. Some of our deeds will be tested on that day and found to be pleasing to the Lord. And some will be exposed as foolish, misguided, selfish, and sinful. God's judgment will expose them. But know this, on that day, when Christians stand before the judgment seat of God in union with Christ and our sins are exposed, we will not be condemned. Oh, we are united to Christ and will have been and will be for all eternity. We will not then slink around in shame and embarrassment for all eternity. We will not get demerits that we will have to wear on our vest for the rest of heaven. No, on that day in union with Christ, we will see in a definitive way, clearer than we have ever seen it before, that all our sin has been laid on Christ. And we will see in a way that is clearer than we have ever seen before that we are fully clothed in all his righteousness. I just think on that day, we will realize we needed Jesus far more than we knew. Oh, we knew we were sinners, right? We knew we needed Jesus to save us from our sin, but on that day, we will realize with respect to our sin, oh my, I had no idea. And then we will look upon our Savior, who we are spiritually united to by faith, and we will say to our judge and our God, we will say, oh Jesus, I had no idea how much I needed you and I had no idea how much you loved me. I had no idea the depth from which you saved me. Thank you, praise you in ways that go far beyond all I could ask or imagine. I worship you, Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul's point here in Romans 14, is that when you know this day is coming, it changes the way you live today. First, it changes the way you look at yourself. We should look at ourselves through the lens of appearing before the judgment seat of Christ. This should spur us on to comprehensive holiness today. It should drive us to examine ourselves, to repent of our sin as comprehensively and as specifically as possible. It should drive us to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ more and more, to venture on Him wholly and true. and to endeavor by His grace and power to walk in new obedience today. Scholar John Murray puts it this way, he says, the thought of this passage focuses on the necessity of judging ourselves now in light of the account which we will ultimately give to God. And this then not only has a profound impact on the way we view ourselves, but the way we think about others. Again, to quote Murray, in light of the fact God will judge us, we are to judge ourselves rather than sitting in judgment on others. You see, when it comes to your brothers and sisters in Christ, particularly those with whom you disagree and are prone to despise and judge, think of this. First of all, in all humility, you could be wrong, and God will call you to account for all your wrongs. And know this, if you despise or judge your brothers and sisters in Christ, you are most certainly in the wrong, and God will call you to account for that. And know this, even if in a particular instance where you have a disagreement with a brother or sister, even if in that instance you are in the right, know this, God will bring all of that to light. He will convict and expose every way that your brother or sister is in the wrong. The day will reveal it. And knowing that to be the case, what better thing could you do for your brother or sister but pray for them. Pray with humility, knowing you could be in the wrong, but pray with compassion, because if they are in the wrong, would you not certainly want them to be able to walk rightly with their God? Brothers and sisters, we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, where all our thoughts and words and deeds will be exposed. This will happen to us. It will happen to our neighbor. And on that day, all of God's people will realize more than ever that indeed we are great sinners, but that Christ is a great savior. So may we acknowledge and give full heed to that great day. And may the realities of that day then transform the way we live this day. May we live before the Lord by faith in union with Christ, earnestly pursuing holiness. May we repent and believe in Jesus and walk in new obedience. As part of that, may the knowledge of that day transform the way we see our neighbor, that we would be far more gracious, far more humble, far more loving and welcoming, even when we disagree, and perhaps even especially when we disagree. May it be so for each one of God's people. May we live this way with that day transforming this day. And may we do this for the glory of Christ, for the good of our own souls, and for the welfare of our neighbor. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we recognize just how prone we are to error. On the one hand, even as believers, We can live in a state of carefree foolishness, utterly oblivious to the fact that we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. On the other hand, we might live in fear and shame and dread knowing that we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Pray that you would strengthen our faith to believe in the Lord Jesus. to rest in the knowledge that we are united to Him in an unbreakable bond that cannot be severed. In light of that, may we pursue holiness by the power of the Spirit in Jesus' name. And in so doing that we would love, welcome, show great grace to our brothers and sisters. That we would not fear that day, but be ready for it. knowing that even when that day comes, we will be exposed in ways we did not expect, but we know that we will find our refuge in Jesus. And so once again, may we live for him with greater fervor today. We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen.