Romans chapter 14. We have not been in this text for a couple of weeks, so I'm going to read verses 1-12, although the sermon this morning is on verses 10, 11, and 12. But verses 1-12 is the reading of the Word of God this morning. Once you've found that, please stand. Hear the Word of God. Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One man has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls, and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it for the Lord, and he who eats does so for the Lord. For he gives thanks to God, and he who eats not for the Lord, he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself. For if we live, we live for the Lord. For if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall 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 give praise to God. So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God." May the Lord bless not only the reading of His Word, but the preaching of it. You may be seated. Let's pray and seek the blessing of the Spirit of God, our Teacher. Father and Son, You have sent forth Your blessed Spirit to bring us to the place of salvation, to continually illuminate our hearts and minds by the Word of the living God. And we pray that you would be pleased to do that again in each one of us. It's a little warm and it would be easy for us to sleep through the sermon. But help my brothers and sisters not to do that. Help them to be awake and to be engaged in the thinking and the Word of God. Bless them. Bless me. Give me clarity of mind and of thought, Father. And please, use your word to accomplish your holy will in each of our lives here. In Christ's name we pray, Amen. It was July 8th, not too far away from our day in terms of the day of the month, but the year was 1741. What happened July 8th, 1741? Well, a particular preacher by the name of Jonathan Edwards stood before his congregation and stood behind the pulpit and his sermon was in manuscript form and he read a sermon. And from what I have read about Jonathan Edwards, he wasn't a real lively preacher. You know, he kind of monotone read his sermon. And yet this particular sermon, although there's a number of his sermons that are a marvelous study in theology and in the application of doctrine to life, they're masterpieces. But this particular sermon stood out, especially in the minds of those of the people of his congregation who heard it. What do you think of a pastor who starts a sermon like this? There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God. That's how he started the sermon. Here's how he ended it. Now, undoubtedly, it is as it was in the days of John the Baptist. The axe is laid at the root of the trees, and every tree which brings not forth good fruit may be hewn down and cast into the fire. Therefore, let everyone that is out of Christ now awake and flee from the wrath to come." The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over every unregenerate sinner. Let everyone flee out of Sodom. And then he quotes a verse out of Genesis 19 that pertains to Sodom. Remember this? Escape for your lives. Look not behind you. Escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed. And that's how the sermon ended. That's not very popular stuff today in the pulpits of America. In fact, halfway through a sermon, you might be thinking, well, maybe it was a little lighter. Maybe it was a little easier to listen to. But listen to what he says in summary of the first part of his sermon. So thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell. They have deserved the fiery pit and are already sentenced to it. And God is dreadfully provoked. His anger is as great towards them as those that are actually suffering the execution of the fierceness of His wrath in hell. And they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger. Neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up for one moment. The devil is waiting for them. Hell is gaping for them. The flames gather and flash about them and would fain lay hold on them and swallow them up. The fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out and they have no interest in any mediator. There are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of. All that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God. Wow! I mean, if we have ears to hear those are sobering words. Are they biblical words? Well, we're going to see today that they are very biblical words. And Jonathan Edwards, a pastor who loved his people enough to preach the truth to them, the whole counsel of God, not just the things that we delight in hearing, but also those things that I hope as we hear them, we look unto Christ. We look unto Christ. You see, that's the plight of those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why it is such a desperate mission we are on to proclaim the glories of Christ, to proclaim the gospel throughout the earth, to continually communicate the gospel to loved ones, to neighbors, to those we work with, and so on. Because that will be their plight if they reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what about Christians? What about those who truly have believed in Christ, who are not unregenerate, but are regenerate, regenerated by the Spirit? Is there any judgment for us who believe? That's the issue of our text today. The proposition statement is this, as you have it on your outline, if you care to follow that. We will each give, in accounting to God, how we have lived our lives. Did you get that? This is the day that we stop as I have stopped over the last number of days and looked at this text and numerous other texts and given my accounting to God. We are to give an accounting to God someday. And the question is before you, are you ready? Are you ready to give an accounting to God? Because you don't know when you will leave this world. Now remember the context here of Romans 14. The strong and the weak brother. The strong knows his freedoms in the Gospel. He understands the freedom. He understands the grace of the Gospel. He rejoices in it. And he knows that. He's confident in Christ. But then there's the weak brother who has scruples about certain things. Maybe it's certain kinds of food or particular days that he thinks he has to set apart as holy. Maybe it's drink or other things. And so, he has scruples about these things. Now, the temptation in the text and the temptation for your life and mine, you see, is to despise those who aren't as smart as I am, aren't as free as I am. Oh, you can't eat, you can't drink, you can't do this or that. What's wrong with you? Don't you understand? It's to despise the weaker brother or it's to judge the weaker brother looking back and judging and saying, how can you live like that? I've given my life to Christ, and I don't do certain things, and I do certain things, and how can you live like that if you really want to be an example to the world about you? And so it's easy for us to despise and ultimately to judge one another in different areas of our Christian life. The subject of judgment. Look at verse 1 with me. Now, except the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of what? Of passing judgment on his opinions. Look at verse 3. Let not him who eats regard with contempt. And that's a temptation. Him who does not eat. And let not him who does not eat judge him who eats. For God has accepted him. And then, now down to our text, verse 10. But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. And so I ask you the question, who's the judge? Is it Christ Jesus? Do you leave your brother in the hands of Christ, His life, His sanctification? Or are you the judge? Well, as we read the text and numerous other texts, we have to go to various texts today, we see that there is only one judge and one Savior and all judgment has been given over even to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Point number one, and a brief survey here, it's amazing when you look at this subject in Scripture, the judgments of God, the various judgments in Scripture. I mean, it's all over the place. It's not as if there are two awful, negative, embarrassing verses that we like to skip over once in a while as Christians, because we come to them and we're kind of ashamed to speak of them. No, it's throughout The Scripture. Follow along with me. Satan is a fallen angel. And we see him, well, where's the first time we see him in Scripture? We see him at the very beginning, don't we? See, he was created along with thousands of other angels to praise, to worship. to serve the living God. But something took place. Revelation 12 gives us a little hint that he, with about a third of the angels, were swept out of heaven and have come down to earth in great wrath and great anger. There was already a judgment, you see. And then we come to Genesis chapter 3 and we see the tempter. And there's Adam and Eve, and they are not to eat of a particular tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they are tempted, and Eve is deceived, but the scripture says Adam openly sinned against God. And what took place right after that? They were judged. In fact, the entire human race are judged. And all men die, you see, because of sin in the human race, because of our father Adam who represented us. Already a judgment had taken place, and we're only in the third chapter of the Bible. And then in Genesis chapter 6, listen to these words of the Lord in 5 and following. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. And the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals, to creeping things and to birds of the sky, for I'm sorry that I have made them. God judged the entire human race except for Noah, that one man and Noah's family who found what in the sight of the Lord? Grace in the sight of God. God judged every creature on the earth. Every single human being except Noah and his family. Genesis chapter 19. After the flood, the world's being repopulated. Things are going on as normal, so to speak. And we come to Sodom and Gomorrah. And God again sees and hears and knows. It's not as if God looks down and discovers something. It's human language. It's for our sake that we understand that God is both the transcendent Lord and the imminent Lord who knows all things. So He condescends to us when He uses that kind of language. But God looks down and He sees Lot, and He sees his family, and He sends the angels there to rescue them. Because God is going to judge the cities of the plain. God is going to judge those people who have gone off into perversions, who have rejected the light that He had given to them. And he does. We see Lot and his wife and his two daughters, sons-in-laws don't believe him. His wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt. Don't look back unto sin. Turn and flee. Repent and run. And we see him fleeing with his two daughters for their very lives. And it became like a furnace in the plains. They couldn't even look back because of the heat. and all the people were destroyed. We come to the time of Egypt, and we read that a pharaoh arose who didn't know Joseph. Remember the pharaoh who knew Joseph, who respected him, and the impact that Joseph, that Christ-like figure, had, even in Egypt. But that pharaoh arose and began to persecute and abuse the people of God, and God looked down, you see. God knows the way of His people, and He cares for His people. And so through his servant Moses, he sent forth judgments upon Egypt. Again, the subject of judgment, of wrath poured out upon sin. Ten plagues, the ten judgments. And they culminate in that judgment of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. And we see the people of God on the dry land singing the praises of God, singing these words to the Lord. because He has judged their enemies and taken care of them. And yet we see Israel, unbelieving Israel in the wilderness, wandering through and being taken to the promised land. Twelve spies are sent in. Ten give a bad report. Two give a good report. And the people do not believe in God who will take them in. They don't believe His promises. They don't believe the good report. They won't believe. They refuse to believe. They're committed to unbelief, and so he sends them out into the wilderness, and those who did not believe died in the wilderness over a period of 40 years, and it was their children that he brought in. The judgments of God. And then God, through the sword of Joshua, proceeded to judge the ungodly nations within the land of Canaan. He gave them hundreds of years to repent. He told Abraham that. I'm going to give them this period of time." And He gave them hundreds of years to repent and they would not. And judgment, the judgment of God fell in time and in history. Through the swords, through the bows of the Israelites. The ten northern tribes are rejecting the Lord their God, are unfaithful, are intermarrying, are following after the gods of the nations around them. They would not drive them out completely. And so God raises up Assyria, and He judges, He disciplines His people, and then He turns, and He judges the Assyrians. Again, with Judah, the Babylonians, He judges His people, and then He judges the Babylonians. Daniel, in his visions, in the book of Daniel, sees four nations judged by the Lord. The Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. And then finally, we come into the New Testament and we see we read such amazing words as Jesus himself speaks in Matthew 23. And these words he spoke, therefore, behold, I'm sending you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of them you will kill and crucify, some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. That's what Israel did. Generation after generation, this took place. And then he says that upon you, the generation, that one where Jesus was, may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Erechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation, 70 A.D. God judged Israel, the end of the old covenant age, the new covenant had arrived in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we see in Revelation 20, the final judgment of Satan himself in Revelation 20, verse 10, as he is sent into, cast into the lake of fire. Now, when you think about that, and I'm just those are just the highlights of that particular subject, there are many more. What great judgment did I miss? What judgment? Think about it. What judgment have I missed in Scripture? You could say this, and that's the next point in the outline, the great white throne judgment, the great final judgment. But there's another judgment that took place in time and in history. Think about what judgment would it be? The judgment of the cross, which is pivotal, which is our hope. How holy is God? Look at His judgments. Look at the cross. And at the cross, you see the love of God and the holiness of God brought together. You see the mercy of God and the justice of God brought together in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see God pouring forth His wrath, not holding back, pouring forth His wrath on the Son of God who bore our sins in His body on the tree. And God poured forth His eternal wrath upon His Son. We can't comprehend what that means and what Jesus endured. We know He cried out. We know He screamed aloud. We know in His human nature He was separated from His Father. We know it's because God is holy and He could not look upon His sin, His Son who was made sin on our behalf. And that great judgment on the cross, don't lose sight of that as you partake of the Lord's Supper today. That's why we sit here and sing praises and enjoy the hope of eternal life, because He was judged. We will not be judged. Because He cried out in agony, we will cry out in praise and adoration and thanksgiving. In a sermon, Spurgeon once spoke these words. There is a real fire in hell. Truly, as you have a real body, A fire exactly like that which we have on this earth, except this, it will not consume you, though it will torture you. You have seen asbestos lying amid red-hot coals, but not consumed, so your body will be prepared by God in such a way that it will burn forever without being consumed. With your nerves laid raw by searing flame, yet never desensitized for all its raging fury, In the acrid smoke of the sulfurous fumes searing your lungs and choking your breath, you will cry out for the mercy of death, but it shall never, never, no, never come. That's judgment, brothers and sisters. What about the great white throne judgment? Let's look at that briefly before we go on to the judgment that concerns us. In Revelation 20, May turn there if you care to. Revelation 20, 11 and following, I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it from those from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. So the dead, the great and the small standing before the throne and books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. The sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. I hope that sobers us. You may be the most confident person You know where you're going. You know of your faith in Christ. You know of His love for you. But still, we need to be sober-minded when we read these things, and humbled greatly, and deeply concerned about the gospel enterprise that has been committed to us, to this generation. Are we faithful? Have we been faithful? Final judgment. The great white throne. In that context, we read that the truth will be known. The books will be open. You see? It's not been forgotten. It's not been covered up for those outside of Jesus Christ. Sins will be laid bare. God does not forget as we try to forget. It's described as nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. There is no escape. The sea. Go into the sea. Be cast into the sea. Die a death in the sea, or a death, or in Hades, or anywhere. There's nowhere. They will bring forth your person. And sinners will be judged. And this judgment is eternal. It's described as a lake of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Those are the words of the Lord. Yes, the physical pain and suffering Spurgeon spoke of, but also the emotional, the mental anguish, the spiritual torment, having heard the truth and rejected the truth. Well, that's good for you. You believe in Jesus. You need a crutch. That's good for you. But I'm really very happy here in Southern California with all of my wealth. I don't really need Jesus. And then that person is swept away and taken into eternity. And you think about this place, it will be spent with God-haters. Men and women who have hated God. Some have hidden that hatred. Some have openly fought against God in this life. But with people who hate God and grow worse and worse and worse. It's not a place of cessation of thinking, of feeling, of expressing oneself. No, this will take place, but it will be only with people who hate God and hate one another. Jesus is the one who is called to be the judge. There's numerous texts on that. I'll give you one. In Acts 17, 31, we read, 30, 31, Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day, and that's the day we're talking about, in which He will judge the world. in righteousness through a man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." Well, I wonder who that was that was raised from the dead. Even the Lord Jesus Christ. It's described as a time where the sheep and the goats are presented before the Lord of glory. He sits on His throne in Matthew 25, and He separates them. The sheep are His. They belong to Him. They go to His right hand. The goats are those who are cast off into darkness, into the lake of fire, never to see His face again. And the punishment in the end of chapter 25 of Matthew, verse 46, is described as eternal punishment that will never cease. You know why? And this is something we don't fully understand, especially those who don't know the Lord Jesus. Because our sins are exceedingly vile, and God is infinitely holy. And we don't understand that. We don't think sin is so bad, and we don't think God is as holy as He really is. We don't comprehend that. But He's infinitely holy, and He hates sin, which is rebellion against His throne, His law, His holy character. And it will take eternity for finite man to pay the debt. You know, God has been exceedingly clear in His Word and in creation about His existence. His wisdom, His power, His attributes are revealed. Men are without excuse, and yet men choose to what? To worship and to serve and to bow down to gods, to false gods and to idols, even idols of their own hearts, even their own self they raise up as a god, which is blasphemy in the face of the Holy God. They've rejected the light that God gives. They have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, Jonathan Edwards describes their their situation in this life like this. They stand over the flames of hell walking on rotten wood. Interesting picture. You ever been out in the forest and stepped on a log and it looks pretty solid and all of a sudden the thing just crushes beneath your feet because it is rotten? He says that's how they live. They live their lives walking on this rock. Any second it will break away and they plunge down into the flames of hell. Why? Because they have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. and you and I sit here seemingly safe and quiet and at peace, but have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? I didn't say, do you go to church and are you a member and do you do certain religious activities? You ought to, I ought to, we ought to do those activities. We should. But have you really embraced the Lord Jesus Christ? If you were to die today, and you might, or I might, Are you ready? Do you live for Him? You see, that reveals the genuineness, the reality of your faith. Do you live for yourself or do you live for the Lord Jesus Christ? We'll talk more about that as we go on into the text. If you believed on Him, oh, believe on Christ before it is too late. Believe on Christ that you might enter eternity in love with Jesus. Well, what about Christians? We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We love the Lord. We're here to worship. What about Christians? Well, Paul brings it up in Romans 10. That's why I'm bringing it up. Notice the judgment seat of Christ. Giving account to the Lord. Back to Romans 14. That's what we read in these verses. He says, what are you doing judging your brother? What are you doing despising your brother? Don't you realize Paul wakes them up and us? He says, we're going to all stand before the judgment seat of God. You are and I am. We're going to stand before the judgment seat of God. And he quotes Isaiah 45, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me. Every knee and every tongue shall give praise to God. Every tongue shall confess to God. What will we confess? Well, I believe we will confess praise, you see. And we're headed there. It will be a marvelous time. But notice again verse 12, so then each one of us, not just certain ones, no, you will. You will. And I will. Give an account of myself to God. And you will give an account of yourself to God. So will we be judged? Is that what this means? This is kind of scary language, isn't it? It's interesting. What's going to take place? What does it mean? Well, there are two kinds of judgments in Scripture. We've already talked about the first one. There are judicial judgments of condemnation for sin. Do you get that? There are judicial judgments of condemnation for sin. Jesus received that judicial condemnation for sin, the sin that was laid upon Himself. He knew that judgment and knows it. There's also those who will be judged, that's us, as stewards and servants of Christ that we might be approved and rewarded in His holy presence. This is, I think, most motivating. This is, to me, as I have studied it for my own Christian life. It talks about the judgment seat of Christ here, right? In verse 10. The same word is found in 2 Corinthians 5.10. It's called the judgment seat of God here, and there in Corinthians, the judgment seat of Christ. Same judgment seat. The bema seat of Christ. The Greek words are only used twice, in Romans here, and in 2 Corinthians 10.5. Now, what this does not refer to is judges seated in a court of law. That's not what it's talking about, but to the bench upon which the referees or judges sat at an athletic contest. People of Paul's day, when they heard about the bane of seat, they understood what that was about. It wasn't the court of law down the street. It was another kind of seat. It was the place from which those who did well in the contest and triumph were rewarded with a laurel wreath, and from which those who broke the rules were disqualified. They didn't pass the test. They didn't earn what you earn at an athletic contest. On the other hand, Those who didn't win the race, were they condemned and dragged off to prison? No. Was that their concern? No. They ran to win. Some win. Some did not win. Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, talks about what? It talks about running the race. And so I ask you the question, how are you running today? Are you running? And some are, and some are just kind of, you're just cruising along. I'm going to heaven. That's enough for me. I don't need a bunch of rewards there. I don't really care about that. I'm going to get all I can in the world now. That's where my focus is now. I'm not concerned about running a race, service for Christ, those kind of things. I mean, let the pastor do that. Let the elders do that. Let the missionaries do that. That's why we pay them. And so let them do it. Brothers and sisters, you are called to run the race. Are you running it? And how are you doing? Let's evaluate. Let's think about it. You see, we are individually, and you see it in the text, we're individually accountable to God. For what? Let me give you some biblical suggestions. First of all, our speech. Our speech. In Matthew 12, 36 and 7, in the context, is the heart of man. What comes forth out of the heart reveals what kind of person you are, whether you are truly a believer or a non-believer. And Jesus says in Matthew 12, 36 and following up, the good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil. And Jesus is talking about the heart there. You want to change your speech? You've got to change your heart. You've got to change the content of your heart. You have to change your thought life. If you don't change your thought life and your heart life, you can't change your speech. It's impossible. And I say to you that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words, you shall be justified. By your words, you shall be condemned. And so it's the life of the Christian and the godly words and edifying words that come forth that reveal that he has believed in Christ. Because we're only justified through faith in Christ. We're not justified through having our speech perfect before God and men. And so do you speak well-chosen words that edify? Is that what you attempt to do? Do we calm our heart down and do we say, what is the best response in this situation. Oftentimes we don't. We just let her go. Brothers and sisters, let's be forewarned. The Lord is concerned about our speech. You see, our speech comes from a heart that is intimate with Christ. It's godly. It's edifying. And we will know the fruit of godly speech both in this life, yes, and he's saying in the life to come. That issue will come up again. What else? Well, our talents, our abilities. God has given us talents and abilities. Each one of us. And guess what? He hasn't given them to you so that you can use them any way you want, or you can just set them aside if you're lazy and you don't want to develop them. I don't feel like practicing. I don't feel like working. He's going to hold you accountable for that. And me. Do you use them for the honor and the glory of the Lord. Whether He's given you five talents, or two, or one. Do you bury them in the ground? Or do you say, Lord, today, make me what you want me to be. I don't have a lot here, but what I have, the little bit that you've given me, give me the grace to be faithful with it. To serve you. To serve my wife and my children. To serve my husband and my children. To serve the body of Christ, and so on. To reach out to the world. And God's going to hold us accountable for how we use our time. And I think, wow, that's convicting. 24 hours every day just keeps clicking off. And the days and weeks and months and years are just screaming by. If you're young, you don't think so. But you get to a certain time in life and you begin to go, wow, where did it go? How fast it's going. Be careful how you walk. making the most of your time because the days are evil, writes Paul. And so how many hours a week are spent in front of the television set? How many hours a week are spent in doing foolish things? Maybe they're not openly sinful. Maybe they're just time wasters. And I'm not going to be your conscience, and you can't be mine. We stand before the Lord, and someday we'll give an accounting to Him on how we used our time. And then finally, our money. God has blessed us, and He has really blessed us in this country. There are other countries where people have nothing. They have enough money to maybe buy enough food for today. Not so with us. We are blessed beyond reason compared to other places. Jesus says, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy. And where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." You can't serve two masters. You can't do it. And that's the tension for Christians, you see. I want to serve Christ. I know I should serve Christ. But boy, I am so attracted to the world. In acquiring this and acquiring that. I just want that. Just let me obtain that. Then I'll serve Christ." And we lose sight of the fact that if we are wise, we're sending our treasure into heaven ahead of us, you see. It will last forever there. Here, it hardly lasts at all. What are we doing? And someday we'll look back and we'll say, what was I doing? Why was I so short-sighted? Why was I so blind? I don't think that will be our only focus, but it will be part of it, I believe. We will know the truth on that day. And God's not going to hide that from us, but He's not going to hide a lot of other things. And that's where we're going right now. A pastor received these words from someone in his congregation. This is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. He's told of a conversation with a member of his flock who said, you preachers talk a lot about do unto others. I guess. But when you get right down to it, it comes down to basin, basin theology. Ever heard of basin theology? The pastor said, basin theology? What's that? And the layman said, remember what Pilate did when he had the chance to equip Jesus? He called for a basin. And he washed his hands of the whole thing. Remember that scene? Can you picture these scenes? You've read them in Scripture. That's quite a scene. You think about where Pilate, he was in a tough spot. Was he a man of character? The basin that he took and what he did revealed what? That he was not. Because he knew Jesus was innocent. He called for a basin and washed his hands of the whole thing. But Jesus, the night before His death, called for a basin and proceeded to wash the feet of the disciples. It all comes down to basin theology, which one you will use. How we will exercise, you see, our speech and our gifts and our time and our money. What basin we will use. Are we servants of Christ? Are we just like our Lord and our Master? It's very clear we understand this. Final point. this morning. Rewards, joy, and praise. Well, what if I have sinned greatly in this life? I believe in Jesus, but I'm also a great sinner and I'm afraid of taking that stuff with me and standing before the Lord. What if I've sinned greatly? Will I be condemned? I hope you know the answer to that without me giving you the answer. Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now what? No condemnation to them or to those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. Jesus has taken all of it. Do you believe that? Are you in Christ? At the end of Romans 8, the last few verses, we read that nothing is going to separate us from what? The love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing will. And so we stand before the Lord of glory on that day. There is no condemnation if you're in Christ. And you're not going to stand before Him on that day if you're not in Christ. And nothing will separate you from His love. He loves you with an everlasting love. He always will. Praise God for what Christ has done. Turn, though, to 1 Corinthians. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Verse one, Paul says, let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. That's all of us. That's not just the apostles. But to me, it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even examine myself. He's talking about ultimate terms here in ultimate terms. I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted. But the one who examines Me is the Lord. Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time." And that's what Paul says in Romans 14. Stop being judges. But wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light what? The things hidden in the darkness. And disclose the motives of men's hearts. And then each man's praise will come to him from God. That day we will stand before Him. Motives. Unveiled, you see. I mean, we see people serve in this life, and we serve in this life. God alone really knows our motives. And that's what He's concerned with. Not the outward display of being religious, of being a servant, when inwardly, it's a work of pride. But God knows. And may He, by His grace, reveal to us that we might become more humble, consistently humble servants of Christ. Not of men. We serve men, but we do it to please Him and not get the strokes from human beings. You see, we will see how we have run the race. We're going to see it. We're going to know it. Right down to our motives. And you know what? We will marvel at our failures, our sins, and our weaknesses. We'll see that. I don't think God's going to just... They're forgiven, but I think we'll see them. But we're not going to see things just a bit of this and not this. And we're going to see a little bit of this and not. We're going to see the whole picture. We're going to see clearly. It's not clear now. We see in bits and in pieces, you see. And so at that time, as we see, yes, our sins and our failures and our just flat out laziness and worldliness, We will also see at the very same time the grace of God and the wisdom of God in working all things together for good. We will marvel at how God has used sinners, because that's what we are, to accomplish His holy purposes, to bless people, to bring people into His kingdom, to comfort the weak and encourage the fainthearted. We will be amazed. And so our focus will not be on me. It will not be all about you on that day. It will be all about His grace and power and mercy and goodness. It will be all about Him, you see. And our sin and our weakness and all that, we will give praise to God for what? For the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done. But oh, wouldn't it be even better if we would stand there and He would say, Oh, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Our sin will keep back rewards, but not salvation. And it's interesting, our text in Romans speaks of the praise of God. In Romans 14, verse 11, the New American Standard translates it that way. It could be our confession before God. Praise will come to us solely on the basis of the finished work of Christ, brothers and sisters, and His righteousness imputed to us as a gift. And God will look at our works, feeble as they are, and because of His grace, He will be gracious unto us and He will bless us. Not because of our perfect performance, because we've never done a perfect performance. But He will know our motives. He will know our faith. And He will see us in Christ Jesus. And He will give forth blessings to His children. It's like a father in this world asking a little child to do something. And they go forth and they do it. And they do a terrible job. But they did it sincerely. And the Father thanks them. And the Father blesses them. And then He goes and He straightens it out. That's our Father. It's all by grace that we get there. It's all by grace that there's anything called a reward. The fruit of grace that God has foreordained before the foundation of the world. Now, the subject of rewards, I mean, there are numerous passages. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Matthew 5, 12, Matthew 10, 41 and 2 all speak of rewards. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Again in Philippians, he says, we press on toward the goal to win the prize. In 2 Timothy 4, he says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness. What does this mean? I don't know exactly. God will bless His people, and His people will turn and sing the praises of God. It's not about us. And on that day, we will really recognize at the judgment seat that it's all about Him. You will not be locked into that room all alone, face to face with Him, just staring at your sins, thinking about yourself. No, you will be standing before Him in praise and glory and adoration, because it's not about us, it's about Him. Final thoughts of application, and then I conclude. God alone is the judge. Each one of us will stand before him. Let's not forget that. How are you running the race? Let's stop this critical, judgmental spirit. You don't agree with someone over here? Okay. Why do we think that judgment begins and ends with us? Why do we think that we have all the knowledge, all the facts, everything there is to know, so that we can actually make a judgment? That doesn't mean we are not to discern, and at times admonish, to teach, to rescue, to restore, to encourage. That ought to be our ministry. God is the judge and you will stand before Him That's what your focus ought to be. Secondly, are you a faithful steward? Are you ready to stand before the Lord? You notice in the text, it doesn't say we will stand before him in groups so we can kind of point the finger and say, well, if it wasn't for her, I would have done a better job. Oh, man, we would be good at that. Adam and Eve were good. They did it in the garden immediately. They did it. See, if it wasn't for Him, boy, I would have had a great life of servants. Well, that's not going to happen on that day. We will stand before the Lord ourselves. Oh, that we might cry out for and seek the grace of God to be faithful stewards of what God has given to us to our dying day. And finally, what are we going for? Are we trying to gain things here? Or are we investing in eternity? Are we living for the now, only the now? Or are we living our lives here in light of heaven, the principles of heaven? Are we living for self? Is that the most important issue in your life? what you're doing for yourself, how you're getting along in life, and whether you're happy and comfortable today, and what you're going to accomplish, and what you've done, and when you talk to people, it's pretty much all about you, and you talk about you to them, and they sit and they listen? Or do you sit and you listen? Do you ask questions and you find out how your brother or your sister is doing? Do you see it as an opportunity to serve, to minister? Is it all about self, or is it about the Lord Jesus Christ. There's one young man who died as a young man. I mentioned him a couple weeks ago, Jim Elliott. I'm going to conclude with a few quotes from his pen. He wrote, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. He had nothing in this world, but I think he gained a lot and sent it ahead, even though he died before he reached the age of 30. One treasure, a single eye, and a soul master, he wrote another time. Again, he wrote, God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life, and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one like You, Lord Jesus. And I think he lived the fullest life, fuller than most who profess faith in Christ today. Father, take my life, yea, my blood, if you will, and consume it with your enveloping fire. I would not save it, for it is not mine to save. Have it, Lord, have it all. Pour out my life as an oblation for the world. Blood is only of value as it flows before your altar. And God answered that prayer literally in His case. Let's pray together. Father and God, I have spoken longer than I had planned. But there's so much. So much to learn. So much to contemplate. So much to bring to you in prayer. Oh, Father, the days go by so quickly. Help us not to waste them with foolishness, with trivial little things that we do that we think are so important. In light of eternity, they're wood, hay, and stubble. In light of eternity, they're silliness. Help us to know, Father. We need wisdom. We need grace. We need the mind of Christ. Be pleased to give us Your Spirit. May He fill us and strengthen us and embolden us to serve You regardless of what friends, even family, of what the world might say about us, Lord. And the day that we stand before You, I pray that every person here will be in that place. May we sing Your praises as we look back over our lives. Yes, we will see how human, how sinful we were, and yet we will see your marvelous grace woven into the fabric of our lives, and we will sing your praises. And we thank you, Father, right now. We thank you for your grace and your mercy found in your Son. In His name we pray. Amen.