The Lord’s Work – Part 51

 

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The Lord’s Work – Part 51

The Lord’s Work – Part 51

You will be judged in a body. Either your earthly body, or in your new body (His body). For the saved, you will be judged in your new body and will receive the things done in HIS body. That is your inheritance, that is the reward of the inheritance that you share with the saints.

I don’t believe that we will receive the evil things done in our mortal bodies. Scripturally, I believe we cannot be rewarded according to our evil works, sins, iniquities. The body of sins has been destroyed, circumcised, mortified, crucified, put off. Our iniquities have been removed from us. As far as the east is from the west. But even IF we do receive evil things, they will burn up, and our new bodies will be unharmed.

Romans 5:9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

There is no wrath on the Christian. We shall be saved from all wrath in that day through Jesus Christ.

For a Christian, there is no reason to fear the judgment.

1 John 4:16-18  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.  17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.  18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

You’re either made perfect because you’ve believed, or you are not made perfect, and you have reason to fear. If you are fearful of the day of judgment, you’ve not believed unto salvation.

Justified or Condemned By What?

You will be judged according to your work(s).

1 Peter 1:17  And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

Revelation 20:12-15  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.  13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.  14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Your works will be found out. They will be manifested and you will be judged according to your works. What does that mean!?!?!

What this does NOT mean is that your works will determine whether you are justified (i.e. you go to heaven) or are condemned (i.e. you go to the lake of fire).

These people are NEITHER justified nor condemned because of their works. The deciding factor of whether they spend eternity in the house of God or in the lake of Fire, as described in this passage, is whether their name is in the book of life!!

But what this DOES mean is that you will receive the due REWARD of your works. He will REPAY you ACCORDING TO your works.

You will be GIVEN TO according to your works.

Revelation 2:23  And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Psalms 28:4  Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.

Desert: a reward or punishment merited. Merits, earnings, deservings.

He is going to GIVE to you what you deserve.

Numerous times the Bible says that we will be judged ACCORDING TO our works.

But it does not say that we will be judged BY our works. It does not say that we will be found innocent or guilty based on our works.

It does not say, nor does it mean, that if we do evil we will go to an evil place, and if we do good we will go to a good place.

You will go where your father is. You will go where your home is. You will go where your name is written.

To be judged according to our works, is to be given back, repaid… exactly what we deserve, according to the works that we worked.

You will be RENDERED TO according to your works.

Romans 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

When you are judged by the Lord it’s: here is what you did, and here is what you deserve in return.

You will be REPAID according to your works.

Isaiah 59:18  According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.

You will be REPAID. You will be RECOMPENSED according to your works.

If your work was good, you will be recompensed with good. And if it was evil, you will be recompensed evil.

You will RECEIVE according to your works.

2 Corinthians 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

You will be REWARDED according to your works.

Matthew 16:27  For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

He’s not just going to give a sinner evil because he is a doer of evil. He is going to give him a measured amount of evil according to his wickedness. It is proportional.

You will receive the due reward – the deserving portion – of your deeds.

You will be rewarded (given good, or given evil) proportionally, according to your works.

God will judge the righteous and determine how much righteousness he has done, and He will give accordingly in return.

Psalms 18:20  The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

Likewise, God will judge the wicked and determine how much evil he has done, and how much evil in return is the just and fair recompense.

2 Samuel 3:39  … the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.

This is what it means to be judged ACCORDING TO your works.

Not that you will go where your works determine. But that you will receive what you deserve. You will reap what you sow. You will be repaid what you lent/gave out. You will be recompensed with the due reward of your works.

Revelation 18:4-7  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.  5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.  6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.  7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

To be judged according to your works means that you will receive exactly the portion of reward that you deserve. You will be repaid exactly what, or exactly according to (some multiple of), what you did – what your works deserve.

Revelation 22:12  And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

The Lord will judge every man “according to his works”.

Every man will be recompensed “according to his works.”

YOU will be judged and recompensed, repaid, rendered to, rewarded according to your works.

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BUT!! You will not be justified or condemned according to your works.

Justification and condemnation is not according to works.

You will not be justified or condemned according to your works.

You will not be justified or condemned by your works.

You will not be justified or condemned based on your works.

Deuteronomy 25:1  If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.

Psalms 109:7  When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.

To be judged is not to be condemned. Different actions, different events. Many will be condemned, but a few will be justified.

The Lord judges works, but He does not use men’s works to justify or condemn them. He uses them to recompense. But you are not found innocent or guilty, and sentenced by your works.

2 Timothy 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Rewards are rendered according to our works.

But salvation is not rendered “according to” our WORKS.

We are not saved according to our works. We are saved according to HIS mercy and grace.

Titus 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Saved – past tense. We are ALREADY saved, not according to our works, but according to His mercy.

We will not come to the day of judgment and then, when being judged according to our works, be either justified or condemned according to our works.

Truthfully, you are ALREADY justified, or ALREADY condemned.

John 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

If you are not a believer, you are condemned already. Your name is not in that book.

The saved are not justified according to their works, and the lost will likewise not be condemned according to your works. Your works don’t play a role in your justification OR condemnation.

A man is not condemned according to his works. He is condemned already.

Jude 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lost are already ordained to condemnation. Because they turned the grace of our God (salvation by grace) into something else. Because they DENIED the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)  …  13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Without even having done good or evil, the eternity was already set. One was elected/chosen, and one was hated/rejected. Not according to works.

Salvation is OF GOD… BY Jesus Christ.

Acts 17:31  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Mankind may be judged “according to” their works, but mankind is not “judged by” their works. Mankind is judged BY Jesus Christ.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.  14  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Not fear God and do His commandments. Not obey His commandments. KEEP them. Hold them, protect them, hide them! Fear God.. and KEEP His Word in your heart. That is the WHOLE DUTY of man. That is ALL THE WORK that you need to do.

With every secret thing – Yes, your works will be judged, but also… every secret thing.

Ephesians 5:11-12  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.  12  For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

There are things you worked in secret. Those will come to light and be judged. But also, the things that you believed and spoke in your heart. Those are the secrets you will be judged by.

1 Corinthians 14:25  And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

1 Corinthians 4:5  Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

This is written to a church. The wicked and slothful servant will not receive praise of God. But the church will have praise of God according to the counsels of the heart! Every thought, every counsel, that you believe and speak within your own heart will be judged.

He will judge your WORDS… your SECRET works. Your thoughts.

Man certainly won’t think its just for God to judge our thoughts. But that is exactly what He is going to do.

The Lord is going to judge your counsels, that is, your wisdom, your understanding, your words that have come out of your heart.  Get wisdom.  Hide it in your heart, and speak it. Because you are going to be judged by it. But there are two types of wisdom.

Romans 2:16  In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Secrets… Secrets works… secret words.. secret thoughts!

According to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

By Jesus Christ: Your secrets will be judged by Jesus Christ. He will compare your secrets to Jesus Christ.

He will compare the thoughts of your heart to Jesus Christ, according to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Romans 16:25  Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the secret, the mystery that men will be judged by.

Ephesians 3:3-5  How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,  4  Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)  5  Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

The gospel of Jesus Christ was the best-kept secret of all the universe in all of history. Men will be judged based on whether they understood and believed that secret.

Matthew 13:34-35  All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:  35  That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

We will be judged by those secrets. We will be judged by Jesus’ parables. We are going to be judged by mysteries. Can you imagine how many people are going to be judged unfavorably?